Powerful Planet

As much as I was wowed by the scenery in Iceland, nothing was quite like seeing the Earth in action! Iceland is famous for being a real land of ice and fire (so much so that some of Game of Thrones was filmed there) and these elements are in evidence across the country.

(Before I continue I’ll say this, I don’t know much about geology, so I won’t be expressing any detail as to how these things work, but there are plenty of information signs around if you visit these sites yourselves.)

Iceland is covered in water, above and below the surface, and in some places this water meets with geological processes that warm it up, sometimes to the point of boiling, and push it out with great force. One such place in Geysir.

Geysir: regularly exploding out of the ground, a geysir in action is awesome to see!

In other locations the ground spews out material of a different kind. A thick mud like substance is pushed out in the geothermal areas producing not just some interesting sights but some interesting smells as well.

Gases pour out of the ground around the mud-pits giving off a very sulphurous smell.

The ground bubbles away.

As the mud spits out it creates small craters around the edge of each pool.

The geothermal areas that create the mud-pits are home to some of the most alien looking landscapes imaginable. The whole area is a mixture of browns, reds and yellows with steam rising from the ground that it feel more like a scene from a movie on Mars!

The colouration of the landscape is quite extraordinary.

Even where water exists in these areas it takes on a more vibrant colour.

Areas that have, in the grand scheme of Earth’s history at least, gone through a tumultuous event recently are still showing signs of that activity today. Whole areas of lava and ash rock are still leaking steam out from below the surface and the ground is warm, sometimes hot, to the touch from this activity.

A crater surrounded by the lava fields it created.

Inside the crater steam is still escaping.

The surrounding area still gives a sense of what came before with the black rock, steam and warm surface.

All of these sights were incredible, I haven’t been anywhere like it before, but where Iceland excelled even more was in its waterfalls. There are countless waterfalls of various sizes around Iceland, so many in fact that ones that would be quite the spectacle in the UK are bypassed as just ordinary there. However, I did see five waterfalls in particular that are too incredible not to draw the attention.

Seljalandsfoss: a notable waterfall due to the fact that you can walk behind it.

Seljalandsfoss: worth packing the waterproofs for!

Skogafoss: one of the tallest waterfalls on offer and one that can be approached very closely from the bottom.

Godafoss: the waterfall of the Gods, and quite the spectacle with its multiple points of cascade.

Gullfoss: the most accessible waterfall from the capital Reykjavik and one of the most interesting, a stepped waterfall with the two main parts being at almost 90° to each other.

The cascades leading to the top of Gullfoss are impressive in themselves.

But one waterfall stood out as being the most impressive. Film fans may recognise it from the opening scene of Prometheus, Dettifoss is incredible to see! The raw power of such a vast quantity of water cascading at such speed has to be seen to be believed.

Dettifoss: the scale of this waterfall can be seen by the people on the rocks.

Dettifoss: The water creates so much spray when it falls that it covers the area in a mist.

Dettifoss: when the mist clears with the wind then you get to see through to the waterfall in all its awesome power.

Photos, and even video, don't do scenes like this justice. If I were to recommend one (non-wildlife) site to visit in Iceland it would be Dettifoss, but all of these areas were fantastic to see and well worth the time.