Taal Volcano is erupting today. Authorities are ordering 8000 people to evacuate the surrounding area. Flights at Manila International Airport have been suspended. (Please see the attached article from the BBC.)
In view of all this, I decided it was a good time to republish this post from 2014.
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It seemed like a good idea at the time: a midweek excursion, a dormant volcano, and my seven-year-old daughter.
view from Tagaytay Ridge, photo courtesy of Glenn Martinez
It was 1975. We’d lived in the Philippines for four years by then, and we’d seen Taal Volcano several times … from a distance. We’d driven to Tagaytay, a popular day-tripping spot south of Manila, stood on the ridge and enjoyed the view below—the lake and the scattering of islands. Somewhere down there, below the lake and the picturesque islands, slept a volcano, or so they said.
Mt. St. Helens, photo by Sue Cromarty
Growing up along the Pacific Ring of Fire, I’d been surrounded by dormant volcanoes—Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. St. Helens. Each one a tall, snow-covered, stand-alone mountain. None of them bore the slightest resemblance to the islands and lake 2000 feet below Tagaytay Ridge.
Mt. Baker, photo by Sue Cromarty
Still, other excursions sponsored by the Asian Development Bank Women’s Club had always been worthwhile. We’d gone to Corregidor and the Banaue Rice Terraces, even to the presidential palace to meet Imelda Marcos. Surely this trip would turn out to be fun and educational.
The bus the Women’s Club hired took us as far as Tagaytay Ridge. While my daughter and I waited to board one of the minibuses that would take us down to Taal Lake, I squinted, trying to see the ridge on the far side of the lake. It was too far away. Tagaytay Ridge was supposed to be part of the rim of a gigantic prehistoric volcano. If so, we were about to descend into the volcano’s crater.
The road down to Lake Taal was steep and rutted, the drop-off deadly. I hugged my daughter, and then, remembering that she had a low tolerance for heat, I released my arms and held her hand instead. Poor dear! It was always so hot in the Philippines.
bancas on Lake Taal, photo by Jhun80, Wikimedia Commons
At the edge of the lake, outrigger canoes were waiting to ferry us to the island, four passengers in each banca. The water was choppy, the lake far bigger than it had looked from Tagaytay Ridge. As soon as we were all on the island, the boatmen left. They would pick us up on the other side.
As we started up the first slope, it finally dawned on me: Taal really was a volcano. In a country rich with sun and rain and everything green, the land under our feet was completely barren. Not a single tree to give us shade. The rocks, pebbles and sand were too newly coughed up from inside the earth to support life.
For a while everything was charcoal-colored, the pebbles smaller than peas. Then we reached a section of fine ashen silt. Interesting. But, oh! It was so hot. The heat came not only from the sun, but also from beneath us, steaming up around our burning feet.
As we reached the top of another hill, I looked over at my daughter. Her face was as red as a beet. We should turn back, I thought. I looked around at the now rusty-colored ground and the ridges of hardened lava. We weren’t even halfway to the other side, and the little flask of water I carried was almost empty. We couldn’t turn back though. The bancas had already left for the far side of the island.
Before cell phones, you couldn’t change your mind or phone for help. So we plodded on, up one hill and down the next until finally, about two hours later, we reached the bancas. After that, we still had to ride back across the lake and up the ridge to our bus.
On the bus going home, my daughter developed a fever and upset stomach. Heat stroke.
I’d hoped that the excursion with the Women’s Club would be an educational experience, but I wonder now if my daughter remembers anything from that day. I only know that I regret having taken her to walk across the top of a volcano.
Years later, I realize I was wrong in labeling Taal a dormant volcano. Having erupted at least 33 times in the last 400 years, Taal is considered an active volcano. It may not have erupted in 1975 (when we visited), but it did erupt every year from 1965 through 1970 and again in 1976 and 1977.
Where would you draw the line between educational experiences and safety for children?
Have you ever been close to an active volcano?
ready article good.
Thank you. I’m glad you liked it.
My goodness. I do wonder about all the news swirling about the volcano. I haven’t read anything specific, but I know I must because I’m in the region and I will be effected. And even if I wasn’t in the region, people are still going to be effected!
Well, as you know I grew up in Hawaii, so volcanoes are just part of the living history. I’ve walked on the Big Island over still hot, but cooled down lava, saw it fiery and moving under the surfaces. I have no idea how that’s supposed to okay to look at and visit. Maybe we weren’t supposed to be there.
But sometime ago, in the Pacific NW somewhere we visited Mt. St. Helen, and saw an active volcano that was steaming. Maybe I’m putting two separate places together. Anyway, isn’t Mt. Hood in PDX active as well? Okay, back to the steaming one. We were at the visitor’s center and you could see it, and the ranger was telling us it wasn’t advisable to go near it, but you know that’s exactly what folks were doing…
Taal Volcano, which looks small, is part of an enormous ancient volcano that keeps erupting. We were living in the Philippines in 1977 when it blew up.
Most of those big, beautiful mts. in Washington and Oregon that we seem to think of as dormant are really classified as active. I think Mt. Baker is considered the most active in WA. Mt. Hood last erupted in 1865-66.
