Tom Pfeiffer
Tom Pfeiffer
German volcanologist
Dr. Tom Pfeiffer, founder and general manager of VolcanoDiscovery, is passionate about volcanoes ever since he first saw an eruption on Mt. Etna. He has been guiding / organizing tours since 1997 and he founded VolcanoDiscovery back in 2004.
Tom obtained his PhD degree about the Santorini volcano and has worked at the volcano observatories of Hawaii and Vesuvius volcano. Besides being the main organizer of all our VolcanoAdventures itineraries he personally guides many of the European tours as well as the occasional volcano expeditions which are offered when an important eruption occurs.
During his travels, he found one his strongest passion in photography and the sharing of his knowledge and the living adventures outside the scientific community.
His photographs and a large number of articles about volcanoes have been published in newspapers and magazines such as National Geographic, Scientific American (April 2003 issue about Etna), and others. Other activities include the assistance of documentary film productions about Santorini (“The myth of the lost city of Atlantis”, "Mystery Hunters", both on Discovery Channel) and Stromboli (“Quarks and co: Vulkane” recently aired by the German television channel WDR), and the ongoing series "
Volcanic Odysseys" by Canadian filmmaker Michael Dalton.
Tom speaks English, Danish and Italian fluently (besides German, of course) and Greek and French with some Spanish quite well. He has spent a total of about 2 years in Italy (Rome, Sicily, Naples Volcano Observatory), a year on Santorini in Greece, as well as worked for 4 months at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, lived in Denmark for 7 years before moving to Athens in 2004.
Ingrid Smet
Belgian geologist
Dr. Ingrid Smet studied the deposits of ancient Greek volcanoes for her PhD research. She thereby became intrigued with the actual eruption mechanisms and eventually got a taste for the wonderful experience of observing an active volcano from (relatively) close.
She likes to share her passion about geology and love for nature with anyone interested to learn more - enthusiastic to translate her scientific knowledge to a broad audience.
She is destination manager for our tours in Africa, Hawaii, Iceland and the Canary Islands, and also supports Tom with the general office work, the design of this website and she (co-)guides some of our tours in Italy, Greece and Hawaii.
Tobias Schorr
German photographer
Tobias Schorr has been a passionate hobby geologist, mineral collector and fan of Greece since his childhood. In 2005, together with Tom, he co-founded the previous tour company of VolcanoDiscovery, which was split up into two new companies in 2015, to better accommodate the different focus of the growing variety of tours offered.
For many years, Tobias has been running
www.methana.com - an extensive website dedicated to the Greek volcanic areas, in particular his second home Methana with a myriad of information and pictures about nature, history and culture of this hidden gem of Greece. He offers a wide range of natural-history and photography interest tours in Europe and beyond:
Nature Discovery Tours.
Andi Rosadi
Adi Susanto Rosadi ("Andi") from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, is the principal volcano expedition organizer for VolcanoDiscovery in Indonesia. He's been traveling around the country's many active volcanoes since he was a teenager - giving him an unsurpassed knowledge about them and close contacts with many volcanologists. He uses this experience to organize workshops for local guides to teach them about volcanoes. And during the large 2010 eruption of his home volcano Merapi, he participated in the dedicated emergency and rescue operations, often risking his own life. The Indonesian volcanoes are however usually more peaceful and Andi's favourite destination for hikes and photography.
Enku Mulugeta
The organiser and main guide of all our Danakil volcano expeditions in Ethiopia is
Enku Mulugeta. After obtaining a Diploma in Travel Organising and completing his BSc in Geology at the University of Addis Ababa, he spend 22 years traveling through Ethiopia whilst working both as free-lance travel guide and a contracted mining geologist for different oil and gold mining companies. Since 2006 he specialised in geological travel guidance for the Danakil depression and hence has lots of experience and competence in organizing expeditions to Erta Ale and Dallol. He likes to share his vast knowledge on the geology of the Danakil but will also gladly answer any questions you might have regarding Ethiopia´s fauna and flora, culture, history, food or traditions!
Galih Jati
Professional mountain climber and adventure tour guide from Java,
Yohannes Tyas Galih Jati ("Galih") has been leading many of our tours and expeditions in Java and other parts of Indonesia, working closely together with Andi. His passion for volcanoes, knowledge about them and his country, people and organization skills are outstanding. People love Galih also for his extraordinary patience, balance and humor on many levels. Over the years, he has become one of our most trusted tour guides.
Yashmin Chebli
French volcanologist
Yashmin Chebli is convincing when he says that he has always been fascinated by the raw power of nature and the beauty of the universe. This passion led him to study volcanoes at university and brought him to Peru and Italy. The fact that he likes to share this passion and is skilled in organizing and communicating allowed him to start a parallel career as expedition organizer to volcanoes on Hawaii, Indonesia, Vanuatu and elsewhere. He has 15 years of experience of guiding groups and individuals around new adventurous destinations all over the world. His talent and enthusiasm in what he's doing is second to none! Yashmin is largely in charge of our French section and creating tours aimed towards French-speaking clients.
Marco Fulle
Dr. Marco Fulle is an Italian astronomer and volcano expert considered to be among the best volcano photographers world-wide. His specialty is Mt. Etna and with his photographs he is co-author of the popular educative website
Stromboli Online. He and Tom lived many volcano adventures together, making them an excellent eruption-observing team and close friends. Marco guides some of our volcano tours in Italy, in particular to Etna and Stromboli. Mt. Etna is however his most beloved volcano which he considers as his "second home".
Emanuela Carone
Italian
Emanuela Carone lives in Catania at the foot of Mt Etna. Since her childhood, she has been in love with the volcano and knows it better than almost everyone else. She regularly climbs the mountain and closely follows its activity. For VolcanoDiscovery, she's our main correspondant on location, providing news, updates, photos and videos and she manages our excursions on location.
