Hawaii, The Big Island

Volcano National Park, about one hour drive from Hilo Intl. airport. From top-left, clockwise: the highway buried under the lava and some craters. Currently this is the world's most active volcano and it makes the island each year bigger (by a couple of square chilometers) because of the costant lava flow.

The remains of a tropical jungle after a destructive eruption. Only after several year the new life can start again.

I'm now driving to a site where the lava flows directly in the ocean. The road has been rebuilt after an eruption.

The road finishes and it is necessary to continue on foot.

I get very close to the lava flow, ending in the Ocean and creating a lot of steam. I've had to walk for about 6 Km over the lava field because the road is interrupted and buried under the older eruption.

With a car, I drive around the island to Kona, where I will meet a group and a guide in order to climb by jeep on the top of Mauna Kea (about 14000 feet of elevation).

The astronomic observatory on the top of Mauna Kea volcano. I'm at an elevation of about 14000 ft / 4200 meters over the sea level and even if I'm at the tropic, the temperature here looks like that of the arctic Alaska in a colder than normal summertime day. The temperature is just 5° C with a wind chill factor of 1° C.

The sun is about to set. The bottom-left picture is very interesting because it represents the volcano itself, projected as a dark shadow on the cloud layer below (the sun is behind me).

The sunset up here offers a breathtaking combination of colors and lights.