Written by Melanie Gath
“Passion is my engine.” It’s that sentence that drives this entire interview. That’s how it felt when I got to speak with Ulla Lohmann. The woman who stood with her husband 600 metres deep inside a volcano, becoming the first people in the world to do so. She’s a volcanologist but that’s only a part of her story. My research showed that she has done so much more. At some point during our conversation, I give her a selection of words and ask: “If you had to describe yourself, how would you rank these?”
Adventurer. Researcher. Photographer. Videographer. Author. Journalist. Teacher.
She laughs and says: “I’ll take them all.” Looking a little more closely, she explains: “If I had to put one first, it would probably be adventurer since that covers everything.” She also adds photojournalist, expedition leader, and even director to the list.
Finally, Ulla is also a mother. Her son is in the car with her as we talk. They are currently on their way to their next adventure, but more on that later.
“Don’t Dream it – Do it”
“Don’t Dream It – Do It” – that’s her motto. She has lived by it since she was 15 years old. Around that time, her father took his own life. “I realized that life was far too beautiful to throw it away. Especially when you’re doing what you’ve always dreamed of,” she tells me. “I wanted to pursue that without compromise.” It was also her father who first ignited her passion for volcanoes. “My dad made the mistake of taking me to Vesuvius when I was 8. There, I saw how that volcano had destroyed the city of Pompeii. From that moment on, I always wanted to see an active volcano.” She read everything she could find on the subject. “I wanted to advance as far as possible into the earth,” she says.
This dream has accompanied her throughout her entire life. It drives her. Motivates her. For many years, she shaped everything around the fulfilment of that one dream. That one goal. During a trip around the world, she spots the Benbow volcano in Vanuatu. “That was the beginning of something even bigger,” she tells me. “I wanted to get inside, because the lava lake was too far away – 600 meters below me.” So, she began learning the local language, studied environmental science, and took up climbing. And then she and her husband made it happen: In 2017, they became the first people in the world to stand 600 meters deep inside the volcano.
This urge to get closer – I see a parallel in it. Isn’t it the exact same way children explore the world? They want to touch things, to feel them. So, I ask her: “Is it also the child in you that wanted so badly to get inside that volcano?”
“Following the questions and exploring the world”
Ulla laughs again and says: “I always have to be able to touch everything, and I always have to get as close as possible so I can experience it with my whole body. I have to smell the gases, feel the heat. My eyes have to water from the fumes. And if I have ash in my hair then that’s even better.” But she admits that the fact that no one had ever been that far down before was another factor. “That curiosity about setting foot on uncharted ground on this planet. That drives me as well.”
Her inner child is loud. And she listens to it and gives it her full attention. People have always told her to just wait – until she’s a certain age, until this or that has happened. “Nothing has changed for me. I still do what I enjoy. Which is asking questions. Following those questions, and exploring and discovering the world,” she tells me.
I want to know what her perfect day looked like as a child. Because the adventure gene seems to have been there from the very beginning. “When I had my freedom,” she says. “The freedom to act on whatever was in my head.” She read a lot and would act out the stories from her books. “I would turn garden loungers into tents, stack some bricks with a few planks of wood next to them, and imagine I was sitting by a campfire, camping there with Winnetou. In winter, I’d build a canoe out of snow or an igloo and dream of becoming a polar explorer.” Whenever someone told her, “You can’t do that,” her response was: “Then I’ll just learn how.”
One interesting side note: Ulla’s son’s first name is Manuk – named after an active volcano. I learn during our conversation that this was also one of the reasons she first came across our brand a few years ago. He is nearly 8 years old and “a fully-fledged member of our expedition team.” Given this wild and adventurous life they lead, I ask what Manuk thinks of his mother’s work. She passes the question straight to him, and it comes tumbling out immediately: “Well, I think we’re going to be a big help. Who knows whether the volcanoes might get really furious one day. That’s why I think the job is important. Volcanoes are also made for adventure. I want to explore them too one day. If there were no volcanoes, you’d never feel how small you actually are as a human being on this enormous planet.”
