All language subtitles for Hottest Place on Earth 2of2 1080i HDTV EN Sub MVGroup_Subtitles01.ENG

At the northern end of Africa's
Great Rift Valley lies an area
unlike anywhere on Earth.

This is the Danakil Desert in
Ethiopia, perhaps the most
inhospitable place known to man.

Volcanoes and earthquakes
continually rip the ground apart,
spewing lava and noxious gases.

And this is officially
the hottest place on the
surface of the planet.

The idea that anyone would
actually live here seems absurd.

And yet there are people
living here, as they have for
thousands of years -

a legendary nomadic warrior tribe
called the Afar.

I am on an incredible journey
with a team of scientists.

We hope to discover
how people survive
in this most extreme environment,

how their lives
and even their bodies

have been shaped
by the land around them.

Look at you. You make it
look completely effortless.

You need to be on good form in
this environment just to carry on.

If you're off, you will die.
Nice and simple.

This is a community in the truest
sense of the word, where survival
depends on working together.

I love this place. You just
feel part of the family already.

They called me sister today.

We also want to delve beneath the
surface of this extraordinary land

to unlock the secrets
of its tortured geology.

It's a journey that has taken us
into the fabric of the Earth,
broken apart by earthquakes.

Whoa! You are kidding me!

To think this happened overnight.
This is the stuff of Hollywood.

The climax of our journey will
take us into the raging volcanoes
that are still shaping this land.

Oh, my goodness!

No wonder the Afar call this
place "the gateway to hell".

Our intrepid team of scientists

and explorers has been in Ethiopia
for two weeks, and we have endured

a punishing trek just to get
to the Danakil Depression,
the hottest place on Earth.

But we have been welcomed into the
world of the incredible Afar people,

who call this place home.

SPEAKS IN AFAR
That is very nice.

Now, in this final phase
of the expedition,

we will be learning quite how tough
and demanding

living in this remote corner can be.

The Afar can only live
in this hostile environment
because of their livestock.

This is not normal, OK?
It has got very, very bad diarrhoea.

Obviously, if they get diarrhoea,

that means they are losing water,

and in an environment like that,
that can be very, very serious.

Oh, my golly.

THEY TALK IN LOCAL LANGUAGE

This afternoon has
brought home the brutal truth of it.

I have been in other
parts of the world,

and I have held
malnourished, dying children.

And it is a terrible, terrible thing.

Even the day-to-day
business of living here

is proving harder than I expected,
especially for the Afar women.

These women don't have a moment

to express themselves, to just get
cross, to just throw something out.

Maybe we are really spoilt,

but we are allowed to shout
and scream and rail against things.

And...

Oh, it makes me cross.

Meanwhile, earth scientist Dougal
will explore the final piece

of the Danakil's incredible
geological puzzle.

This part of Africa is literally
tearing itself apart.

We have got steaming fissures,

active volcanoes
and bubbling lava lakes.

Having mapped an earthquake
fissure in 3D

to show how fast the Earth's crust
here is breaking apart...

I am happy for you guys. This is
good. This is good stuff.

Wow!

In one final climactic
go-for-broke venture,

Dougal wants to record

how far that process
has already gone...

by making a 3D record of the
world's largest lava lake

from the inside.

I want to go face-to-face
with those volcanoes using
the latest 3D technology.

As we approach our
final week at Kusru Wad,

we have become close enough
to the Afar people to be included

in more and more
of their unique culture.

And that includes
the local equivalent

of a Sunday League kick about, the
Afar's favourite ball game, Korso.

Chief Galissa has invited Steve
to play,

but first, he is going
to have to figure out the rules.

It doesn't have any
rules except to play.

There's no rules. Right, OK.

The more Steve finds out,
the more this seems like a bad idea.

So many people used to die when they
played Korso, so they stopped
playing it. OK!

OK, so people died playing Korso?
Yes, kill each other.

Oh, right. OK, that's fine(!)
They killed each other
while playing the game? Yes.

That is a bit of a worry, isn't it?
Is that the object of the game,
to kill the opposition?

No, it is not. But some
people who are playing, they play
roughly, and so if one gets killed

they will kill you next time.
By shooting at you. So you...

..Shooting at you?!
There's guns involved?

No, guns are not involved,
but if someone dies from you,

what will you do to that guy? You
won't leave him. You will kill him.

The brothers...
You could let them just score?

No, you cannot. This is a serious
business, Steve.

But we're going to play gentle today?

Yes, today will be gentle. Good.
But leave the gun at the sideline.

THEY SPEAK IN NATIVE TONGUE

Yes, he will leave the gun.
That's good.

Maybe I'll get angry in
the middle of the game.

Then we will see him being fierce!
Yeah.

This is going to be quite a
test, and not just for Steve.

