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IT LOOKED LIKE
‘YOUR FINAL DAYS’

Saturday, October 29, 2022

In today’s newsletter, we learn what it was like to photograph a mighty volcanic eruption, find out how COVID can interfere with your period, see progress 10 years after Sandy, rock out with joyful kids in the South … and accompany a one-of-a-kind round-the-world trip.

A geyser of lava

PHOTOGRAPHS BY CARSTEN PETER

It was like a scene from Dante’s Inferno. An intense volcanic eruption (pictured above) spewed lava almost 2,000 feet into the air and covered much of the Canary Island of La Palma in molten rock and ash for months.

Photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Carsten Peter spent 46 days photographing the thunderous awakening. The clouds of ash proved to be the most challenging hurdle. It stuck to his hair and seeped into his clothing. He wore a mask to protect his lungs and took extreme care to safeguard his eyes. The sharp, spiky grains of volcanic ash particles also got into his camera’s lenses.

On some days, the ash clouds “enveloped everything in darkness,” Carsten says. “It looked like your final days were coming.” How does a professional who began covering volcanoes at 17 deal with their wrenching effects on people nearby? “I did not only photograph, but also helped people,” he told us.

Read the full story here.

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A river of lava snakes its way through a town

Rivers of lava: For months, molten rock wound its way to the ocean, swallowing whatever was in its way: homes, schools, farms, and roads.

Plumes of steam from the ocean where the lava hits

Forged in fire: The island was born from volcanoes and the coastline continues to grow with each eruption. The lava devastated marine ecosystems nearby, but now—a year after the island’s biggest eruption in at least 500 years—new life has already begun to flourish atop the nutrient-rich underwater rocks.

A farmer sprays off large bunches of bananas with a hose

Bananas: Farmer Santiago Alexis Hernández Rodríguez washes damaging ash from bunches of bananas. Before the 2021 eruption, half of La Palma’s gross domestic product came from bananas grown for export. Some of the island’s life has had to change.

A river of lava passed by a group of houses

Safe for now: The eruption spared lives and some houses, like these built on mounds of older lava rocks. But with more than 60 million people living in the shadows of active volcanoes worldwide, disasters like this will become more common. Read more.

STORIES WE'RE FOLLOWING

A chimp applies a mushed bug to a wound

PHOTOGRAPH BY ROLAND HILGARTNER

Rare pictures of chimps using crushed insects to treat wounds (pictured above)

How COVID-19 can interfere with your period

Stunning ancient artwork found at site attacked by ISIS

Spirits in the night: The surprising story of the Jersey Devil

Murdered at 14. Why justice for Emmett Till remains elusive 67 years later.

In pictures: Lives transformed by a 550-mile cargo railroad

How did ancient Greeks secure a good afterlife? By joining the right cult.

Lessons learned since superstorm Sandy's landfall 10 years ago

QUIZ: CAN YOU GUESS THIS PLANT?

A snake holds a frog in its mouth

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALICE ZOO

What plant is this? In ancient times, this plant was credited with curing diseases. It also made food tasty—at least until it was overfarmed and believed to have gone extinct. Now a Turkish researcher says he has rediscovered it. Rediscovered what? Click here to find out.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

A portrait of a girl wearing pearls and skeleton bones

PHOTOGRAPH BY MELANIE METZ

Our turn! Sunshine & the Skelly Funks. Emo Frogs. The Oddities. For many queer kids in the South, there are few safe space to be carefree. At this music camp for girls, transgender, and non-binary youth, they have the freedom to experience unfettered joy together. While rocking out. 🤘 (Pictured above, Anniston Pierce, keyboardist for Sunshine & the Skelly Funks.)

LAST GLIMPSE

Actors put on make up before a performance

PHOTOGRAPH BY JAMES L. STANFIELD, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION

All the world’s a stage: Two centuries before Columbus, 21-year-old Ibn Battuta set out for Mecca and returned three decades later after traveling to the far corners of the Islamic world. In Nat Geo’s 1991 story featuring this legendary journey, our photographer documented actors putting the final touches on their makeup before performing an opera near Guangzhou, China. See more vintage photographs here.

HISTORY'S GREAT TRAVELERS

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, Jen Tse, Heather Kim, and Sydney Combs. Thanks to the Nat Geo French edition for the interview with Carsten Peter—and to Darren Smith, Beata Kovacs Nas, Amy Kolczak, Leigh Mitnick, and Samantha Clark. Amanda Williams-Bryant, Alec Egamov, Rita Spinks, and Jeremy Brandt-Vorel also contributed this week. Have an idea? We’d love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for reading!

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