Tears come to my eyes when I hear that. What a wonderful way of seeing the world and its adventures – from a child. Thank you, Manuk! I then ask Ulla: “Who do you think is more of an inspiration; you to your son, or him to you?”
“Together, we explore the whole world with the curiosity of a child”
“Manuk is a very cool expedition partner,” she tells me. He’s been part of it since he was little. “He has always helped out, too. Whether by washing the gas masks at 1 ½ or acting as a child guide on a volcano trip.” He is a huge source of inspiration to her. Ulla tells me about a moment on Mount Etna. He had lain down on the ground at the bottom of the crater and waited until she lay down next to him. “And then I looked up, and he said: ‘See, we’re inside the volcano.’ I would never have done that without him.” His way of seeing things is truly special. “Together, we explore the whole world with the curiosity of a child.”
I even get to ask Manuk one question directly, and I try to find out just how much of an explorer, an adventurer, and a researcher he is.
“What I’d really love to do one day is go to the Mariana Trench with special diving equipment. And to the Arctic. To every region on earth. I’ve already been to almost half the world. I’ll see what I can make of it.” Ulla tells me there are also various experiments in the fridge or freezer back home, waiting to be analysed. “I hope that maybe one day he’ll follow in our footsteps,” she says. So much still awaits him. He also wants to discover the world underwater. She tells me about his very own project that he launched himself: “Kein Müll meer” (“No More Rubbish in the Sea"). He collects rubbish from water all over the world and documents it on camera.
Just this past weekend, they were doing a watch shift at Lake Starnberg. As Ulla starts to tell me about it, Manuk calls out: “You only did an internship.” We both laugh. Manuk is part of the water rescue service, and in just 100 metres, they collected half a bin bag of rubbish over the weekend. I ask whether I could get a small glimpse into what “normal” family life looks like with two adventure-loving parents who travel a lot?
She simply tells me about their current plan. Right now, they’re on their way to the Dolomites to go climbing. After that, they’re heading to Sicily, where they have a house by the sea. When school is in session, she and her husband take turns, or the grandparents can step in. “In winter, we’ll spend some time with his tribe.” Manuk has been integrated into and adopted by a tribe in Vanuatu, where he also goes to school – though it’s a very different kind of school. “It’s in the rainforest, and the children learn how to manage on their own out there.”
“I’ve already had them with me in caves, volcanoes, and out diving” Towards the end, I take the chance to ask Manuk directly what he specifically likes about namuk and which special places he’s already taken the owl to. He tells me: “namuk makes really great clothes. I’ve taken them to Sicily, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea. They’re really hard to tear. Almost never. I’ve already had them with me in caves, volcanoes, and out diving.”
His mum adds that she also really values the sustainability. “And the fact that you don’t just make clothing but that there’s a whole philosophy behind it. That you encourage kids to go outside and actually make it possible for them to do so,” says Ulla. The backpack has been with Manuk the longest. “He had it back in kindergarten.”
I do have one final question for Ulla: “Is there another big dream project that is driving you right now?” She reveals: “I really want to go to Antarctica one day. There’s a volcano there with a lava lake right in the middle of the eternal ice. I absolutely have to see that.”
But her biggest dream project that drives her every single day is something else entirely. “It’s simply being able to enjoy life and being allowed to inspire others to do the same. I think that’s the motivation.” She wants to show people that they need to discover their passion. “Without it, you have nothing that truly drives you. And I find that sad. You can only discover that passion if you let yourself drift a little, if you have the freedom to do nothing every now and then. If you can feel yourself. We are barely even a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things, and yet we get to be here and shape our own lives. Let’s show how precious life is.”
I came out of that conversation with Ulla feeling completely uplifted. So much inspiration; from her, from her son, from this whole little family. Thank you for your answers, and for your way of seeing the world.
