Western Iran - Iran - page 172

CROSSING THE IRAN-IRAQ BORDER
Much of Iraq is still deadly, with visitors risking kidnap or worse. However, conditions are less dire in the northern-
most area of Iraqi Kurdistan, which has been virtually independent from Baghdad since the early 1990s. The Haj
Omran border post near Piranshahr , southwest of Naqadeh, has twice been declared open (and later closed), so
check with your embassy in Iran or Lonely Planet's Thorntree ( www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree ) before taking this
route.
Further south, borders at Mehran (accessed via 11am) and Khosravi (via the oasis town of Qasr-e-Shirin) remain
popular with bomb-dodging Iranian pilgrim buses heading for the great Shiite shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf.
Both are open to locals only. Our advice is avoid all three border areas as a number of foreigners have been taken in-
to custody by twitchy Iranian border guards, even near the Piranshahr crossing.
Lake Orumiyeh
Like the Dead Sea, huge Lake Orumiyeh (6000 sq km) is so super-salty that you just can't
sink. A Unesco Biosphere Reserve since 1976, it's becoming increasingly shallow (max-
imum seasonal depth 16m) now that the Zarinarud, a major feeder river, has been diverted
to slake Tabriz's growing thirst. Some worry that the lake will soon be as dead as the Aral
Sea. Currently the only life-form it supports directly is the very primitive, virtually trans-
parent artimesia worm. But that's enough to attract plenty of seasonal migratory birds,
notably flamingos (spring). And the worms are commercially harvested for fish-meal.
Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and founder of Iran's Ilkhanid Mongol dyn-
asty, had his treasury on Kabudi Island in the middle of the lake. His burial there in 1265
was accompanied by the wholesale sacrifice of virgins, as demanded by the custom of the
day. Tourist access is limited to occasional one-off Friday excursions organised by ALP
Tours in Tabriz ( Click here ) .
The lake's hard-to-access eastern coastline is starkly barren; the vivid blue waters con-
trast with jagged, sun-blasted rocks and parched mud-flat islands. The western coast is
greener but orchards stop well short of the shore.
The stylish Bari ( 0433-322 2960; www.bari.ir ; s/d US$110/160; ) , where
water is deep enough for floating, is one of the few lakeside 'resorts'. Boat rides here cost
from US$10. The Bari is 2km from Qushchu village; the taxi drivers know how to find it.
More accessible Bandar-e Golmankhaneh is a 2km strip of mud flats 17km east of Oru-
miyeh where local boy-racers burn Paykan rubber showing off to a crowd of summer
weekenders. It's eerily lonely and atmospheric on a stormy winter's day.