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VANUATU, SOUTH PACIFIC -- Out of all the trips I've ever taken, the trip to Yasur Volcano in the South Pacific must be the most primal. There's something about gazing into a fiery, exploding, smoking natural cauldron that conjures up visions of simmering rage, or never-ending passion, or boundless power, and cannot be forgot.

But a trip to Yasur Volcano isn't a simple thing. It's a three-hour trek into a South Pacific jungle that is fascinating every step of the way, from the primitive villages that you pass, to the ashen moonscape that you encounter at the base of the volcano, to the Holy Grail that you finally earn, a glimpse of the lava-filled crater itself.

Yasur is one of nine active volcanoes in Vanuatu, which was known as the New Hebrides until it gained its independence in 1980. Vanuatu is an island chain just 90 minutes north of Fiji by plane, and recently made famous as the filming site of this fall's "Survivor" series. Vanuatu's Yasur Volcano is extraordinary, primarily because the view of its fiery crater is the most accessible in the world.

The trip to Yasur begins with the plane ride to Tanna Island in a 10-seater plane on which you can do something rare in this post-9/11 world: sit next to the pilot. The airport is the size of a steakhouse, and there are no X-ray machines or security checks of any kind. The people of this island are so peaceful and guileless, and the country is so far removed from concerns about villains with boxcutters or shoe bombs, that no one ever suspects you of any evil intent.

After establishing a home base at one of the several bungalows available in Tanna, you begin your trip to the volcano. Most tourists start in the mid-afternoon so that they can arrive by dusk, when the fireworks become especially stunning.

Our tour guide was Belden, a 26-year-old Melanesian man with black skin who sat behind the wheel of a 4-wheel-drive Toyota Land Cruiser. This slender man with eager-to-please eyes drove us on bumpy dirt roads past fields of wild horses, past the wild pigs and tusked boars that are considered sacred, until we reached the jungle of Middle Bush, where the Tanna tribes live.

We continued along those dirt roads, deeper into the jungle, passing villagers who eagerly ran up to our vehicle, waving their hands at us and beaming as we drove past, thrilled to see the occasional truckload of Caucasians. However, nowhere did I see the villagers dogging us with outstretched hands, as I've seen in Haiti and other Third-World countries. The ni-Vanuatu (literally, "people of Vanuatu") are still too far off the beaten path to have acquired such bad manners.

Along the way, Belden told me his life story. He recounted how he grew up naked in Middle Bush, and then earned his A.A. in South Pacific History in Tonga before his scholarship money ran out. Later he defied custom and refused an arranged marriage, instead marrying for love. The price he must pay, however, is to give up his firstborn daughter-a 4-year-old named Marsala-to the neighboring village at age 10. "It will be difficult," he said, "but it is for the good of the tribe."

We approached the base of Yasur just before dusk, and it hit us the way that Tranquility Base must have hit Neil Armstrong. We first drove ten minutes across a plain of grey ash-no vegetation at all-and then to the left, the volcano rose up, huge, black and smoking. We stopped for photographs and then drove through a creek, directly above a fabulous waterfall, to start the ascent to Yasur.

When we finally reached the base of the crater, it was completely dark, and the dull red glow in the sky must have been what Commander James Cook saw in August, 1774. We parked and did what was the natives told Captain Cook was tabu: We hiked up the last 100 yards to the crater's edge.

Each of us carried a powerful "torch," as they like to call flashlights in the South Pacific. I hiked up a bit too aerobically, and found myself developing a catch in my throat from the volcanic ash that lingers in the air.

A dull red glow in the sky. That's what Commander James Cook saw from his ship in August, 1774, and what originally caused him to veer toward Tanna. When Captain Cook started to scale the volcano, however, the natives stopped him: The volcano is the originator of the universe, they believe, and is inhabited by the spirits of their dead relatives. As such, climbing it was tabu. But times have changed. As we climbed the switchbacks, we began to smell the sulphur, and when we reached the top, we began walking through a thin veil of sulphurous smoke.

