[30/11/17]
Wonders of the ancient Persia, majestic desert, oasis and an injured foot!
A caravanserai with a water canal from the oasis
Dasht-e Lut is a picturesque desert in the Eastern Iran. It is completely sterile as no living thing can live in the scorching heat at day (up to 70 C in the summer) and freezing cold at night (as low as -20 C in the winter).
One of the hottest and driest places on Earth, Gandom Beryan, is located in this same desert.
Dasht-e Lut, a.k.a. Kaluts desert
In order to get there I had to hire a guide with a car, a noticeable blow to my budget, but it was worth it. Before the desert itself we dropped by Rayen to take a look at an ancient Persian castle:
Hundreds of years ago a cat stepped on a soft brick...
And then we bathed in a real desert oasis near Keshit:
It is a wonderful place, the stream coming from underground gives life to the ravine it flows through and everywhere around it stretched boundless barren desert ground.
There are lots of date palms growing around under which one must walk with care, as their underdeveloped leaves form 10 cm long nail-like thorns when they get dry.
I managed to step on two of these at the same time with the left foot and they went right through the sole of my boot like a hot knife through the butter.
One of them reached the flesh and if it wasn't for the bone it struck, I might've seen it coming right through my foot.
However, it didn't ruin my trip. The pain came in the evening when I left the guide's car on a highway hoping to reach Bam in the same day. Bam is famous for its dates and a historical castle, nowadays ruined by an earthquake.
By that time my foot got swollen and started to hurt much more.
Nighttime hitchhiking turned out to be even worse than usual, but after 40 unpleasant minutes I hitched a ride. The driver even invited me to his house and in the morning drove me (I couldn't walk too well) to the highway so I could continue my journey to the south.
More pics:
Previous post: Iran, hitchhiking Mashhad - Kerman
Check out my travel blog:
Iran: 11, 12, 13
Tajikistan: 7, 8, 9, 10
Kyrgyzstan: 4, 5, 6
Kazakhstan: 1, 2, 3