A contrast of dark, rich colors: the black rough rock at your feet, the dense green forest, the glowing red of lava below. All is calm around you, but it is a tense calm. One that is undergirded with the reality of the power of this place. Its potential for destruction inspires a sense of awe and respect, even fear. It may be simmering below the surface, not threatening eruption any time soon, but it is there nonetheless. There are volcanoes scattered across the African continent, varying in level of activity and dormancy, from Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo with its open lava lake to Mount Longonot in Kenya, where steam can be seen rising from its long-dormant crater from time to time. Each holds an intense power and its fertile soil, enriched by hundreds of thousands of years worth of volcanic deposits, creates an intense beauty in the life that it produces.