Paramount Pictures shot footage for the film "Tomb Raiders II" in the crater of Lengai, using helicopters for access. Unfortunately the footage shot in the crater was very brief. One scene showed Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) climbing out of a vent in the crater floor. I am pretty certain that vent was T49F, which destroyed the "Kitchen" in Aug 2002.

During a morning fly-over of the crater, Brian Rippon made some excellent photographs which can be seen at http://www.rippon.net/lengai/index.htm. What follows here are my own observations of Brian's photos.

"The pictures show an active lava flow originating from T58�s summit area and from a vent lower down on its NW flank. The lava is flowing around the NE side of T49B and T49C toward the NW rim overflow. Little change can be seen, in comparison to my August visit, in the shapes of the T37 cones, T45, T51, T47, T49C, T49B, or T40. A large circular vent is visible in the NE part of T40 and a higher, smaller vent exists just SW of it.

It appears that T57 and T57B have merged into one broad cone, primarily due to growth of T57B. A saddle separates T57B from a ridge to the SW. It appears that the ridge has formed by the merging of T58, T56 and a new cone (with double peaks) that has grown between T58 and T48. (Chris Weber has tentatively designated the new cone as T58B based on a Sept 26, 2002 photo by Celia Nyamweru.)

It is clear that the center of activity in the recent past before Feb 1 has been in and around T58. T58 has now completely covered up T52B. I cannot see T48 or T55; they may have become incorporated into T58 or T58B. T49 also seems to be gone, possibly covered with lava flows from the T58 group. T40C is still visible but looks low and is surrounded by recent lava flows. In another photo (not shown) I see what might be the low vent opening of T49F at the west base of T49B. It appears to be unchanged from August 2002."