Me, Shahin, Hamed, Parisa and Maryam, we started on this morning early. After Hamed's general one hour dellay, and me waiting of course !
Chaloos road, Kelardasht and the Mazichal, it was a great misty day a lot of fog passing making the forest more mysterious, and a lot of clouds under us.
The colors where so much different than spring and Kelardasht was greener.
Recently this place has became one of my favorites. I hope everyone who goes there will take good care of the nature and not to destroy it :(

Our group :
Me, Iman, Shahin, Mahyar and Amir Sooki.
There is something to say about these guys. Mahyar is a great guy; he never gets tired of driving, exploring and photography. He is always ready for a new trip and he has a great sense of humor.
Iman is a light guy. Always ready for sports, trips, eating and programs that there are a lot of people, he is fast; just tell him lets go there, and he is ready in few minutes, also he is placid and he soon becomes a favorite person.
Shahin is also a guy that is always ready for photography, trips and eating. I didn’t see him bee tired after driving long distances. His eyes can be red and you will see him taking photos. Everything is a subject in his eyes. He has a serious outlook with a great sense of humor.

We had a very long way to go, we started early from Tehran. We planned the route as bellow :
Day one : Tehran – Saveh – Hamedan – Kermanshah
Day two : Kermanshah – Kerend – Sahne – Ghoory Ghale cave
Day three : Ghoory Ghale – Paveh – Sirvan – Oraman - Marivan
Day four : Marivan – Border – Marivan – Sanandaj – Hamedan – Saveh - Tehran

Day one:
This parts of Iran have cold to extremely cold winters and moderate summers, but this year had been different, no rain for a long time and short winter trailed by summer instead of spring. Unfortunately the nature was not what we expected and was less green and almost dry, the farmers had under grown fruits. But it was still great for us to see this places and the lovely people who live there.
We started our trip

Day two:

Day three:

Day four:
We woke, seeking for a place to have breakfast we went on a road west, the Zarivar lake and the birds where so tempting we spend an hour there to take some photos, then we continued seeking a place for eating, until we reached the border of Iraq, there was a small kiosk, they served us eggs and juice for breakfast. After this we drove to Sanandaj had lunch there and then a long drive to Hamedan, Saveh and Tehran.

The lake is situated in the Kurdistan Province and has a length of 5 km and a maximum width of 1.6 km and lies west of Marivan. The lake's water is sparklingly fresh and has a maximum depth of 6 m.

See:
[Kermanshah]
[Iran Tourism]

Professor Misagh's students had an exam on this day, and he had to be in the session for them, where ? Near Ghazvin city 100Km far.
He came, this time with that old big slow car (Nissan Patrol), and said we can go to the session and then go out somewhere for taking some photos. Thanks to the great programs of the government ! they had made a mess in the roads of Velenjak, changing the direction and we where stuck in the traffic for an hour. Anyway he reached the session when it was finished.
On return we went to Chaloos road, a shite lunch and to Dizin lower parking (about 1600m - 1900m), no special photos, there was a beautifull green grass ski resort for summer, then from the very rough road we went up to 3300m and home.

Mazichal is the name of a forest located between the Caspian sea and the Takht-e-Soleiman massif mountain range, this forest strip starts at about 0m up to 2500m.

Where is Mazichal ? On the Tehran-Chaloos road 40Km before Chaloos there is a town called Marzanabad, from here there is a road to Kelardasht, Hasankif. A road branch exits from Hasankif toward the north (Abbas abad road), few Kilometers after Hasankif there is a small branch up to the hills and forest, before entering the forest there is a gate to insure people won’t go for hunting.
To be able to go to some rough parts in the heights I recommend going with a 4W SUV. Your trip can be limited without a SUV, unless you don’t have a problem climbing the hills.
There is a barrier between the forest and the place people can go, it’s not hard to pass it, I didn’t get the reason, to block the wild animals come out ? the cows of the locals not to go in the forest ? Or maybe the people not to go and destruct the nature ?

