World’s first expedition into Turkmenistan’s Door to Hell

Turkmenistan’s Door to Hell is a fascinating basin of burning gas, boiling mud, and bright orange flames. Recently, Canadian explorer George Kourounis became the first person ever to plumb its fiery depths

In November 2013, George Kourounis partnered with National Geographic and travel company Kensington Tours to become the first person to reach the bottom of this 69-metre-wide, 30-metre-deep burning pit in the desert of northern Turkmenistan.

Nicknamed the Door to Hell, the Darvaza Crater was created four decades ago when a Soviet drilling rig caved in. The details are unclear as to exactly what happened, but it’s thought that Soviet scientists set the rig on fire to burn off the noxious gases that were released after the collapse, and they underestimated just how much natural gas was lurking below the surface. According to National Geographic, Turkmenistan has the sixth largest natural gas reserves in the world, and this factor likely led to the creation of this great, fiery hole in the ground.

Other than going somewhere no one has ever been before, Kourounis’s mission was to collect soil samples from the floor of the crater to determine whether life could actually survive down there. If yes, the research could have big implications for the prospect of finding life in the incredibly harsh conditions of other planets.

Christina Nunez at National Geographic interviewed Kourounis about his mission to discover that not only did his 18 months of preparation involve launching himself over his local river gorge - his heat-reflective suit, self-contained breathing apparatus, and custom-made, melt-proof Kevlar climbing harness all equipped, of course. He even went so far as to hire a Hollywood stunt co-ordinator to light him on fire so he could learn now to not panic in such close proximity to flames.

Then the time came to actually get down into the crater, and Kourounis describes to Nunezwhat it felt like to look into the mouth of one of the world's strangest natural phenomena:

"When you first set eyes on the crater, it's like something out of a science fiction film. You've got this vast, sprawling desert with almost nothing there, and then there's this gaping, burning pit ... The heat coming off of it is scorching. The shimmer from the distortion of it warping the air around it is just amazing to watch, and when you're downwind, you get this blast of heat that is so intense that you can't even look straight into the wind. You have to shield your face with your hand just standing at the crater's edge. Here I am thinking, Oh-kaaaay, maybe I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew.”