You feel and hear the volcano before you see it-the frightening hiss of flowing lava, the gentle ground tremors, the heat that you can feel if you squat down and lay your palm on the ashy ground. If you believe in such things, you can feel the presence of the spirits. When you finally peer over the crater's edge, the colors are unexpected, modulating in fiery hues. Occasionally, lava splashes high in the air like a Roman candle.

The scene is hypnotic, and it beckons you to stare and stare, invading the senses in a number of ways, from the loud, frightening hissing of flowing lava to the earthquake-like ground tremors to the heat you can feel if you squat down and simply lay your palm on the crunchy, ashy ground.

It is easy to see how the Tanna natives came to believe that ghostly spirits are especially active around volcanos. Before visiting Yasur, the tour operator asks you to sign a hrefease form, which mentions all the dangers that might arise from cuddling up to a natural phenomenon, including flying rocks, earthquakes and lava flows. However, the form also points out that accidents will adversely affect tourism, and they reserve the right to expel you from the resort if you act recklessly. This is strangely reassuring.

After an hour of viewing the fiery, spattering cauldron, Belden drove us back down the volcano in the dark, not a streetlight or shop window within miles. I glanced at my watch, and was stunned to realize that it was only 6:30, for in this complete natural darkness, it felt like 2 in the morning.

Then it suddenly began to rain hard. Belden stepped on the gas-up to 35 mph on these bumpy dirt roads-and I asked him why. "If we do not reach the stream soon, we cannot cross," he said anxiously. The prospect of getting stuck for the night in the pouring rain at the foot of an active volcano did not appeal to me.

As Belden sped toward the stream, I recalled the five different categories of volcanic activity, as recounted to us the previous evening by Bev Petterson of Whitegrass Bungalows:

1. Almost dead.
2. Some volcanic activity.
3. Watch from the neighboring mountain.
4. Duck for flying boulders.
5. Get the hell off the island.

Suddenly, we were trundling through the swelling stream, and all was well with the world.

The trip to Yasur lasted three hours, but the road back is quicker at 90 minutes. You zoom through the villages and only glimpse them under headlights, seeing only the occasional hanging lamp, denoting a kava bar, which serves the local inebriant to those natives who wish to see ghostly spirits.

Practicalities
Vanuatu Tourist Office -- Visit their website at www.vanuatutourism.com or call toll free: (866) 826-8288 or (866) VANUATU.

Accommodations can be deceiving in volcano country. Port Vila travel agents will direct you to Friendly Bungalows, but other accommodations are much more pleasant, including Evergreen Bungalows (owned by the charismatic Chief Tom), Lenakel Cove Resort, and the best of the lot, Whitegrass Bungalows.

The Whitegrass bungalows are scrupulously clean and neat, and each bed has its own white mosquito net hanging from the ceiling and encasing the bed. Although the critters aren't overwhelming, there are some concerns about malaria after major cyclones. The views of the beach and coral beds are stunning, and they offer snorkelling, kayaking, mountain biking, horseback riding, and cultural tours, as well as excellent native food that's organic, since it's all grown by natives on the island, and exceedingly well prepared. Conmtact Whitegrass Bungalows directly by calling (678) 68688, or faxing (678) 68677, or the best option of all, emailing whitegrasstanna@vanuatu.com.vu.

If you're interested in a more intense volcano experience, you might go to the volcano on horseback, a 6-hour tour that's available at Lenakel Cove Resort. Or you can walk there, as one intrepid young Australian woman named Laura did, hiking in nine hours with a tour guide, and then catching a ride back by Land Cruiser.

You might spend a night or two at the foot of the volcano at Jungle Oasis, bungalows that are run by a beaming Melanesian man named Kelso who tells legends of the volcano as passed on by his ancestors. Kelso, who is a renowned artist on the island, maintains gardens that are arrestingly beautiful and neat pathways that are completely covered in black volcanic ash. If the stream had blocked our own passage, that's where we would have stayed.

These are not luxury accommodations, however, with open-air cabins and communal bathrooms and showers. More appropriately, they should be thought of as soft-adventure accommodations, booked in order to make your trip more otherworldly and, yes, primal.

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