Kashan – Maranjab Desert

April 23, 2017

I travelled back to Kashan for one last visit before heading to Tehran to catch my flight out of Iran. One of the reasons for stopping in Kashan was to visit the mountain village of Abyaneh. The other was to make a day trip out to the Maranjab desert.

Maranjab Desert

Photo taken by Ellen from https://travellingtheworldsolo.com

Our first stop, just before reaching the desert, was to stop by a particularly friendly group of camels.

Maranjab Desert

Photo taken by Ellen from https://travellingtheworldsolo.com

At first this guy was quite stand-offish.

Maranjab Desert

Photo taken by Ellen from https://travellingtheworldsolo.com

But he came around eventually and was happy to receive a bit of scratch on the nose.

Maranjab Desert

My friend Ellen was also quite adept at making friends with the camels. I asked them to turn to face the camera and they obliged.

Maranjab Desert

Maranjab Desert

Of course the reality is that the these camels only came up to us because they thought that we would give them food. We gave them a few pieces of bread which they seemed very happy with.

Maranjab Desert

Maranjab Desert

We let the camels be and moved on towards Namak Salt Lake. A trip out to this salt lake is always included in the day trips from Kashan out to the Maranjab desert.

Maranjab Desert

I think that the salt lake changes its appearance a lot over the course of the year. In summer when the sun is baking hot, any moisture that makes its way to the surface quickly evaporates leaving the salt crust behind. But during winter, the moisture tends to stick around for longer and the salt flats are a little muddy.

Maranjab Desert

The lake is a remnant of the Paratethys sea, which started to dry from the Pleistocene period, leaving the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea and other bodies of water. The lake has a surface area of about 1,800 square kilometres or 690 square miles, but most of this is dry. Water only covers 1 square kilometre. The lake only reaches a depth between 45 cm to 1 metre.

Maranjab Desert

The Paratethys sea was a large shallow sea that stretched from the region north of the Alps over Central Europe to the Aral Sea in Central Asia. The water entering the lake now comes from the Qom River. The inflow is very low with the Qom river some times having a flow rate as low as 4 m³/s.

Maranjab Desert

Photo taken by Ellen from https://travellingtheworldsolo.com

We left the salt lake and continued driving east to reach the edge of the desert and its rolling sand dunes. We drove for a further 15mins around the lake before the sand dunes appeared on the right side of the road.

Maranjab Desert

Photo taken by Ellen from https://travellingtheworldsolo.com

It was the first time in my life that I had ever seen a desert with endless rolling sand dunes like this. I have worked in some very hot regions of Australia, but they have always been close enough to the coast so that there is still some rainfall from tropical storms. Iran is definitely the driest part of Earth that I have visited.

Maranjab Desert

The temperatures in Iran can reach up to 50°C during the summer months and there is very little rain and snow.

Maranjab Desert

The desert soil is covered with sand and pebbles and heavy wind-storms frequently occur. These storms can quickly alter the landscape and create sand dunes reaching up to 40 m in height.

Maranjab Desert

Maranjab Desert

While walking up one of the sand dunes I found this little plant desperately trying to establish himself in the sand dune. It must be so tough for any plant to establish itself here. Little rainfall, sandy soils and heavy winds always trying to cover you up with a layer of fresh sand.

Maranjab Desert

Maranjab Desert

Maranjab Desert

I spent about an hour walking up and down the dunes, taking photos and enjoying the sunshine. The weather on this day was perfect, probably close to 20°C. Visiting this desert in summer would be unbearably hot and I think not at all enjoyable. Definitely another reason to visit Iran in the spring.

Maranjab Desert

2 comments

  1. Comment by German Bonilla Rosso

    German Bonilla Rosso Reply September 26, 2017 at 5:25 am

    Hello! Looks like a great trip. Did you book any special tour to Maranjab?

    • Comment by Hayden

      Hayden Reply September 26, 2017 at 12:52 pm

      Hey,
      I went on a tour that was arranged by my accommodation. I stayed at a lovely place called Sadeghi House. You can read a bit about it at http://backpackertrack.com/middle-east/iran/kashan-travel-guide/

      I just asked them whether they had someone that could take me and my friend and they organised a driver. The driver was lovely. I really recommend the accommodation and also the tour. Though if you only have time for one day trip from Kashan, I would choose Abyaneh instead.
      -Hayden

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