People from all over the world will flock to northern Spain next week in the hope of witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime experience: a total solar eclipse.
Suddenly, the world is plunged into an eerie, violet darkness. The temperature drops. Birds and other animals, bewildered by unforeseen night, start behaving strangely. Stars and planets appear in the sky next to the blotted-out Sun.
"It feels like it's the end of the world... you're changed forever if you see one," said Elizabeth Warning, one of four self-described "eclipse-chasers" who spoke to AFP ahead of the August 12th event.
However, with devastating fires still raging in some areas of Spain where the eclipse will be visible, the 51-year-old TV researcher may cancel her plans to travel from Sydney, Australia.
"It's very sad," Warning said. But as an Australian well-versed with the threat of bushfires, she said her heart went out to people in Spain mourning "lost houses and lost loved ones".
