A smiling face has been spotted forming within volcanic lava at the hottest place on earth – the Danakil Depression in the Afar region, in Ethiopia.
Photographer Christopher Horsley, 25, was on an expedition when he caught the lava from the volcano forming two eyes and a mouth, the Daily Mail reports.
Temperatures at the Danakil Depression reach as high as 60 degrees.
Mr Horsley, from Ormskirk, Lancashire, said: “This was my first time to this area of Ethiopia and it was full of different images as the lava formed.
Mr Horsley, from Ormskirk, Lancashire, said: “This was my first time to this area of Ethiopia and it was full of different images as the lava formed.
‘With a life of chasing erupting volcanoes there is always a childlike feeling as I approach a lava lake for the first time, this was no different.
“The lava lake was low but still amazing as I photographed the churning magma beneath.
“The heat was searing and I kept on thinking how any person could possible live in this barren landscape.
“Hours of driving led us the most remote and isolated place I have ever been.
“It was an incredible place, which I cannot wait to return too. A future project to fit time-lapse cameras to this volcano will bring us back early next year.”