This was my first to Mazichal, Mahyar a friend and photographer, came to pick up me and Shahin with his Nissan Patrol, we started the trip and it was almost dark when we reached Mazichal. We made our tent in a place on the hill, ate lunch and went to sleep.
Early morning Shahin and me woke and when we went out it was unbelievable, a thick fog was going on, and a thick layer of clouds beneath us, covering the northern strip of cities, farms … and Caspian sea and shores. There was a layer of foster on the tent and the ground.
In few minutes the fog went the fog went out, but the clouds are always there like a layer of cream down below, and I heard most people who visit this place say they were above the clouds.
Soon we found a bird nest in a hole near our place, a Red start couple and they had chicks in the hole, they were going and bringing food for the chicks all the time, and we started getting closer to them and taking photos.
There were a lot of brilliant subjects; Birds, forest, special pine trees, few local houses and stables, mountains, sun coming up from the clouds…
We went up, with the SUV it’s possible to go south to higher than 2500m and pass the forest line. There is a great view of The northern layer of the Takht-e-Soleiman peaks such as Kormakooh(4020m), Kalahoo(4431m)…
After exploring before the sunset we headed home toward Tehran. We made the plan for a trip to a part of west Iran (Kordestan and Zagros mounts) in the next weeks. And Mahyar realized he doesn't like his current 80-400m lens and needs the Nikon 200-400mm for his bird missions.

I highly recommend seeing :
[Takht-e-Soleiman Massif ]
[Kalahoo (4431m) ]
[ Mazigardan(4140m) ]

A trip with Ali to Dubai, he is an old friends for more than 10 years we have lived for 100years, going everywhere, doing things from not studying in the university to spying...
On this trip the goal was eating and sleeping a lot (as for the university exam days).
It's so damn hot there I wanted to take some photos I felt my skull is beginning to smash under the sun, mmm no special photos.

Shahin called me and told me about the show, he came after me and we went to the city center.
We saw some friends and there was a place with old cameras and stuff, I took some photos from there. Nothing else was intresting or special.

Our group :
Me, Iman, Amir Asgari, Shahin, Mahyar and Amir Sooki.

We had a very long way to go say 1000Km, Shahin, Sooki and Mahyar had started before us, I left something at home I had to go back, thanks to The evening traffic of Tehran ! you have to give a big toll for, believe it or not but sometimes it takes one two or even three hours driving in the crazy traffic before you can completely be out of Tehran. This led us to be a hundred kilo meters behind them, I had to break the rules and drive over speeded to be able to get this Mr. Shahin finally in Isfahan, after a small rest we started again early, toward Shiraz, before Shiraz is Pasargadae.

Because of his grave; his majesty Cyrus the great, father of Persia and Iran and being an ancient historical site, (Pasargadae was a city in ancient Persia, and is today an archaeological site and one of only five of Iran's UNESCO World Heritage Sites) see Pasargadae, it’s a site for tourists from around the world, remains of the city and castle beside the information some guilds give, a lot for photography… It’s a shame but it was the first time I went there (an English guy said to me last year). Unfortunately these sites that show the heritage of Persia and the reality of Iran are hardly tried to be shadows and faded by the current regime, so things are so basic and not cared at this kind of sites. Only the some genuine people especially those of Shiraz have saved the sites till now. I think if someone is interested there is more to see on the net than the information I can give now. If I have time I will make some documentaries.

There were more beside the historical subjects for us, birds ! specially we found a Hoopoe's nest there, the parents where feeding the chicks and we where running after them to take photos.

This is a part of the Shiraz trip.

Eram Garden is a famous historic Persian garden in Shiraz, Iran.

Bagh-é Eram (Garden of Paradise) is a large garden with a wonderful looking palace in it. Built in the Qajar era, the compound was used by the feudal elite and tribal leaders of Fars Province, and later used by the royalty of Iran.

The compound came under the protection of Pahlavi University during the Pahlavi era, and was used as the College of Law.

It is today still a property of Shiraz University, and is open to the public as a museum, protected by Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization.

This is a part of the Shiraz trip
Perspolis, Parse, Takht-e-Jamshid, Parsa... See : [Perspolis]
See : [Parsa]

Almost all photographers, visitors and tourists who come here make a lot of photos, but with some effort it's possible to make some with a different view. I'm not so proud, I lost some parts, it needed more time, better weather conditions, ... to take good photos I believe it needs many visiting. Reading books, the details bellow each part ... knowing the parts and the story behind each one before photography is a goal. Good for Shirazi people, they can visit the place whenever they want :)

Our group :
Me, Iman, Amir Asgari, Shahin, Mahyar and Amir Sooki.

