Ethiopia, eastern Africa.
埃塞俄比亚,东非
This is the Afar region, bandit country
这是阿法尔地区,无人管理的国度
So I've hitched a lift with the Ethiopian military.
所以我搭上了埃塞俄比亚的军用飞机
I'm off to one of the hottest and remotest place on the surface of our planet.
要去一个非常偏僻炎热的地方
to see the most powerful forceon Earth in action.
去看活跃在我们星球表面的最伟大的自然力量
We've got plenty of equipment, because ahead of us there are some serious climbing.
我们带来许多工具 因为在我们前面的是非常险峻的地形
We've touched down on a dry, brittle surface of recently cold lava.
飞机降落在已经冷却的干燥易碎的熔岩表面
I'v come all this way to see one of the most remarkable volcanoes anywhere on the planet.
跑了那么远的路来观察地球上最非凡的火山之一
It's called Erta Ale.
峨塔·艾尔
The name means the smoking mountain to the local Afar people.
阿法尔地区的当地人说是冒烟的山的意思
It is reckoned that the lava lake has been active for at least 90 years, this volcano has been continuously erupting lava for longer than any other on Earth.
可能是这个火山一直在往外喷岩浆
making it one of the logest known eruptions.
比地球上其它火山活动的时间都长
But no one's quite sure
但是没人能够肯定
because it is only been properly studied for the last 40 years.
因为对它的研究只是在最近40多年才开始
I've been lucky to see a lot of volcanoes in my time
在我的一生中 我有幸看到了许多火山
and I've never seen one
但是我从没有见过
that has a permanent lake of molten lava in its crater.
在火山口能够形成一个永久的熔岩湖