It's also a chance for Mukul to
see how Steve's body stands up

to running in the heat compared
to the local Afar players.

These capsules will allow him

to track Steve's temperature,
and cardiac monitors

will record his heart rate
during the game,

with Galissa agreeing to
be the local guinea pig.

Two weeks ago,
Mukul did the same test on Steve

when he worked
in the salt mines at Dallol.

Then, he wasn't sure if the Afar's
better heat resistance

was inbred
or simply the result of living here.

Now,
he is going to get the chance

to see if Steve has become
acclimatised,

assuming he survives
long enough to get a reading!

I still have absolutely no idea

what the idea is. I have seen a ball
of some sort bounced on the floor.

They seem to be splitting
into two teams here, so...

I don't know.

I'll go with the flow to start off
and we'll see where that takes me.

I have no idea. You think, rugby,
the breakdown is difficult to
referee. This looks impossible.

That's obviously why you don't have
any rules. You don't need a ref.

What Steve is making up for in lack
of skill, he is doing with size.
He can just pick them all up

under his arm, can't he?

Galissa is well into this.
He is obviously
a past master of this game.

It's a valiant effort on Steve's
part, but he soon develops a limp.

He is coming back. Come on,
hop-along, what have you done?

Have you stood on something?

No, I've just lost
the sole of my foot. That's raw.

I've just had to pull a flap off. Ow!

In terms of rules,
I couldn't work it out.

Fortunately,
his career-threatening injury

gives Mukul the chance
to check his vital statistics.

Let's do your temperature.

A rise of just three degrees
is life-threatening.
Four is usually fatal.

Actually you're doing very well.
This hasn't risen a huge amount.
Cool. 37.9.

Steve's core temperature
has gone up only half a degree.

Which is less than two weeks ago.

You guys have only really done 15
minutes worth and have risen
a whole degree to 38 degrees.

It's clear Steve's body has
got better at keeping his core
temperature under control.

But how much more is he
having to sweat to do it?

I'm going to step on the scales

and then I'll bathe my feet,
I think.

Ooh... Ow.

That is a bit sore, actually. You've
dropped almost a kilo and a half.

A kilo half, OK?
A litre and a half in 20 minutes.

Three pints in 20 minutes.

That's amazing. That is pretty
impressive. That needs replacing.

Despite his improvement,
this rate of fluid loss could be

seriously damaging if Steve played
the full hour of the Korso match.

So how much has Galissa lost?

You're coming in a
featherweight 54 kilos.

We can see Galissa isn't sweating
anywhere near as much as you. He's
not losing the same amount of fluid.

And Steve's soft Western feet
are no match for the locals either.

20 minutes and look at you! You're
feet look like they've been flayed!

I know. I don't think

I could keep up with their
calloused feet I'm afraid.

My little namby-pamby toes just
weren't up to the grade, I'm afraid.

So does Galissa rate
the 20 minute cameo performance?

He says, "I choose him
before I see how he plays."

He has seen many heat and many suns
so your feet is new to this area.

If you go bare foot, like this,
your foot will be Afar foot.

Maybe tomorrow!

Thank you for everything this week.
It has been fantastic.

Thank you, Galissa. Thank you
for inviting us to your village

and for making us feel so welcome.

Let's get you home.
Do you need to be carried?

Ready?

Oh my God!

While we take Steve
away to be patched up,

Dougal has begun the final,
climactic leg
of his geological mission -

to map the volcano at Erte Ale.

Erta Ale is three days away by car,
but Dougal's found a way
to get a preview

of a phenomenon
he's dreamed of exploring for years.

Well, we've been lucky enough
to get hold of a fixed wing aircraft
for a short period of time.

It will allow us to
actually get up to assess

the current state of Erte Ale and
check that the lava lake's bubbling
away

and that the access
will be good there.

The tiny plane is thrown
around in the super-heated air

rising from the seemingly
endless volcanic landscape.

We can really start to see
some of the volcanic centres

coming through and that's about
40 or 50 kilometres south

of the Erte Ale massif.

Yeah, it's very, very big
from up here.

The Danakil lies on
the Great Rift Valley,

where the edges of two tectonic
plates are slowly moving apart.

This causes the crust
to stretch and thin,

allowing molten magma to force
its way up to the surface.

Just approaching the top
of Erte Ale now. The plane
is jumping all over the place.

I can just about see...

I can just see the crater of Erte
Ale right in front of me now.

Boy, is this good! The lava lake
is bubbling away.

It's low enough. We should be able
to get access to the lava lake.

Oh, wow. You can just see
it steaming away there.

Oh, this is phenomenal. Really good.

How this lava lake is developing
will help determine how thin the
Earth's crust

has become. What Dougal describes

as a weeping wound
in the broken skin of the Earth.

