DOOR TO HELL

Forty years ago, a vast molten known as Darvaza crater – nicknamed as “Door To Hell “ opened up in the desert of north Turkmenistan and has been burning ever since.

Canadian explorer George Kourounis has become the first to make the descent into the fiery pit to look for signs of life.

Though footage of this expedition first aired this week on National Geographic. The aim was to collect soil samples from the bottom of the pit, to try to establish whether life can exist in such a harsh and difficult environment.

video Credit : PatrynWorldLatestNew

The project took 18 months to plan. The whole team set up a rope-rigging system over a river gorge to practice lowering Kourounis in. This place is even for sight visiting. Enough to have lured more than 50,000 visitors to come to this place over the past decade helped by the fantastic wild camping in the surrounding Karakum Desert.

The crater was created in 1971 by a group of hapless Soviet geologists drilling for oil. The domino effect in the sedimentary rock ended with a series of craters pockmarking the landscape, the largest of which stretched 235 feet across and 66 feet deep.

For a while, the crater’s future was at risk, as in 2010 the Turkmenistan president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow recommended it should be closed. In 2013, he declared the area where the crater is located in the Karakum Desert a nature reserve.

You can see many local take tribe members who make up most of the 350 people in nearby Darvaza village. There are no roads and guided paths, no fences to protect at its edges, no souvenir shops, and cafes- just desert and fire. The best time to visit is at night when the flames spewing from thousands of individual gas leaks light the night sky for miles in a spectacular and unique fire show.

You can also go for solo tours with a decent off-road vehicle and a hope for healthy adventure, but an organized plan will be better. Book on the ground with agents or do some pre-booking by calling agents that show you not only door to hell but some other attractions this country offers.