Iran - Andrew Burke [64]
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NATIONAL PARKS & RESERVES
National parks, and the wildlife they are designed to protect, are luxuries that most Iranians don’t have the time or money to be concerned with. As a result, most national parks are terribly underfunded and understaffed, and the most accessible zones tend to be rubbish-strewn picnic sites. Unauthorised hunting is an ongoing problem, as is illegal cultivation of protected areas. Attitudes are slowly changing in cities such as Tehran and Shiraz, but realistically, it could be decades before Iran’s nature reserves have anything like the status of their Western counterparts.
So what does this mean for the visitor? About 5% of Iran is protected. But in the 16 officially mandated national parks and 137 other protected areas there are few fences, few, if any, rangers, no maps, no guides and no facilities. Even finding certain parks can be difficult, as they don’t appear on maps, and there is no public transport and few signs. Other parks such as Sisingan on the Caspian suffer the opposite problem: they are small, overused and all too quickly overrun by weekenders.
Hardy souls might choose to strike out on their own, but unless time is no problem and you have at least basic Farsi, it will probably be a pretty frustrating experience. Your best bet is to employ a travel agency close to the park you want to visit; at least they should know how to get you there. Alternatively, use one of the specialist mountaineering and outdoor agencies, see the boxed text for details.
A selection of Iran’s more accessible national parks and protected areas are listed below. Due to the limited facilities, there is little or no extra detail in the destination chapters.
But if you’re keen, these are a start.
Arjan Protected Area Lake and wetland area near Shiraz. Home to masked tits, waterfowl and seasonal migratory birds, plus mammals including Persian fallow deer.
Bakhtegan National Park Incorporating Lakes Bakhtegan and Tashk, this park is about 80km east of Shiraz. Flamingos and other migratory birds loiter here during winter.
Bijar Protected Area About 15km north of Bijar town in Kordestan. Home to Alborz red sheep, hyenas and jackals. Best visited in spring and autumn.
Golestan National Park Forested mountains between Gorgan and the Caspian Sea. Home to wild boars, oreal rams, brown bears, wolves, leopards, goitered gazelles and assorted bird life. Best visited in spring. Permits are required. Click here.
Lake Orumiyeh National Park An important wetland reserve, this park is home to rare deer and a multitude of birds migrating between Europe and Africa. Relatively accessible (from Tabriz, Click here ), though increasingly threatened.
Tandoureh National Park Rocky, mountainous terrain favoured by oreal rams, ibex and leopard, near Daragaz on the border with Turkmenistan.
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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Iran faces several serious environmental challenges, most of which can be summed up as habitat loss and desertification and pollution.
But it’s not all bad news. Public awareness of the environment has risen significantly in recent years. While most attention has been focused on the nuclear power program, Iran has also opened two wind farms and is building a major solar power plant, due to begin operating in 2010.
Habitat Loss
When environmental historians look back at Iran, the 1980s will be seen as a disastrous decade. Upheaval following the revolution and during the Iran–Iraq War prompted rapid, uncontrolled expansion of grazing lands, often into sensitive semidesert areas, leading to overgrazing and, in some areas, desertification. Massive population growth during this time didn’t help: with an extra 20 to 30 million people needing to be fed, crops were soon being sewn in areas unsuitable for intensive agriculture. The impacts have been dire. Estimates suggest that