That is Erte Ale volcano,
the oldest known lava lake
on the planet just there.

All Dougal has to do now
is get him,

his team and the 3D mapping kit
into that live crater.

Back in the village,
the day-to-day survival

of the Afar people
rests on their livestock

and Steve's
found a way to say thank you to
the Afar for their hospitality.

They have little or no veterinary
care for their precious animals,

so he's offered to run
a camel clinic.

Another day, another camel.

Here we go.

His first patient
is a camel with a sore hump.

Ssh! Ssh! Ssh!

It looks like there's teeth
marks here and there, basically.

Yeah, it was bitten by a camel.
Males have to compete for females.
They often will bite each other.

Big sharp canines as well.
Built for fighting.

And their mouths are not
the cleanest of places.

What we need to do is we
need to clean this up and
have a look at it and see.

But something tells me
the camel's not going to like this.

We've got it muzzled.
It can probably still head-butt me.

But, em, they've tied its back
legs, they've tied its front legs

and we'll just take it
nice and slowly.

I think we've found the sore spot.

For this infection to heal,
the camel needs a shot of
antibiotics and plenty of rest.

One of the things
they want to do is get this animal
back to performing quickly.

This is not a pet, this is an
animal that has a job to do.

Injuries are serious
for working animals,

but the major threat to these
invaluable creatures
is disease and bacteria.

Where's our other camel?

No, it's not normal.

This is not normal? OK.

He's obviously got
very, very bad diarrhoea. Obviously,
if they get diarrhoea,

that means they're losing water
and in an environment like that,
that can be very, very serious.

But treating animals
in these conditions
is no easy task for Steve.

I had no idea what to expect.

It was a bit of a leap into the
deep end. Unfamiliar species.

Then the lack of laboratory
equipment and everything else.

I don't know what bacteria are here.

I can't do any blood cultures.
I can't do anything here.

So I've really realised
that I'm reduced to the state
of a layman almost.

I can get little
bits of information.

The Afar here have never had
access to Western medicine

so have developed their own methods
of traditional healing
for their animals.

Steve, this is Abdul, he is an Afar
traditional healer.

He is an elder around here. OK.

So what would you treat
this camel with?

THEY TALK IN NATIVE TONGUE

There's a tree, he says. I will
milk a camel, mix it together
and I'll put it in his mouth.

The bad things will go.

But as well as plants,
the traditional healer uses some
stranger treatments,

including cutting their ears.

He says,
if I see him crazy running round,

they cut a small amount
of the ear. And what does that do?

He becomes a little bit quiet

and knows that something is with him.

Ah! OK. OK, that's interesting.

That's an interesting way forward.
It doesn't surprise me that
there are traditional treatments.

What's interesting is it seems to be
a combination of some things
that could prove to be very useful

like the plants and seed remedies.
But coupled with that,
you do get these strange...

You know, the cutting of the ear and
this sort of thing - don't have

any therapeutic benefit at all, but
it's not for me to judge that here.

But it's not just animals that
are treated with traditional
methods like cutting.

Team doctor Mukul and I have
found they're also used on people.

Will you show me Aisha's leg? Show me
what's the matter with it.

We've been joined by Australian
nurse Valerie Browning,

who's lived and worked with
the Afar people

for 20 years and
conducts regular clinics of her own.

Big scars. What...?

She said
she had a huge infection here

and this is burning and that
helped to get all the pus out.

By burning or cutting the skin,

some Afar believe they destroy
what they think

is the bad blood that causes
illness. Though not everyone
here is convinced.

Did any of these help, do you think?

THEY TALK IN NATIVE TONGUE

He said, "What help is this?"
He said, "No, it didn't help
her at all." He's quite angry.

He said that this is nonsense.
Just total nonsense.
It can only make her sicker.

As well as dealing
with these ancient traditions,

Valerie and her health
workers have an uphill battle

to diagnose and treat patients
like Aisha.

I mean, is there anything obvious
that you would know about that
these symptoms would match?

The only thing I've come across,
I remember reading about, a
condition called brucellosis.

And it's linked
to unpasteurised milk.

Brucellosis is a disease that can
infect the central nervous system

and is caught from bacteria
in animal's milk.

It's rife in this region

and Steve has found several cases of
it in the goats in Kusru Wad.

Brucellosis would be
considered a very serious disease.

We are told about a lot of this
stuff in the UK because it
is of historical importance.

But out here, it's still
going on on a day-to-day basis.

And you know, some of these
diseases could have a
real impact on people's lives.

The Afars' precarious existence
relies entirely on the milk and
meat they get from their animals.

Yet these same animals are passing
life-threatening diseases
back to them.

You need to be on good form in
this environment just to carry on.

