Too hot to handle: Daredevils abseil into the depths of a live volcano boiling with red-hot molten lava



With instant death virtually licking at his feet, a daredevil strolls around a ledge inside a volcano, just 100metres from a lake of boiling lava.

One slip or a sudden surge of the bubbling red mass and Drew Bristol would be turned into ash.

In a silver heat proof suit, he uses climbing ropes to slowly lower himself down the treacherous rocks towards the fiery lake.

There he pitches a tent 500m down the inside of the smoldering volcano while using oxygen canisters to breath due to the lack of oxygen.

Hot in here: Daredevil climbers lower themselves towards boiling lava in the Marum Volcano in Vanuatu near Australia

Incredibly, the extreme climber turns and smiles to wave at the camera as boiling lava spews 50ft into the air below them.

Crackles and pops can be heard as the ferocious volcano simmers threateningly just several years after it last erupted.



The video has become an internet sensation after it was filmed by volcanologist Geoff Mackley at the remote Marum volcano on Ambrym Island in the South Pacific Ocean.

There, they set up their equipment on the lip of the active Marum volcano - which is classified as highly dangerous and is constantly sending plumes of volcanic ash more than a mile high over the island.

Official warnings tell visitors to observe the volcano from a distance, well away from the crater.

But Mackley and his team wanted to experience the thrill of venturing inside the volcano, which is reputed to be the place where islandersbegin their journey to the afterlife when they have died.



Because Mackley's film is so amazing sceptics have suggested it is a fake.

Smile for the camera: A stunt man in a heat-proof suit waves at the camera just yards from molten lava

But Mackley told MailOnline from his home in New Zealand: 'I don't fake things. What would be the point of me travelling around the world to film volcanoes and earthquakes and then faking the footage?

'Of course, you can fake anything in a studio these days, but that's not for me. What you see from me is real.'

How though, could anyone get so close to boiling lava?

'A long lens, which we used, foreshortens the image so the lava looks a lot closer to Drew in his protective silver-coloured suit than it appears,' he explained.

'He is about 100m (100 yards) from the surface of the lava - which is certainly close enough for him to require a protective suit.

'The others of us were further up and while we could feel the intense heat we were quite a bit higher than Drew - although the camera makes us look as though we are just a bit above him.'

Mackley, 44, said the expedition to the volcano had been his dream and it had been 10 years in the planning.

The team were even able to pitch a tent close to the lip of the volcano - which is 500m from the lava 'lake' - where the heat striking the outside air caused them to be buffeted by strong winds.

Mackley says on his website: 'Nothing else in life will ever compare to the mind-blowing rush of being so close to a spectacle like this.

Too close for comfort: A climber begins to lower himself 500 metres down steep rocks towards the intense heat of Marum volcano



'Our team in Vanuatu abseiled 500 vertical metres into the Marum volcano on Ambrym Island to the very edge of a huge lake of violently boiling lava .'

A volcanologist told the MailOnline that it is possible to walk right up to a stream of lava - though touching it, of course, is - shall we say - not recommended.



Mackley claims to have scaled dozens of deadly volcanoes in remote locations around the world.

The film-maker and photographer flies to the dangerous spots and posts the pictures on his website.

But his latest expedition with a team of several other men is the furthest that they have ever abseiled into the jaws of a live volcano.

The men are believed to be the first people who have ever dared ventured so close the Marum volcano which has erupted several times over the last century.

The volcano is found on the tiny Ambrym Island which is among 82 others in the Vanuatu archipeligo around 400 miles from Australia.

Just 8,000 people live on the island which has an area of 257 square miles.

A recent undersea eruption in November 2008 measured 6.4 in magnitude with no casualties.



Islanders do not climb the volcano because they regard it as their sacred place and fear that in doing so they would bring bad fortune to the villages below.

But Mackley, who had consulted with the locals before landing with his equipment close to the top in a helicopter, did not share the same fears.

In fact, he told MailOnline, his team would have descended even further into the volcano - 'but we didn't have enough ropes'.