Clear and present danger

GO NICHE:LOCALS MAY flee to safety whenever a volcano erupts, but for a hardy few the race is on in the other direction. An adventure-travel firm called Discover the World has a hotline that allows intrepid travellers to get up close and personal with ash plumes and molten lava in a way heretofore reserved for professional volcanologists.

The firm has already put together packages to see the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull (above), in Iceland, which began last week. As soon as flights get back to normal it will be ferrying extreme rubber-neckers to the hot spot, in the southwest of the country, where the glacier and the volcanic activity taking place under it can clearly be seen from the island’s main ring road.

The best views, however, are from sightseeing flights – at least, that’s the feedback the firm got from those who raced to see the Fimmvörduháls eruption, which ran from March 20th to April 12th.

Three-night trips to see the current volcanic activity start at £471 (€541), with a self-drive package starting at £312 (€358), both excluding flights – if you can get one. If you do get there, a 45-minute helicopter ride costs £282 (€324), while a sightseeing tour by aeroplane, lasting up to two hours, costs £237 (€272).

The firm points out, unnecessarily perhaps, that all trips take place only if the weather, and no doubt nature, permit. And if Mount Katla blows while you’re up there, that, presumably, counts as a bonus.

discover-the-world.co.uk