08.02.2020 - Day 45 - Hilo, Hawaii/USA

Today we left relatively early to get to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, which is about an hour's drive from Hilo and attracts over 2 million visitors annually. There, with Mauna Loa, you will find the most powerful active volcano in the world, which, at 4,170 meters, is over 1,200 meters higher than the Zugspitze. The national park also includes Kilauea, the most active volcano in the world, whose last eruption in May 2018 claimed around 700 houses, made 1,200 people homeless, and whose lava flow not only covered hundreds of square kilometers of land but also created 3.5 square kilometers of new land after the lava flowed into the Pacific. After taking a hiking trail to the rim of Kilauea's crater (by the way, there is currently no liquid lava to be seen), we drove along the "Crater Rim Drive" in the national park, through endless lava fields towards the ocean. It was one of the most impressive things we have ever seen. You can see exactly how the lava has made its way to the sea for kilometers and then solidified. And right through these deep black lava fields, the road leads from 1,800 meters down to the Pacific. An indescribable sight that cannot be captured in photos. Definitely a highlight of our trip, which we celebrated in the evening with a few cocktails 😃.