This is about a trip we had to Shiraz and to visit many places on the way.
Day one : (Evening ) Tehran – Qom – Kashan - Isfahan
Day two : Isfahan –Passargodee - Shiraz
Day three and four : Shiraz historical places

• Parse or Takhte Jamshid
• Eram Garden
• Shiraz historical Houses
• Shiraz Bazar
• Vakil Mosque

This is a part of the Shiraz trip, Isfahan is on the route, we rested there for few hour and we took some night photos.
without doubt Isfahan is the most beautiful city of Iran.
See : [Isfahan]

This park is located under Kolakchal mount, north Tehran, a great place having a nice view of Tehran. Good for bird watching. Also the normal route for climbing up Kolakchal starts here.
Me, Melinda and Shahin and Shahin's friend went there for a walk and taking some photos on the white cheeked Bulbul.

Nothing special, just a one day trip to Ali's garden, there where few white blooms for taking photos of.

Me and Misagh heard about this lake or and desert called Mighan near Arak city and about the birds living there.
Well he studies in Arak I went there with him one day so after he is finished with the university we check the lake.
After hours of searching we realized we are making circles around the lake, visiting the villages and the desert grounds there but we never can get any close to the lake...
Tired and exhausted finally we found a route that went on the river somehow but nothing was there ! No birds. Some photos of the lake and back to home.

The shortest way to see a perfect sand desert (if you live in Tehran) is to drive some hundred kilometers south to Kashan city (an old historical city) and hardly find your way into the desert called Maranjab.
This time Shahin came after me, Iman and Amir, midnight we went to Qom and Naeen, we had breakfast, the sun was coming out.
Hardly we found our way toward a palace inside the desert.

notes :
Most people won’t believe you can see a lot of trees and half meters of snow inside a desert, but it was like this. As the sand was under the snow or it was wet, so I didn’t see anything close to what I had in mind of a desert, anyway to see that you shouldn’t go there at winter ;)
Maranjab Desert and Salt Lake are located in a 50-km distance of the northeastern Aran-Bidgol city of Kashan. Huge dunes and the beautiful, unique salt lake are among the attracting phenomena of Maranjab Desert.

Statement : average height of Maranjab desert from sea surface is about 850 m . major Parts of this desert covered by sandy hills and grits . this desert has good wildlife because Of existing enough water and food . wildlife of the desert includes : wolf , reynard , eagle, Sandy fox , sandy cat , different lizards , iguana , scorpion and so on . Supplementary comments : Maranjab desert attains to " Aran and Bidgol salt river " from North , masileh desert and " Hoz soltan " and " Hoz mareh " salt river from west , band-e-Rig desert and desert national park from east and "Aran and Bidgol " and " Kashan city " From south .
Maranjab desert has famous with four point : 1- inn 2- quandary island 3 – salt river 4- sandy hills. [See]

On the way we saw some exhausted guys returning, they had came there by walking, they had camped in the desert the last night and they felt so cold, they asked us to let them warm themselves in the car for some minutes. These guys where adventurous.
Iman had a map and details, he was telling things to us it was like he has lived here a lifetime.
The road is on the sand, you should go straight, going off road has the danger of sinking in the sands or swamps. We saw a truck going down in the sand…
The car can have problems, sand and mud can enter the air system, and the engine can choke. As Shahin’s car had this problem.
Following Iman’s advise we reached the palace after all. On the way we checked a part of the salt lake, there is a huge salt lake in this desert, [check the maps] and salt mines. The palace is like a paradise inside the desert, this was a part of the silk road and caravans used to rest here. There is a small lake with sweet water, geese and trees.
beside it wasn’t really looking like a real desert at that time I could take special photos! what more nice than snow inside the desert ?

Me and Misagh went to Motel ghoo (his villa) , there had been a very hard snow specially in the north, a lot of trees where broken in the forests due the snow weight.
Not a short trip but shortly :

• On the Chaloos road everything was frozen we took few night photos of the road and the icicles around the tunnels.
• There had been some impaired to his villa too, some broke things and a fallen big tree. It took one or two days repairing them.
• We made some not special photos in the Caspian beaches.
• On the last day we went to Tonekabon city, around the 3000river (Sehezar river) and the bridge over it there were hundreds of gulls ! Enough for me to take desirable photos with the Canon 18-85 f/4-5.6 IS.
• On a foggy, rainy day we went to Ramsar city, and Javaherdeh. Javaherdeh road was amazing! Starting in fog, gaining more height it became so thick and then a thick snow beside the road on the forests and steep slopes, hardly in the ice and snow I reached the top. I took some very pleasing photos here.
• On the return night, when we started from Motel ghoo a heavy snow had already started even at 0m Chaloos. We entered the Chaloos road, after a short time the slushy snow cover on the ground was few centimeters and we were still on the very low parts of this road; almost near 0m, and the high points are at 2500m !
  Thanks god ! Nobody dares to be on the road at that time, it’s really dangerous and risky to go on this Chaloos road in this conditions and most of the time the police closes the road until there is less danger !
  Being lucky that night the police hadn’t closed the road, but they had a checkpoint and they said I have to put on chains to let me go up.
  We had to put the chains on the wheel in that snowy cold wet conditions. Anyway after coming out of their site I took the chain out, the snow became so high on the road, quiet! A priceless night! The road amazingly was all mines.
  Thanks to our driving and mechanical skills we were at home with no problem, when I was home the car’s moustache was so funny! A layer of ice had covered all the front parts like a cast, and icicles where hanging under the moustache, despite being so tired and almost falling I made a photo of it.

