Lake Maracaibo, Lightning Capital of the World

Lightning crackles over Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela in this long-exposure shot from 2014. Jorge Silva/Reuters
Lightning crackles over Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela in this long-exposure shot from 2014. Jorge Silva/Reuters
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Lake Maracaibo, Lightning Capital of the World

Lightning crackles over Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela in this long-exposure shot from 2014. Jorge Silva/Reuters
Lightning crackles over Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela in this long-exposure shot from 2014. Jorge Silva/Reuters

One firebolt after another illuminates a stilt-house settlement where the Catatumbo river flows into Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo, the lightning capital of the world.

Holder of the Guinness World Record as the place with the highest concentration of lightning, South America's largest lake receives an average of 233 flashes per square kilometer every year, according to NASA -- thousands per night.

A scientific and tourist curiosity, for the water-logged communities of Zulia state in Venezuela's northwest the phenomenon is known as the Catatumbo "lighthouse" which for centuries has helped them navigate their boats through the darkness.

There is no thunder, just lightning -- a silent spectacle to be enjoyed about 300 nights per year, peaking in September, said AFP.

On clear nights, the flashes paint striking patterns across the Milky Way in a sky so full of stars one does not need a telescope for constellation gazing.

Some are so fast they escape the human eye. Some zigzag more leisurely through the sky, or collide with other bolts.

In a boon for stargazers but a harsh reality for locals, the near nightly display is made all the more spectacular by the almost complete absence of light pollution.

There is no electrical grid here, and the few generators that still work are idle due to a critical lack of fuel occasioned by Venezuela's economic crisis.

Only rarely is there the faint glow of a small home generator, or a beam from a fisherman's flashlight.

The foreign visitors who used to come to Zulia have been staying away due to the global coronavirus pandemic and Venezuela's economic problems.

Oblivious to the scientific interest in the phenomenon, Marianela Romera -- a fisherwoman of 40 whose worn face makes her look much older -- says that the lightning "shows us where to go."

NASA says Lake Maracaibo has a unique geography and climate ideal for the development of thunderstorms.

Located along part of the Andes mountains, storms form at night as the cool mountain breeze clashes with the warm, moist air over the lake.



Pope Calls Buzz Aldrin to Mark 1969 Moon Landing

20 July 2025, Italy, Castel Gandolfo: Pope Leo XIV visits the Vatican Observatory to mark the anniversary of the 1969 moon landing in the summer papal estate in Castel Gandolfo. Photo: -/IPA via ZUMA Press/dpa
20 July 2025, Italy, Castel Gandolfo: Pope Leo XIV visits the Vatican Observatory to mark the anniversary of the 1969 moon landing in the summer papal estate in Castel Gandolfo. Photo: -/IPA via ZUMA Press/dpa
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Pope Calls Buzz Aldrin to Mark 1969 Moon Landing

20 July 2025, Italy, Castel Gandolfo: Pope Leo XIV visits the Vatican Observatory to mark the anniversary of the 1969 moon landing in the summer papal estate in Castel Gandolfo. Photo: -/IPA via ZUMA Press/dpa
20 July 2025, Italy, Castel Gandolfo: Pope Leo XIV visits the Vatican Observatory to mark the anniversary of the 1969 moon landing in the summer papal estate in Castel Gandolfo. Photo: -/IPA via ZUMA Press/dpa

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday called astronaut Buzz Aldrin and visited the Vatican's astronomical observatory in Castel Gandolfo to mark the 56th anniversary of man's first moon landing.

"This evening, 56 years after the Apollo 11 moon landing, I spoke with the astronaut Buzz Aldrin," the American pope wrote on X.

"Together we shared the memory of a historic feat, a testimony to human ingenuity, and we reflected on the mystery and greatness of Creation", he wrote.

After Neil Armstrong, who died in 2012, Aldrin was the second person to set foot on the Moon on the historic Apollo 11 mission that secured the United States' victory in the space race.

A devout Christian, Aldrin took communion on the lunar surface using a travel kit provided by his Presbyterian pastor.

According to AFP, the pope said he blessed the 95-year-old US astronaut and his family during the call.

Earlier Sunday, Leo visited the Vatican Observatory, which sits on a leafy hilltop near the papal summer home of Castel Gandolfo.

Vatican photographs showed the pope looking through a large telescope in the Observatory, one of the oldest astronomical research institutions in the world, where planetary scientists mix the study of meteorites with theology.