Waw an Namus is the crater of an extinct volcano, located in one of the most remote locations in Libya, deep in the of desert Sahara. The volcanic field is approximately 4 km wide, and it is surrounded by black ash deposits in the 10-20 km wide, which stands out against the background of yellow desert. At the bottom of the caldera is a 120-meter Ash cone – in fact, the source of the ash – as well as three small colored salt lake. In the Arabic language, it’s called The Mosquito oasis and combines its name to the caldera, the volcanic field and directly, conical volcano itself. So for a visit to a vital means of mosquito. Due to the presence of fresh water in this remote volcano, Wau en Namus has always been an important point for caravans en route from Vav al-Kabir to the oases of Al Kufraha Rebiany and south-eastern Libya.

On a picturesque volcano was first reported to the outside world, Karl Moritz von Boyrman (1862) and Gerard Rohlfs (1881), though they have never visited this place. Probably, the first European who visited the volcano and said about him, was a Frenchman, Laurent Lapierre (1920). Lapierre was an officer who had been captured in battle and escorted through these places. He had an opportunity to tell about his adventures after his release a few years later. flickr/pedro cadenas

About eleven years later, the Italian geologist Ardito Desio, reached Wau en Namus during his famous expedition on camels. In his geological expedition Desio also visited many other places and published geological description of the volcano for the first time in 1935. After the Second World War, the volcano was visited by several scholars, including geographer Benjamin Nicolaus Richter, who several times examined the volcano and published a book about his journey in 1960.

Since then, the volcano has repeatedly visited by geologists, geophysicists and tourists. Over the past 20 years Wau en Namus has become one of the main attractions of Libya.

flickr/Marco Pace

flickr/Viva NOLA

flickr/Alex Feller

flickr/rinaldo.berra

flickr/Stuart Rankin

flickr/Marco Pace

Source – en.wikipedia.org, volcano.oregonstate.edu