Iceland: Black ash beast reels curious in

Five years ago Eyjafjallajokull's eruption was a major natural disaster, these days the area attracts many tourists. Photo / Thinkstock

Newsmaker Eyjafjallajokull is now a tourist attraction, discovers Julia Waeschenbach.

It's arguably the most famous volcano of the past five years with arguably the least pronounceable name.

Yet Eyjafjallajokull is now a major tourism attraction, drawing masses of visitors to its slopes every year.

The volcano erupted in 2010, sending untold volumes of black ash thousands of metres into the skies. Winds carried the huge cloud to northern Europe, affecting the weather and seriously disrupting aviation. More than 100,000 flights were cancelled and millions of passengers left stranded.

Today, where it started, it's clear nothing is the same as it was before the eruption. With patches of snow here and there and looking ever so peaceful, the volcano in the south of Iceland rises from greenish-yellow farmland. Five years ago, that same landscape was coated in grey ash.

"During what normally should have been broad daylight, it was as dark as in winter," recalls Olafur Eggertsson, 62, a farmer whose homestead, Thorvaldseyri, is on the southern side of Eyjafjallajokull.

The eruptions forced his family to flee three times. They kept packed suitcases ready. Now tourists stream to the volcano to take photos.

Many curious travellers would ring the doorbell of the Eggertssons' home. So, after a while, the family set up a small museum across the road. In 2014, they counted 74,000 visitors.

"This volcanic eruption affected so many people," Olafur's wife, Gudny Valberg, 61, says. "They come here and want to share their experiences with us."

Information panels illustrate the events of five years ago. The eruption began on March 20 in a pass between two other volcanoes.

The museum also screens a 20-minute documentary with pictures showing how, three weeks later, the mountain spewed ash.

In the museum, small bottles containing the ash are on sale.

In April 2010, Eyjafjallajokull spewed forth such huge amounts of ash the Eggertssons' farm was completely buried. The covering was removed only after months of work by the family, friends and neighbours. Miraculously, their house was spared.

The farm and visitors centre are on the Golden Circle route favoured by many travellers. In a few hours after leaving the capital, Reykjavik, in rental cars, they can see geysers, waterfalls, Thingvellir National Park and, of course, Eyjafjallajokull.

There is another way to reach it, through magical Porsmork Valley's dreamlike landscape.

Deep-green moss covers the cold lava boulders between which crowberries - a hearty evergreen and one of the few plants to survive in the forbidding climate - spring up. Mountains tower above both sides of the valley.

This route is more exciting but needs all-terrain vehicles modified to handle the rough ride atop snow-covered rock fragments and raging rivers.

It's advisable to go with a guide. In winter visitors must be extremely vigilant they don't find out the depth of the water beneath the thick layer of snow when it's too late.

In summer it's easier for hikers to reach the glacier but be sure to take a good map.

CHECKLIST

Getting there: Air New Zealand flies daily to London, from where a range of budget airlines connect to Reykjavik, Iceland.

- AAP