When we visited Tanna and checked into our grass-roofed bungalows, we were told that there were two tourist spots on the island and our guide would take us to both of them in his jeep: the custom village and Yasur Volcano. He arranged for us to arrive at the volcano at sunset. There was no ranger advising us to stay back. In fact, the guide led us up the mt. to the rim so we could look down into the crater with its boiling lava. And of course, we all followed right along.
You are right. This is a good time to republish. Some kinds of education are best passed on from a safe distance. Volcanoes seem to be an apt example
You’re probably right about keeping a safe distance from volcanoes.
Wow! Nicki, what an outing for you and your young daughter. It sounds incredible, but so hot and exhausting day. I hope she recovered quickly form her heat stroke.
I haven’t been near an active volcano but was impressed as we visited the dormant one on Lanzarote. The sight was otherworldly and as it was high up, where the air was cool, I didn’t mind the heat! A day that will stay with me ..l but not tempted to go again!
A timely share of your post and so interesting to read about your experience.
Hope you’re having a great start to the week! 😀
Not having heard of Lanzarote, I looked it up. It looks like a beautiful place.
I’ve lived all my life along the “Ring of Fire” that circles the Pacific Ocean. We have 5 volcanoes in Washington State, the largest of which is Mt. Rainier. I’ve grown up loving their beauty and ignoring the fact that they’re hazardous. Mt. St. Helens in Washington had a serious eruption in 1980. At that time, we were in the Philippines. But while we were there, Taal erupted. Soon after we left, in 1991, there was a serious eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, producing the world’s 2nd largest eruption in the 20th century.
Oh my word, Nicki! What an adventure! So glad you guys were safe. (Though how awful about the heat stroke.)
I have not been close to an active volcano.
A few times we visited the very active volcano on Tanna, an island in Vanuatu. When we lived there, taking a small plane to Tanna, climbing up to the rim and looking down into the volcano (Yasur Volcano) was a popular weekend trip. (They’re not very particular about safety there.) You can see the volcano bubbling just below you and spitting up gleaming rocks. It’s quite exciting and can be dangerous.
It may have been too hot for your young daughter, but it didn’t stop her from going to the volcano on Tanna a few years later, which was even more active…throwing little bits of ash up into the air all of the time!
So true. Yasur Volcano on Tanna Island in Vanuatu is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. It has been erupting constantly since at least 1774 when Capt. Cook spotted its glow–probably much longer. Three people have been killed in recent years while visiting it, hit by flying lava when they went too close. It’s a good show for tourists, though. Where else can you stand on the rim of an active volcano and be guaranteed it will put on a show for you any day of the year?
I’ve also been to Taal volcano! But my visit was in 2010, I was staying in Manila with a friend and his family organized the trip. The soil was hot and there were fumes and weird smoke…
Apart from that I don’t remember visiting any other volcanoes… well when I was 14 my parents took me on a cruise around the Mediterranean, we were sailing close to Sicily and we saw the Etna volcano “burping” small tongues of fire…
It’s interesting, Marta, to hear that the soil on Taal Volcano was still hot in 2010.
And now that you mention Mt. Etna, I remember visiting there also a few years ago on a trip to Sicily and southern Italy–(a Rick Steves tour). We walked a little ways up and came back. The volcano was quiet that day, but a few years later it erupted.
It has been so long since the last time I was very near to a volcano. The one I am talking about is the one that erupted a few months ago (I mentioned it in my blog). It is surrounded by a beautiful lake, which was much polluted by the volcanic ash.
I would love to revisit the place but I’ll have to check for updates and wait for the right time.
I hope the volcano near your home is quiet now, Hari. Take care.
Never close to an active volcano, no. What a story!
Thank you for telling it and for the beautiful photos.
Wow that is one adventure! You were both fortunate that the volcano was not active in 1975. I’m glad your daughter recovered quickly from the heat stroke.
Wow! What a experience – no wonder you recall the events of that day so clearly! Plus the facts that you currently know about the volcano erupting must make you feel very scared at the thought of it!!
And I know how your daughter feels – I turn super red too when it is hot and sunburn very, very easily!!
Although memory is never as exact as we hope, I do have fairly clear memories of how the island looked. When I went back and looked at online photos and videos of how it looks now, I was surprised. In the absence of any eruption in the past few years, it’s covered with greenery. And now tours are offered with donkeys. I hope warnings will be given before another eruption.
Quite an experience Nicki and a day emblazoned in your memory forever. I never had anything quite that exciting with my boys, but the bottom line is your intensions were good. As parents, we cannot always predict the outcome as hard as we try to keep them safe.
Thank you for the kind words, Maureen. And happy Easter.
Wow! That sounds like quite an excursion and exertion. Glad that you and your daughter made it across without encountering an eruption ~ that would have been more eye-popping and jaw dropping than educational..
Did she recover from the heat stroke in short order?
She did recover quickly from the heat stroke. Thank you for asking.
The closest I came was on the big island of Hawaii. I visited in the early 1970s and there had been a recent eruption before that. I was in awe of the black lava (which was cool) everywhere. It broke up the roads and covered fields. They told us you can’t outrun it when it pours down. That must be terrifying.
We’ll be going to Maui in a couple of months. I don’t know if we’ll see any volcanoes, but my main interest will be in sunshine and warm water.