The Door To Hell, Turkmenistan

The Darvaza Gas Crater, locally and popularly known as The Door To Hell is a famous tourist destination in Darvaza, Turkmenistan. It is a natural gas plant that turned into a 'door to hell' in 1971 when a drilling rig was accidentally punched underground in the cavern which caused the gas field to collapse and the entire drilling rig fell underground. Since the incident took place in a gas plant, it caused the leakage of poisonous fumes from the plant at an alarming rate. To prevent the spread of the hazardous methane, the plant was set on fire by geologists. It is said that the plant still continues to burn after many decades.

The gas crater is known to have an area approximately the size of a football field. Since the incident, The Door to Hell has been quite popular in the news and has started to become one of the world famous tourist destinations, and it is very advantageous for the Turkish government. The surrounding area of the crater is also popular for wild camping in the desert. It was named so by the locals as it looked like a burning hell of fire with mud boiling and giving off orange flames and people compared it with a doorway to hell, as this is what it must have looked like in their imagination.

The History Behind

According to the Turkmen geologists, the site was discovered by the Soviet engineers. It was presumed that this site was suitable as an oil field so a drilling rig was set up by them to analyze the availability of oil at the site. During the task, the drilling rig met with a natural gas pocket which led to the ground collapsing into a football-ground-wide crater. It was later set on fire by the same Soviets to prevent leakage of the gas. It was predicted that the site would burn-off in around two weeks, and yet it still continues to burn now for more than four decades. In April 2010, the President of Turkmenistan visited the site and declared to shut it down. However, it was soon realized that it could be beneficial for the country as a tourist destination and it was declared a natural reserve. George Kourounis, a Canadian explorer, was the first person to set foot inside the doorway to hell to collect samples to check if any life persists in the crate, and surprisingly, microorganisms were found to survive there.

The Crate and The Sight

It is located in the middle of the Karakum Desert about 260 km north of the capital city Ashgabat. In simpler words, it is located in the middle of nowhere with nothing but the desert sands surrounding it. In the daylight, it looks nothing different from a meteor site and is not much of an astonishing view. In the day time, if you are standing close by the crater, you will practically burn after some time, with the broad daylight desert heat adding up with the heat from the crate. It would almost feel like you're in a microwave oven.

However, after nightfall, the door to hell becomes a sight you won't forget for a lifetime and exceeds the expectations of the tourists. No photograph can convey how the actual view looks and feels like. The view is mesmerizing and the flames will leave you awe-struck. You would be surprised to know that there are no fences at the site, as you can go as close as you want to, although you might not want to go too close and fall inside to a death with burning and asphyxiation. The crater has a wonderful glow and can be seen from tens of kilometers. It is a wonderful sight and worth watching before you die.