If you're off,

you can't walk, you can't collect
water, you can't herd you animals.

You will die. Nice and simple.

As our last week progresses, I'm
slowly building up a picture of the
Afar's existence.

It's the women I feel closest to,
yet I still don't feel like I
am really able to talk to them.

It's made more difficult by the fact
that our translators are all male.

But now we have Valerie with us,
I'm hoping that may change.

Hi. Let's go.. OK.

It's such a pleasure to be here with
somebody like you who, you know...

you're a perfect bridge between
the two sides - me and them.

Married to an Afar elder,
Valerie has dedicated herself

to helping the people get
access to health and education.

And now she's able to get me closer
to the heart of this very
alien culture.

Our idea of kind of privacy
and personal space just goes
completely out of the window.

In Afar society, there
is no private space. I mean,
I don't even have my own bed.

I don't even have my own comb.

Really? Not possible.

One of the women in the
village is expecting a baby

and Valerie is going to help me
find out just how they cope
with pregnancy and childbirth.

A lot of women are very excited at
this time. Is she excited about it?

Is this something that she's
really looking forward to?

She said, "Yes, I'm happy." I asked
her did she want a boy or a girl.

She said, "Well,

"the girls are good, the boys are
good." Will she be getting nervous?

Is there that sort of
concept of fear?

She says, "No, I don't have
any fear."

She's incredibly calm, but I can't
help wondering how she'll cope
with little to no medical back-up.

With the delivery, are there any
cultural practices particular
to the Afar that go on?

In terms of delivery, there are.

They believe that the bladder
and the uterus is joining, so
the mother in labour shouldn't have

any food or drink. Traditionally,
they don't breast feed
for 72 hours.

My initial feeling
is completely polarised. You know,

on the one hand, there is this
extraordinary feeling of warmth
and support, and I can't imagine

a kind of lovelier way to
bring a child into the world.

But, equally, that woman that
we were sitting there with,
she could be dead next week.

These women
don't know any different.

This is what generations of women
have gone through

when they're expecting a child,
so they have just got to

bite onto that cloth
and grin and bear it.

Southeast of us, on the road to
the Erte Ale volcano,

the science team have stayed
their first night

on the shores of one of Ethiopia's
great salt lakes -

Afdera.

This was once part
of a massive inland sea,

now it's a highly saline lake,
170 metres below sea level

and still sinking.

The water feeding into the lake
is super-heated

and shows how close they're getting
to the volcanic magma

beneath the Earth's surface.

But there's no time
to stop and explore

and the team
is soon on the road again.

The increasingly rough terrain

means it will take them
another two days

of hard driving
to get to the base of the crater.

Back in Kusru Wad,
I'm getting a sense of how demanding
life for a woman here can be.

I want to know what they think
about how they're treated in this
very male-dominated society.

So far, they've been
reluctant to speak openly.

Now, with the men out of sight,
Galissa's wife Myram has agreed to
talk to me. But we haven't got long.

I know that you have talked about

sometimes women getting very
stressed and worried about marriage,

because they go into it
with so little knowledge.

Did Myram's mother explain

anything to her about...

about what it was like to be a wife
and the prospect of having
sex for the first time?

THEY SPEAK IN NATIVE TONGUE

She said, "It's the same for
everybody in the world." She said,

"The man's body is the thing
that makes you scared." Yeah.

Yeah. She said,
"You're very frightened,
you can't be anything else."

Talking about sex is a taboo here
and, within a matter of minutes,

the men have got wind
of our conversation.

It would be great
if these men weren't here.

They're standing here
quite deliberately.

Yeah.

I'm so close to finding out
how these women really feel,
but the men are going nowhere.

Shall we go inside,
would that be better?

They say these men will try
and listen to every word.

I know.

I know. And it's going to
completely compromise her.

I don't want to do that.

The tension can be cut with a knife
and I have no choice but to give up,

for fear of compromising Myram's
position within the community.

But this deliberate intimidation
has really got under my skin.

There's men everywhere just
listening in... "Don't you dare.

"Don't you dare give away
our secrets."

These women don't have a moment

to express themselves, to just get
cross, to just throw something out.

Maybe we're really spoilt but,
you know, we're allowed to shout

and scream and rail
against things, and...

and...

Oh, it makes me cross.

Just incredible women, and it would
have been really nice

to be able to leave here

feeling that we'd been able
to properly represent them.

It's so frustrating.

As a Western woman, I'm finding it
very hard to accept

how little control Afar women have
over their daily lives.

I'd like to do more to at
least give them a voice,

but my concerns are suddenly
overshadowed by events

elsewhere in the village.

CHILDREN CRY

News that Mukul is conducting

daily health clinics
has spread far and fast.

