Exploring two volcanoes

We wanted to visit the giant Al Wahbah crater, but first took an off-road track through an area full of volcanoes until we reached one we could enter with our camper. This volcano had another little one inside which we could climb. The bottom was of bright mud and green areas, which were a fascinating contrast to the dark lava mounts.

Our route took us through a landscape full of lava rocks and volcanoes. The lava was a challenge for our tires, but we couldn’t resist the fantastic drive.

Sadly, we had no drone to take pictures from the air, only then would you get a good view of the little crater inside the big one. But we could climb the smaller one and take pictures from there.

After we spent a lovely time inside the crater, we managed to get over the rim again and drive on. The tracks were not easy to drive with all the lava rocks, which were a great danger to our tyres.

We were following tracks according to the route we had from Pistenkuh.de, sometimes on sand but mostly through lava rocks, passing craters and Bedouin camps and groups of camels, slowly making our way to the famous Al Wahbah crater.

When we finally reached tar again, Edi noticed that there is something wrong and a look at the tyres revealed a big stone between our twin tyres.

From the distance, the Al Wahbah crater doesn’t seam very impressive, but when you step to the rim, it’s just unbelievable.

This crater was formed by a phreatomagmatic eruption (an explosion which occurs when groundwater comes into contact with hot magma) which causes a broad, low-relief volcanic crater like this one, which is called a maar. At the bottom, sodium phosphate crystals form a glistening crust. Together with the green vegetation, this makes a fantastic scenery. Many maars are either filled with water or sediment, but this one is just outstanding.

We could park our camper next to the rim and spent the night there. Despite the strong wind, we sat next to the rim and watched the sun go down, while Little Swifts showed off their incredible flying skills. The next morning we walked along the rim and took some more pictures.