About Javaherdeh :
Javaherde (Joordeh) is a village of Ramsar city, Mazandaran, Iran. Located 27Km from Ramsar, at above 2000m on the northern slopes of Alborz Mountains.
This village is near and Sorkh Tal and Samamoos mount.

Firuzkooh is the most east city of the Tehran province, there is this road called “FiroozKooh road“ connecting Tehran to the east part of the Mazandaran province and the Caspian sea, starting from Tehran the road passes FiroozKooh city after 150Km - 190Km then enters Mazandaran province, after FiroozKooh there is a small village called Veresk, famous for the architecture of a railway bridge called Veresk bridge.

notes:
Mazandaran province - Savadkooh county - Veresk district, Veresk is 250Km far from Tehran at about 2400m to 2500m
The railway including the Veresk bridge was made at the king Reza-shah era by the Germans.

Details on the veresk bridge : Designed and made 70years ago, by an Austrian engineer called Aalter Inger, he fell in love in with this place and he wanted to be buried at Veresk area after his death and now his grave is in this region.

Taleghan is a valley about 140km far from Tehran. It has a beautiful nature and is one of my favorite places to go and take pictures.
Shah alborz mountain 4125m lays north to Taleghan valley. You would know these and more if you read my other entries.
I heard a lot about Taleghan serious winters from people who live there, I was looking for a time to go there on a winter, so this time I did.

Before the winter becomes serious we planned the trip, to Taleghan for a one night stay at Razie and Donya (Iman’s cousins) villa.
We where the usual Taleghani group : Me, Iman, Amir and the cousins girls. It was also Donya’s birthday.
We got on the road 5am, when we entered the valley we realized the beauty and the cold, down to -20C (day) everything was almost frozen.
The lake and other frozen sights, the mountain and totally everything was perfect for me to take photos, I wish I had better lenses at that times.
Getting dark, the coldness became incredible. The only way to survive was being inside the fireplace. When we puffed huuuuu even inside the fire in the house, there was steam coming out... So we returned and we where back home 8pm.

I enjoy taking night photos from the mountains specially when there is a full moon. However the target has always been around Dizin and Shemshak, the sky is clear, the snow on the mountains has a perfect reflex, a lot of stars, no people, available to go up by car and close to Tehran… perfect for me!
This time it was after the first snow covering the Alborz that year.
Hey Misagh get up lets go... we took some desirable shots, but I couldn’t reach the 3300m point. I realized under the snow layer there was a perfect ice, the car didn’t climb on the steep road anymore and it began to go backward. Not so easy to turn the car, we came back to Tehran.

Before the snow storms begin at Takht-e-Soleiman massif we took our chances to make a camp at the entrance of the climbing rout to Sarchal glacier.
At 2400m-2500m there was no signs of winter yet. Me and Iman felt excited to climb up to Sarchal shelter at about 3750m but the others were not so we went for a drive on Abbas abad road, Kelardasht, Chaloos and Tehran.
Moving and taking photos…

We where : Misagh, Me, Iman, Shahin, Amir and Misagh's truck
See Takht-e-Soleiman massif

Well this is Tehran, this is Tochal massif mountains (up to 3964m) covering the north part of the city as a big wall.
I wonder not many people living in Tehran know or ever think of what's behind this mountains !
On the other side there are some lovely villages as Shahrestanak, Ahar, Eagle (Egol).
This places are about 30min far from Tehran (not in bus and f... minibus), having beautiful autumn, winter, spring and maybe summer landscapes and views specially the view of Tochal north face.
It takes about 30mins for me to go there, but with a minibus or bus much much more. Friday 2007/11/2 early morning i met Shahin an old friend and photographer mate, we joined the photographer guys of the akkasee.com took the way by a minibus to Ahar village.
Imagine more than 30 people with cameras and equipments taking photo around the villages, on the slopes in the gardens... oh !
Thanks to the guys I had a very nice time. Trip reports can be found on their web site.
See : [about Tochal]