And while he struggles to cope with
the sudden demand,

a family arrives, having walked
more than five hours in the heat,

hoping that he will be
able save their malnourished child.

So when this lad does any
running around, does he
get very short of breath?

He said, "If he goes from here
to the door, he'll fall over.
He can't do it."

He's got a very loud heart murmur..

Has he? Oh, my golly.

It's not Syed's diet that's
the problem. It's his heart.

His heart is not working
as efficiently as it might
to pump the blood around.

And he's working hard all the time,
it's like jogging all the time.

Mukul is distraught that with only
his limited field kit, there's
no way he's able to treat Syed.

This afternoon has
brought home the brutal truth of it.

What must that be like for a parent

to see your child dying and not
be able to do anything about it?

It's a terrible, terrible thing.

The normal reality of life
in the Danakil is that death
is often not very far away.

Except for Syed
this week is different.

Because Valerie is
here and has transport,

she will be able to take him to
the nearest specialist hospital,
more than 500 kilometres away.

And there's even room for Ayisha.

She's taking with her Ayisha the
little girl who has the infection

in her hip and Syed the toddler
with the hole in the heart.

For the very first time they're
going to be leaving the village,
with their families,

to get the treatment that hopefully
will save their lives.

We're going to go and pick them up.

'This is an incredible opportunity
for these children, one never
usually available to the Afar.'

But while Ayisha and her family are
excited, the parents of Syed,

the boy with heart problem,
are having second thoughts.

Syed's parents have never
left their village and are so

afraid of the outside world
that they're not sure they can go.

A decision that could cost
their son his life.

But in Afar culture there
is a strict social structure,
where the elders make the decisions.

She was humming and ha-ing and
he turned to her and said,
I'm ordering you to go.

Right. This is the way
they do it in Afar culture. Right.

So does this mean now that she and
the child will come with you today?

Yeah.

In a way, it's the thing that we
have so completely lost in the West
which is that absolute respect

for the elder members of the
community, whether you're directly
related to them or not.

If that elder of the village speaks,
you have to do what they say

unquestioningly
and that's what happened.

With the decision made, the parents
have just a couple of minutes

to gather their belongings
and say their goodbyes.

OK, let's go, we've got to fly.
We've got to reach this loggia.

For Syed and his parents
it's a journey into the unknown

but hopefully one that will save
his life.

I'll see you. Goodbye.

'This has really highlighted
the dilemma of our contact
with the Afar.

'How far should we get involved?

'Many of the traditions
I've witnessed look unfair

'and hard on the women especially,

'but the strict
social order has a proven value.

'It helps them to survive.'

That little boy would certainly die
if they hadn't made that decision
and sent him away from the village.

Bye-bye, Fatima.

Having said my goodbyes to Valerie
and the kids, it's time for all of
us to take our leave of Kusru Wad.

Because we're heading off to join
Dougal for the last great stage of

his science mission
at the Erte Ale volcano...

..where we will help
him create the first-ever 3D model

of the inside of the crater,

so that scientists the world over

understand how the Earth's
crust here is breaking apart.

The next morning,
we're off at first light.

We're aiming to meet up
with the science team

who've spent two days driving up
from the salt lake at Afdera.

And after hours squashed into hot
sweaty 4x4s, the whole team
is together again at last.

But our fun doesn't last long.

Erte Ale base camp is
still a long way off.

Will we miss the dust,
the sandstorms and the whirlwinds?

I doubt it. We're heading that way
to the base of Erte Ale.

There we'll be camping on lava,
a very different thing.

It's the final leg of our adventure.

Rumbling along at ten kilometres
an hour over the unrelenting lava

fields, it takes two bone-shaking
hours to reach base camp.

We're now at the base camp
for Erte Ale and the whole
team are back together.

You can see them in the
background all catching up.
"What have you been up to?

And just over there is our goal.

There is Erte Ale, smoking away
and tomorrow morning,

we're going to leave before the sun
comes up, walk through the grass.

Grass! There's a novelty! Past
the trees, my goodness, all these
things we haven't seen for ten days.

And across the lava flow, up to the
summit where we will spend a couple

of nights, but for the moment it's
just really nice being down here,
no dust and a wonderful view.

This is great, I love lava, me!

I've just got so sick of the dust
and the dirt down in the river bed,
just a change of scene.

I'm sure I'll grow to
hate it just as much

over the next few days, because it's
a bit unsteady underfoot and my feet
still need a bit of time to recover.

'For Dougal, waiting until
tomorrow to start the ascent is
almost more than he can bear.'

I'm raring to go. I'm off on the
camel, I'm just going to get off on
one about midnight,

I'll sneak around,
make sure everyone's asleep
and I'll see you guys up there.

If Dougal can be restrained,
tomorrow should be a big day
for all of us.

