A detour for Badab-e Surt

18-24 May

From Bandar-e Gaz we head for a big detour through the Albors mountains, to visit Badab-e Surt, a natural wonder. The route finally ends in Sari, only 80 km West from Bandar-e Gaz. However, visiting Badab-e Surt is also an excuse to ride through the mountains, that we like so much more than the plains north of the mountains, with the crowdy towns, highways and cars.

The mountains are supposed to be much quieter, but on the Friday that we ride southward again they are definitely not. We climb on a road from Galugah through the jungle to a pass. It is steep and above all it is Friday. It is also Ramazan, so we didn’t expect a lot of people to go picnicking, but there are, massive amounts. The whole population of Galugah seems to be on its way on this one road. The forest is blue from kebab fire smoke and the road is filled with mad Iranians in cars and on motorcycles. Every single person deems it necessary to greet us, shout in our left ear or try to scare us off. Adolescents on motor cycles cut off our way, ride towards us to scare us and make as much noise as possible. At the same time the road is narrow and very steep with longer stretches of 12%. Usually I am not nerved by this type of behavior at all, but being shouted at an entire day finally also gets to my nerves. Just beyond the pass the road becomes more quite and when we follow an unpaved road for a few hundred meters we are suddenly in paradise, away from all the noise. We find a perfect spot in a lush green piece of grass. It has been a long time that we could put our tent on juicy grass. The spot is almost perfect. Again at 11 pm we get a surprise visit, this time by the Wizard of Oz who shines with his magic stick on our tent. After 10 minutes of asking questions in Farsi and answers in English he gives up and leaves us alone. Most likely we have taken his usual sleeping spot.

Our super quiet, juicy grass camping spot after a day full of shouting Iranians on motorcycles and in cars

The next day brings us to an agricultural area in a valley with a big muddy river, of which the water is used to irrigate the surrounding rice fields. It is beautiful and green and above all very very quite. There are hardly any cars on the road and at times the road is very very steep. The fact that the road is so quite brings about a slight problem. There are quite some villages, but we do not find one that has a shop that sells fresh produce. So, no cucumber-tomato salad on the menu for tonight ☹. We do have a lot of biologically produced bread, that was a kind gift of one of the few car drivers. Bread is never a problem.

Rice fields and quite roads

A crazy cemetry

Quiet and very steep roads

In the last village before the pass we try for water but the complete village is empty. Really strange. Well, one car drives through the village and Martin waves with our empty water bottles and although the gesture is initially not clear, the car stops after a few hundred meters and turns back. The driver invites Martin to his house to fill the water bottles and I try to have a conversation with his wife while we are waiting. His wife is really happy to be able to help us and excited to meet strangers in her mountain village and she asks me if we need something else. I type tomatoes and cucumber in Google translator and oh wonder, a bag with cucumbers and tomatoes is taken from the car, plus some fresh salad, fruits, bread and a herb omelet. We are excited and so is the woman. She embraces us when we say goodbye. After that the road continues unpaved and a few hundred meters under the pass at 2400 m altitude we find a good spot for camping.

Farmer family that let us camp on their land

Camping on 2400 m altitude

The next day we continue to the pass and then descend into the valley at the south side of the mountains. We are back in the desert and it is so beautiful. We also pass a village where we buy loads of fresh fruit and vegetables, that we finally don’t need because in the next village, where we put up our tents in a garden we are invited for diner by the local tailor, who obviously wants to practice speaking English and show us his atelier. We are eating lunch at the edge of the village in someone’s shady garden and we are trying to contact the owner to ask for permission to camp. People tell us that the owner is an old grumpy man, who will get angry. But he doesn’t show up when we knock on the door of his house, so we take the risk and put up our tent. We do not get disturbed by the grumpy old man during the night, but in honor of Ramazan the local mosque produces several times nasty noises during the night which are commented by the local dogs.

Beautiful ride down towards the desert

I am not sure what these are doing here, in the desert.....

The ladies of the tailor atelier

Camping in the garden of the grumpy old man

The next day we make one of the most scenic tours so far. We climb 800 m through beautiful mountainous desert with lots of colors and then have a spectacular steep unpaved ride down into the valley of Badab-e Surt. We find a super nice camping spot along the quite road on the board of a mountain stream and from there we visit the terraces of Badab-e Surt. Not everyone respects the beauty of this place. A guy on a motorcycle rides straight through the beautiful terraces.

Unexpected scenic tour to Badab-e Surt:

Schneekettenpflicht?

Badab-e Surt Natural Springs:

Our near to perfect camping spot near Badab-e Surt. It has its own mountain stream in which we can wash ourselves and some clothes. The spot can be easily seen from the road, where no-one passes anyway, apart from a German retired couple, travelling through the Middle East in a big camper-truck.

It then takes us another two days of up and down to finally arrive again in the plains of the Caspian sea. We stay with Farzane and her parents in Sari, a ‘small’ town with 300’000 inhabitants.  

Rice fields on our way to Sari

Cheerful Sari! In a week or so, we need to return here for visa extension...