Turkmenistan · TM

Darvaza Gas Crater

Somewhere in the middle of the Karakum Desert, the ground itself caught fire — and it never went out. The Darvaza Gas Crater, more widely known as the Door to Hell or the Gates of Hell, is a roughly 70-metre-wide pit of orange flame that has been burning since 1971, when a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched through an underground cavern of natural gas. The engineers set it alight to burn off the poisonous methane, figured it would be done in a few days, and walked away. Five decades later, the pit still roars. And for a traveller willing to brave one of the most difficult-to-reach countries on Earth, standing at the edge of that fire as the desert sky darkens is about as close to a scene from another planet as you will get without leaving one. The crater sits about 260 kilometres north of Ashgabat, Turkmenistan's capital, near the tiny settlement of Darvaza (also spelled Derweze). You cannot stumble upon it by accident. You need a licensed guide, a four-wheel-drive vehicle, a Turkmen visa, and a healthy tolerance for rough desert roads. But all that friction is part of the reward: by the time you park the vehicle and walk toward the glow, you have earned it.