It's a pre-dawn start again,
as we are anxious to complete

the 18-kilometre trek before the
scorching midday sun takes its toll.

The sun's just come up
over the lava here

and we're starting
to get our first proper views

of this astonishing landscape.

It's absolutely beautiful and
lovely to be walking again.

As we approach the summit,
we find ourselves surrounded by

clearer and clearer evidence of the
volcanic turmoil beneath our feet.

You think you've got spot problems,

but all away along the top
of this lava skin,

you can see these big,
rippled-up spot-like features.

You've got broken crusts of the skin
of the lava,

these are literally
the zits of the lava world.

All away along this top surface,
you've got these little pock-marks
pushing their way through.

This is over-pressured lava,
pushing up through the skin,

just like a spot on the top on
the skin surface of the lava.

And
it erupts and pours a little bit of
lava out and that's your spot gone.

Here we've found a big, solid
block that's actually broken
through the crust of this lava.

There's an even bigger
one behind me there.

These are volcanic bombs.

That means there's been an
explosive eruption on the volcano.

So occasionally, when the volcanic
system gets bunged up, it's almost

like your nose is getting bunged up,
your sinuses.

And eventually it breaks through,
you erupt and you blow stuff
out the top of the volcano.

These things will have been
ejected high up into the sky

and will have fallen down
to the ground with a bang.

At last we find ourselves
on the home straight
to the summit of Erte Ale.

After weeks of illness, hardship
and strain, baking
under the Ethiopian sun,

we've finally reached
the climax of our science mission.

It's huge. I feel like
I've just come to another planet.

It's like a total moonscape.

You can almost imagine a T-rex
hoving into view,

or a pteradactyl swooping down.

This is the land that time forgot.

Wow. This whole rim round the side
must be the outer rim of the
volcano.

Right. And this stuff in the middle
has sort of collapsed down.

When the volcano built up
and erupted for the first time,
the centre bit would have collapsed.

There are two
pits inside the great outer crater.

The north pit is constantly belching
clouds of poisonous gas and is
what gives this place its name.

Erte Ale means smoking mountain.

But we're
heading for the south crater.

It has an even deeper
central crater,
with a more sinister reputation.

The Afar people believe it to be
the gateway to hell.

Isn't it madness to be going
up to a live volcano?

Surely this is the thing
that people flee from?

Yeah. In some cases, we are
a little bit crazy going to them,

but this is the type of volcano that
you can actually get some access to.

Crazy or not, it is possible
to reach the inner rim,

the perfect location to scan the
whole of the inside of the crater.

We just have to cross a sea
of cooled lava to get there.

The key is to be organised and to
plan ahead and to make sure

that everything that happens
is predetermined

and that things are not happening
quickly and out of control.

Mack and Andy have made
this route safe.

They've fixed the rope
down to the bottom.

Now they have to prospect a
route across the lava, because
it's quite soft on the surface.

Finding the right route
is the key to making this safe.

This isn't solid rock.

Beneath our feet
lava flows have left giant hollow
caverns lined with jagged rocks.

We're about to walk across the
fragile roofs of these lava tubes,
but with a route marked out,

we tentatively make our
way down to the inner rim.

As we step gingerly on to the lava,
I'm constantly reminded

of how fragile this surface is
by the sound of crunching feet.

But soon all I can hear is what
sounds like waves on a beach.
There's the lower ledge.

Oh, my God, look at that.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my goodness.

'What sounds like the roar of
an ocean is in fact liquid rock.'

Fantastic. Listen to that noise.
There's a bubble! Look at that!

That's liquid rock.

That's what I'm really
struggling to get my head round.
That is liquid rock.

It's exactly the same as what we're
standing on. Now it's quite hard,

but there it's molten rock.
Yeah. You can see how people have
mythologies around volcanoes.

That is just not of this world.

That is insane. Oh my word. Oh! Ooh!

That's hot.

And the stink of it as well.

Is anyone else... Is it me just
imagining it, or do your feet feel
really hot?

Yeah, yeah.

You can feel the glow on your face.

How do you know this isn't going
to blow? Well, I don't actually.

I can't believe how active it is.

Funnily enough it started bubbling
just as we walked up, almost as

though it could sense us coming.
It's a bit like a pressure release.

you open the top slightly on
a fizzy pop bottle and the gas

starts to come out and that's what's
happening here, down in the crater.

'It's not very often
you see something

'that literally takes
your breath away.

'But I'm completely overcome by
the might of this natural wonder.'

I think probably all of us

understood why the Afar think that
this is the gateway to hell.

Because that's the only
imagery that I can think of that's

anything like this, those sort
of storybook pictures of hell.

That is wicked.
That is absolutely brilliant.

