Mount Popa is an extinct volcano that is estimated to have erupted for the final time, over 320,000 years ago. The violence of Mount Popa’s active explosions can still be seen in the abundant petrified trees and huge boulders found around the Bagan area. Today, Mount Popa is a popular pilgrimage site for locals who believe that many spirits of ancient ancestors, or ‘Nats’, dwell in the mountain.