Volcano Reventador and Sangay, Equador

Ecuador 2020

Volcanos Reventador & Sangay

03-14.Januar 2020: On Tour: A.Binas, M.Morozova, T.Pfeiffer, A.Nikiforov, M.Rietze, Th.Boeckel

Volcanoes of the rainforest

A nice side effect of a volcano trip is - out of winter and into the equatorial green. The trip had been planned since summer, although there was an interesting question if the activity of the volcanoes will still last until January. From Quito we drove to the Reventador late in the evening and I got really surprised due to the construction and renovation zeal of a little and simple street lodge since the last 14 years. (see Reventador 2006).

Volcan Reventador

.. rumble in the jungle

One of the stately chalets in the hotel complex and departure for the volcano

A sharp drop in the comfort curve. What was just a tarpaulin for volcanologists in 2006 has now blossomed into a camp (kitchen tent plus two sleeping tents). Distance from the center of the crater about 3.5 km.

The lush vegetation on the tarpaulin is remarkable. This also explains the rapid growth of the landscape in a very short time (see above).

The first night

Already after arrival, explosion noises could be heard in the valley every 3 hours.



Explosive eruptions of the apprx. 1000m high cone

During the time at the top of the volcano, the rhythm was maintained, but silent ash eruptions occurred before the two violent explosions. So the Explo breaks had expanded to almost 11h and everyone thought that would be the end of this intensive series throughout the year. Stubborn and endless sitting was now the order. And this became almost a fatal fate in the second night for me.

Special Movie!

Height of the explosion-ejecta apprx.1500m,

.... that's the reason that the whole seems like a replay.

Hut life in the jungle camp. During the five-hour climb in heavy rain, in the last few kilometers every scraps got really wet. That's why it's so practical, such a constant fire in the kitchen. Here the meat was smoked and dried in addition to the clothes :-).

Arnold's humped sleeping place about a kilometer closer to the volcano.

...........................................................................................................................
The second night

Here is one of the strongest almost silent ash eruptions

ANIMATION

And here the final big bang Special Movie!

This explosion was also preceded by an almost 11-hour rest period, and was again of immense power, reaching an estimated height of around 1500 m (probably even higher). Because of the long lazy sitting I decided to bunk down around 10 p.m. But an unknown force or the volcano spirit personally woke me up less than 5 minutes before this imposing event around 1:00 a.m. I was just able to adjust the camera and then it started ... Uff, what a luck !!!

Volcano Sangay



Starting point of all organisations, the city of Marcas



In the self-made program, there should be no shortage of mud and heavy rain even in the second stage.

The supply for approx. 14 people was bought in a supermarket in Marcas in the same evening. Here Arnold's pocket calculator was a very popular utensil, because you had to weigh 2 kg of tuna cans * X, 10 kg of rice sacks as well as countless pasta sauces & pasta, etc. over 11 days while serving 3 meals a day. But it was a good experience to organize an expedition like this on ourselves.



Since it is a national park that can still be visited free of charge, the coordination with the park rangers should also take place. The milestones of the not so easy jungle tour were discussed super friendly and very accommodating. Rhoann took care of the local organization. So here's a big Thank You! Link will follow.

The next day the porters were collected on the way to Sangay National Park. Marcell (left) had also a bussy organisation work getting the porters right on time , the backpacks were in short supply. Thus, the own were misused as a rice carrier. Somehow we put everything in ...

The whole team ... at least a nice group picture and up we go to mud bathing.



Plenty jungle plants of all kinds (.. mostly unknown) on the way, the expedition feeling rised even more. As the most experienced guide in this area, Marcell had also the ambition to keep the path passable.



Mud traps of the worst kind should make our way a little more interesting. Some of the pits looked like they could be your last. Blubber!



Finally arrival in our corrugated iron hut. Airy but waterproof. This becomes very important for the sensitive camera material when it feels like continuous rain of about 6 days.



This rocky river bed created by a previous Lahar (5 days before it was a tranquil river with lush green vegetation) was then crossed by the second group, which brought another 6 km proximity to Sangay. After our schedule was too short by two days anyway, the other part waived because of the humid and steamy weather on this tour. Here you can exquisitely steam up your camera equipment.

Incredible, we got the best view on the way from the main road from about 25 km away. Jokingly I was still chattering, that was definitely the last sight of this kind, it promptly happened.


Pyroclastic flows and smaller glow avalanches as well as the lava flow were partially observed. Every now and then a slight rumble was heard.

Heavy rain completely blocked the view of the volcano for about 3 days. We thus missed various details of eruption processes such as explosive activity in the summit area at night.



Only in the first and penultimate night the bad weather graciously reveal us the view to the volcano



Nevertheless, our exposed photo space had quite idyllic features

Here the gourmet heart beats faster. The canned delicacies for the duration of 6 days. Varied food looks different. But Tom sometimes served us a good drop and that raised the mood in the rain ship considerably. Definitely think about it next time, plan an extra porter for wine and beer etc. Cheers :-) !

Imposing jungle animals, tall dragonflies and monster-sized millipedes up to one meter threatened us alongside mountain pumas. Martin observed giant jungle worms up to 35 cm. Whenever I was looking for the described positions, they were gone ... hmm.



Departure to Europe via Guayaquil let the Chimborazo appear for a final great view. Also appearing but in in a dark shape, half of the jungle mud from Ecuador in my bathtub.

Much thanks for the organization to Martin for Reventador and Arnold and RhoAnn for the coordination of the Sangay Tour.

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