I'm going home and painting my
bedroom black and orange.

The 12-year-boy in me comes out.

I want to stick things
in it and see if it burns.

We've planned a two-stage assault
on the active part of the lava lake.

First the climbing team will
rig a steel cable over the pit...

Mark, do you read?

..150 metres across.

This will then be used to
lower the heavy test equipment

on to the cooled crater floor.

Meanwhile Dougal will abseil down
on to the lower shelf

where hopefully he'll be able
to get a decent scan.

But we're overlooking how long
all this is going to take.

In all the excitement of getting
here, we neglected to make camp

and now, with the sun high in the
sky, the welfare of the team must
take priority over the science.

We should have nailed this
early-doors, but everyone was,
"Ooh," excited about the volcano.

So temperatures are slightly rising
along with the ambient temperature.

But I think we're getting there now.
I'll go and chill out in the shade.

It was quite a logistical
feat, getting all our camera

equipment which is here, and then
all our sort of personal stuff,

which is scattered around because
we haven't had time to sort it out

up here, 45 camels' worth of kit,
we've got,

all had to be brought up, unloaded.

And of course the camels can't
stay up here because there isn't
a thing for them to eat or drink.

'But the camels brought us what we
need to make camp here for a couple

'of days, long enough to do the job
thoroughly and above all safely.

'And it also gives us the chance to
take a good look at the volcano

'at the best possible time...

'In the dark.'

Mesmerising!
It's much more active now, isn't it?

I think a lot of it is that you can't
see the incandescent glow when it's
daylight.

It's day two down here at the
volcano, and after a frantic day
yesterday

of rigging and recce-ing,
the real business can start today.

Dougal and Steve are going to be
scanning the volcano to try and

build up an amazing 3D map of it,

something that's never been done
before.

We've got a big day ahead of us.

'To create a detailed 3D image,
geologist Steve has been placing
reflectors around the rim.

'The scanner uses
these reference points

'to piece together the 3D model
from the high definition imagery.'

How are you getting on, Steve?

We're getting on OK
at the moment actually.

We've got ten reflectors to put out
in total and we've managed to get

three of them right up to the edge so
far, so we're just slowly working

our way around and in half
an hour or so, we should be done.

As the last reflectors are put in
place, Dougal is getting the camera

ready to scan this first part
of the 3D model,

the outside edge of the crater.

It's secure.

This is going to be absolutely
amazing if we pull this off.

To make the full 3D model, however,
he'll need to repeat the scan
from the bottom of the crater.

So, while he sets
the scanning camera running,

Mark, the head of the climbing team,

is already roped up and hanging
over the edge of the pit.

Mark wants to establish a secure
foothold in the lava wall so that

all Dougal's scanning gear can be
lowered into the pit tomorrow.

When our final job will be to get
Dougal into the heart of Erte
Ale's deepest, live crater.

As night falls, everyone gathers to
look at the results of the rim scan.

This is one of the
preliminary scans we've done.

Oh, my God! There you go.

'They're better than we had dared
hope, but this is just a beginning.

'Without descending right into
the crater, we can't fill in
the missing parts of the model.'

There's lots of space missing,
and we really need to get into

into...that crater
to get the rest of that scan.

Is that the A-frame?
LAUGHTER

'The ultimate success,
or failure of this venture,
will be decided on our last day.'

It's the final day at the volcano,
and Dougal's only chance to complete
his scan of the crater at Erte Ale.

If we can help him achieve that,
he will be able to produce

the first ever 3D model
of the inside of an active volcano.

And that will help reveal
the state of the Earth's crust here

in the process of breaking apart.

Well, this may be Dougal's final
challenge, but it's also a final
challenge for our technical team,

because somehow, someone has
got to film what Dougal's doing
down there at the crater edge.

We've got our camera teams
perched all the way around the rim
edge, so we should be able to get

views of every angle, as Dougal
takes one big step for mankind
right to the edge of the crater.

'Everyone is aware that even
with the best preparations,

'live volcanoes are unpredictable,
sometimes with fatal results.

'Dougal is taking his life into his
hands. Though you'd never know it.'

Well, see you, guys...

Smoke me a kipper, I'll
be back for breakfast.

Crumbling lava is never
the best anchor for a harness.

And all Dougal can do is hope that
it doesn't give way as he descends.

Once he's down, 80kg of
state-of-the-art scientific
equipment will have to follow.

Ah, wow!
Clearly a fresh surface here.

Roughly 50m of cooled lava
will separate Dougal's feet
from the magna chamber

which feeds this volcano -

just 50m between him
and 1,000 degrees Centigrade.

The lava lake must go up and down
like a piston as it gets re-filled

with magmas periodically
and then emptied.

And when it fills to the
top of the lower crater,

it will spill over and form
these lovely brand new lava flows.

