STAY COOL OVER FIRE

TAMLIN WIGHTMAN

So, to annex that window spot, I wagged my DSLR in the air, while tapping my pumps on the tarmac and uttering random Afrikaans words that I knew the French passengers and pilot would not know. Confuse them, I thought. Look important. Arrogance and poor communication will get you everywhere. Into the side-window seat I slid.

Now, my volcano may not have been active that day, but Piton de la Fournaise is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It is said to erupt once a year.

I did not get to flee rampant ash or pyroclastic rocks ripped loose from inside the volcano’s throat. I did not get to have Tommy Lee Jones save me from the jaws of ravenous molten rock, but I did get to glimpse the scars of these phenomena.

From our chopper, we saw it all – that great rupture in the earth’s crust, the crater and its layers of igneous rock, and the solidified lava landscape surrounding it. My fingers switched feverishly between the photo and video setting on my Canon as the pilot flew us around again and again, until the bag below my right eye trembled and the swimming pool inside my head hurled itself from side to side.

We were dangling over the edge of the coolest thing on Earth and I wanted to breathe in every detail.

Alas, so did the French girl. I sat back, to give her a better view, and I let my eyes do the capturing — because my childhood dream had been achieved. And I had not been boiled alive or sacrificed and tossed into any volcano. I too would live to tell my tales.

*Note: The sudden change in the writer’s graciousness had nothing to do with any bout of nausea or the like.

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LDo you have a funny or quirky story about your travels? Send 600 words to travelmag@sundaytimes.co.za and include a recent photograph of yourself for publication with the column.