How to Hike One of the World's Most Dangerous Volcanoes

“We call him General Nyiragongo,” says a local tour guide on a recent night in Goma, the provincial capital. “Because when he comes, everyone runs.” Here one of the world’s most volatile volcanoes poses an existential threat. Every few decades, Mount Nyiragongo showers the city in lava.

In the last few years, Virunga, Africa’s oldest national park, began offering treks to Nyiragongo’s lava lake, the world’s largest. On a cool morning in May, I set off with nine other visitors, two rangers, and a team of porters to summit the 11,382-foot mountain and see it for myself.

We’re more than halfway there—nearly 7,200 feet—when the ranger stops at a deep crevasse cutting into the mountain. In 2002, a stream of lava burst from the side of the volcano, swept through where we now stand, and coated Goma in a layer of volcanic rock. Much of the city is still covered by this rubble, and lava has been integrated into everyday life in Goma. It’s built into walls and sold as jewelry—there’s even a United Nations base named for it.