Idea #734 – Climbing up the volcano Pico do Fogo in Cape Verde
The Pico do Fogo is a stratovolcano located on the island of Fogo, in Cape Verde. Culminating at 2,829 m altitude, it is considered as the highest elevation of West Africa and the second Macaroni after Teide.
Technically, the Pico do Fogo is a volcano of hot spot linked to the Cape Verdean mantle, active for over 22 million years. This activity has created a succession of islands whose age declines towards the west. Fogo was formed over 4,5 million years ago, and is considered the most recent island; its volcano is the only one that has remained active during historical periods. At the end of the island’s apparition, it reached 73,000 years ago, a gigantic landslide of a plaque of one hundred square kilometers provoked a tsunami of 170 meters of high, which swept the Santiago’s Voice and which would reach Senegal. Since this event, the Pico do Fogo has just started to grow and replenish the caldera to form a layer of 2 kilometers of thicket.
Documented since the seventeenth century, the Pico do Fogo has been erected about 30 times in eruption. While these were being produced until 1769, subsequent eruptions took place on the flanks at the level of a fissure that had been open since. From November 23, 2014 to February 8, 2015, the Pico do Fogo between entered eruption by the bays of a small volcano appeared then, called the small Pico; its layers of lava which have envahi the caldeira de Chã das Caldeiras have finished by taking the small village of Portela, which has almost disappeared, but which has been reconstructed since.
According to the legend, sleeping in a crater provokes the rivers a little crazy. We tested, plus the ascent. Along the way, you can also get a glimpse of steam mounts, and resent the smell of sulfurized gas.
The ascent can take place in about 3 hours, for the athletes.
Some Pictures
Where is it ?
Pico de Fogo, Fogo, Cabo Verde