We three, Me, Misagh and Iman where talking about what we can do the next day that was the weekend. We confirmed getting out early and a random destination, I bet each one of us was thinking the others will sleep and not wakeup GREAT!!!
Beside all the odds we all woke and called, I went after the guys, we picked some tea, and as random I went to Haraz road and then Baladeh road, we had not explored there yet. Driving and Taking some pictures … there is a beautiful river and landscape there. But not enough for us, we came back to Haraz road toward Tehran, I wanted to go to Nandal, a village near the north face of Damavand.
Hardly and not for sure I found a small branch that seemed to be it.
This branch started at about 1200m and raised steeply up, spiral. After a short time it became a dirt road, a bit amazing the road sides were like walls, and at about 1600m the majesty of the volcano; Damavand (5609m) appeared and there was a very deep narrow valley down to 1100 or 1200m, extended to near Damavand.
The road continued raising up to 2500m at Nandal. What a great place!

some notes:
Haraz road is a road that passes a part of Alborz mountains and connects Tehran to Amol city and the Caspian sea.
We had a creamy breakfast on the road, I guess it’s Iman’s best memory of the trip.
The river along Balade road is called Haraz river.
The Nandal road is asphalt between 1200m and 1400m, 1400m to 2500m is not asphalt. The Nandal branch from Haraz road is at the point: about 60km before Amol or about 100km after Tehran. As I know there is no Nandal sign, just a nonsense sign was there like “welcome to the nature”. The dirt road is about 20km .

Nandal is a village located in front of the north face of Damavand volcano (5609m) Nandal at 2500m is on the bases of the steep slopes of another mountain, there is a deep valley between Damavand and Nandal, the gardens and farms of the villagers are located at this place, this valley turns into a deep narrow crevasse heading east.
Damavand’s cone covered by the glaciers and snow, the volcanic valley, farms, Nandal half in fog, the eagles flying above the valley... It was a brilliant place.

The last part of this trip was on the dirt road, on return there was a small stream passing the road and going into a narrow valley, the stream was almost covered by spiders webs. Some photos there, and back to Tehran.

It takes less than an hour to reach the upper ski parking of dizin at 3300m from Tehran.
A place me and my friends endup escaping a hard days exhaustion to get some freeness, space, view and fresh cold air. It's a pleasant driving for me and Misagh.

In this cold sad windy evening with Misagh I took some landscapes of sun set behind the Alborz mountains... cold breeze shows the summer is over, soon there will be snow here, harsh happiness will come again.
Tribute to the Led Zeppelin song "In the evening" I had a great time on this road listetning to their music.
Check out the links : [Koloon Bastak] and [Seechal]

Pecs, Hungary is a beautiful city beside the beautifull forest covered hills of Mecsek.
A lot of nice old buildings in the city, there is a palace thing inside the city, churches. And the Mecsek itself is great project birds, and lush ! I took some photos last year, degraded by the nasty Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS, unwanted distortion, not so sharp to be honest it sometimes made great pics anyway, specially handhelds at night... anyway I dont like most of the photos I took last year in Pecs.

Budapest is a beautiful city, a lot of antique buildings and castles. but what makes it special is the Danube passing from the middle, and the antique bridges over Danube.
There are some big islands inside the Danube (Budapest) as Margitsziget and Sziget, there is a lot of fun on this islands, the Sziget one has some special music festivals each year bands like Iron maiden...
Not enough and desirable, but I took some photos there.

There is a red bull airshow in Budapest over Danube, I had the chance to be at the show last year, and F... with Canon 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS !
The American pilot from the top gun won the race, the Hungarian pilot got the fourth place, the race pattern was some impressive maneuvers over Danube and under the bridges... . There where some shows between the races as well.

We were : Me, Melinda and Reka
Villany is a beautiful place, town close to Pecs.
A lot of gardens, and grape fields that makes one of the finest wines.
There are shops and cellars, people can visit the cellar, test and choose their taste.
I took many photos around Villany including my favorite sunset.

When I first arrived to Pecs Melinda surprised me by taking me to the airport for a flight on a Cessna
I love planes, and I could take some aerial photos from Pecs and Mecsek that normally I can't do. Rita was with us, it was her very first time on a plane, and she was sitting on the first officers place, and she had the chance to have some small controls on the plane.