You can just see it
really is virgin lava flow.

If Erte Ale suddenly decides that
today is the day for an eruption,

there would be no time to escape.

But there's a more immediate danger.

Everywhere along this is riddled
with holes and hollows

that our feet can just
fall through at a moment's notice.

Wisely, Dougal has brought a thermal
imaging camera to help him
navigate a route.

It's quite hard to see in this
sunlight, but there's a nice image.

You can see the lines of the cracks

and if we just focus our
spot height on them,

you can see some of those spot
heights

are in excess of 100 degrees
Centigrade.

The hottest zones signify
the thinnest part of the surface.

And Dougal slowly, carefully gives
them as wide a berth as possible.

No-one has ever been able to map
an active volcano

from right inside the crater.

But now everything is in place

to capture Erte Ale in three
dimensions.

A snapshot in time for all eternity.

OK, I'll go and get the...

You'll have to level again
and I'll just check.

The level. Just double check that.

Then, I'll grab the camera for you.

It's the level.

With the scanner safely
running, Dougal wants one

last critical piece of information
which could show that the lava lake
is becoming more active.

The temperature of the lava.

But to get a reading, he must be
physically close enough

to the lava lake to throw
a temperature probe
into its molten heart.

I'm getting a lot closer now.

This guy really, really wants to
know how hot magma is, doesn't he?
He does.

'He's walking on the least stable
part of the crust,

'where it's most likely to collapse
under his weight.'

There goes the helmet!

You can see the lava lake now.

He's getting right
close to the edge.

I wonder what he can see now.

I can go about another metre...

then I'm on the edge.

Looking over the lava lake.

I don't know if he's going to
be able to throw that far enough.
I'm not sure.

Everybody ready?

Going to go for it.

I'm going to throw this over...

into the lava lake.

One...two...three!

Yay!

The temperature's starting to go up.

I can't see where it's got to.

'It looks like a good throw,
but there's a problem.'

With the cable we've got,
stuck on the rocks,

OK, that's the story of my life.

Well, there's not
a great deal I can do now.

It appears that the lava
lake has defeated us.

It's so difficult to measure
the temperature of such a
phenomenon.

We can't get our thermometer in
because the crust is too far,

and my throw is rubbish so I'm going
to have to abandon that expedition

and get back to a safe area...

and go from there.

For today, Dougal will have to
be satisfied with one remarkable

scientific first, a groundbreaking
three-dimensional scan.

Well, it was a valiant effort.

It was definitely a valiant effort.
LAUGHTER

It was a bit of a crap throw,
it has to be said.

But at least he's got the scan
and that's the main thing.

So at the end of this, we will see
the most perfect 3D image

of this crater ever produced,
which is fantastic.

And, you know, the magma will
just have to remain a mystery.

Yeah, I think it's not
the biggest disappointment.

It gives him something to come
back to and try later. Absolutely.

Come back, Dougal! All is forgiven!

Well done! That was amazing.

The scan, we nailed it, so the scan's
in the bag. That's pretty good.

Hats off to the volcano and, er...

Cheers, mate! Whoo!

Getting the scanner equipment out
here has been a major goals.

We've traipsed it over
the whole of the Afar triangle,

with camels, with 4x4s, with
stuck 4x4s, with camels on strike.

And to come away now knowing
that we've pretty much nailed

the first ever scan of Erte Ale
in high resolution 3D,

that we'll be able to view,
it's going to be superb.

The momentous events of today

mark the climax of our journey
to this unforgettable land.

This has been most extraordinary
journey, culminating here

at the crater and, you know, our
final challenge was,

"Could Dougal get down and do that
last scan that was going to build up
the perfect 3D picture?"

And he's done it. It's brilliant.

And this is it.
The first ever 3D model of
the inside of an active volcano.

A unique snapshot in the life of
this - the world's oldest lava lake.

For the world's science community
it offers much more.

It captures an apocalyptic,
geological process that has never
been observed in action before.

The gradual fragmenting
of the Earth's crust,

which will lead ultimately
to the birth of a new ocean.

It's a drama that will play
out over millions of years,

forming the backdrop to the lives of
the people here in the Rift Valley

as it has since the dawn of mankind.

With our science mission
accomplished, we return to our
Afar hosts for one last thank you.

It's all kicking off already.
THEY CLAP

And, as special guests at a village
wedding, we find ourselves
honoured beyond words.

I haven't got a stick.

It's a fitting end to this
journey of a lifetime

to the hottest place on Earth.

What an amazing country!

You know, the ups and downs
of this whole trip.

Some of the things we tried
to achieve that we didn't do,
some that went really well,

but the people,
the landscape and everything.

Hard as nails, absolutely fantastic.