Hot lips: Eyes and a smiling mouth spotted in Ethiopian volcano

A smiling face has been spotted forming within volcanic lava at the hottest place on earth - the Danakil Depression in the Afar region, in Ethiopia.

Photographer Christopher Horsley, 25, was on an expedition when he caught the lava from the volcano forming two eyes and a mouth, the Daily Mail reports.

Temperatures at the Danakil Depression reach as high as 60 degrees.

Mr Horsley, from Ormskirk, Lancashire, said: “This was my first time to this area of Ethiopia and it was full of different images as the lava formed.

Mr Horsley, from Ormskirk, Lancashire, said: “This was my first time to this area of Ethiopia and it was full of different images as the lava formed.

'With a life of chasing erupting volcanoes there is always a childlike feeling as I approach a lava lake for the first time, this was no different.

“The lava lake was low but still amazing as I photographed the churning magma beneath.

“The heat was searing and I kept on thinking how any person could possible live in this barren landscape.

“Hours of driving led us the most remote and isolated place I have ever been.

“It was an incredible place, which I cannot wait to return too. A future project to fit time-lapse cameras to this volcano will bring us back early next year.”