Krakatoa's Rising Son Becoming Popular Tourist Destination

ANAK KRAKATAU, Indonesia - "In an ancient cycle of death and rebirth, the offspring of a legendary volcano is growing at the spot where its parent was destroyed in the most cataclysmic natural event in recorded history - and becoming a magnet for adventure tourists from around the world. The volcanic eruption on Aug. 27, 1883, that blew apart the island of Krakatau in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra produced modern history's most powerful explosion - 30 times stronger than the largest thermonuclear bomb. The blast was heard in Australia and Burma, thousands of miles from Krakatau, which is also known as Krakatoa. The ash and rock blasted into the air circled the globe for a year, and the Earth's weather patterns were disrupted for several years.

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For decades, all that marked the site of the original 2,640-foot-high island was a tiny islet, renamed Rakata, that had survived the explosion. But in 1930, a new volcano - Anak Krakatau, or the Child of Krakatau - broke through the water at the center of the old volcano, where the tectonic forces that led to the 1883 eruption are pushing magma upward at an astounding pace. The Child of Krakatau is now growing five yards a year, says Mas Aceh of the Indonesia's Directorate of Volcanology and Geology. It has already reached a height of nearly 1,320 feet.

"This must be one of the most dramatic spots on Earth, with all the most powerful forces in nature beneath our feet," said Heinz Phelps, a visitor from Munster, Germany. He and two friends were climbing from the tropical forest that has reclaimed the narrow coastal plain on Anak's northern side, up through the black basalt foothills to the volcano's cinder rim. During active periods, Anak Krakatau erupts 20 to 30 times a day, sending up sulfurous smoke and raining ash and molten rocks down the hillsides into the sea. At such times, the entire island, now a national park, is closed to tourists.

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Broader public interest has been stoked by a recent best seller - "Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded" by British writer Simon Winchester, a comprehensive account of the 1883 eruption. Winchester noted that geological evidence from around the world indicates there have been half a dozen more devastating volcanic eruptions in the planet's geological history. But the 1883 explosion was quickly reported throughout the world because of the advent of the telegraph and undersea cables - producing the first true global news event."

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http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/world/8686514.htm

By the way, Winchester's book is just great!

I just started Winchester's book last night! Good, so far.

Personally, it's hard for me to think of Krakatoa without thinking of Mighty Mouse cartoons.