Overland Trip part 3

8/14/2019 Overland Trip part 3

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ON ARRIVAL at the border post toIran it was pouring with rain. Wesoon found out that the Turkishinsurance had expired two dayspreviously and we were already abit anxious about this crossing, sohaving to deal with this problem justmade matters worse.

This was to be financially painful,$150 less in our budgets for Iranand we already had only a limitedamount of cash, as you cannot

use ATMs anywhere in the country.A little poorer we passed throughthe gate where we were met withsurprising enthusiasm.

You and your family are one weeklate for the New Year celebration.Stamp! I am sure you will enjoy Iran

and you are very welcome. Stamp!You dont have any whisky in those

jerrycans do you?We were in Iran. That was easy

and not what we had expected.First stop was the Elgoli Park inTabriz, a place we were told youcould camp with Iranians.

This is very true; Iranians aremaster picnickers and campers. Thewomen generally stayed inside thetent and shouted out translations totheir husbands in conversation withus; Milan and I, that is.

picnics and friends for lifeEven after midnight, they arrivedwith the family to have foodand a water pipe; it is a socialgathering and very nice to be a

part of. Many Iranians gatheredaround our Land Rovers to seehow we lived and to probe for ouropinions on their country.

Tabriz was to be a quick stop-over for a few days to get ourinsurance sorted and to get a feel

for the country. Getting aroundwas not a real problem; all signsare in both Farsi and English andthe roads are surprisingly good...but the traffic is not; it was notuncommon to have oncomingtraffic on your side, and the citydriving took some getting used to.In fact, it does flow; you just needto figure out how fast and in whatdirection.

We camped only one night inElgoli Park and, after being rippedoff by a kind Iranian with a friendwho owned a hotel, we landed ina cheap central hotel where webumped into a Greek man and hisJapanese wife, Kosta and Chi,who asked if they could get a liftto Tehran.

We had no problem with this,Kosta had travelled extensivelyall over the world for the past 27years so it was very interesting forus to hear his stories and get tipson places we were to visit soon.This lift was extended for the entire

length of our stay in Iran and webecame very close friends withthis special couple and I think wealways will be.

Before we headed on we neededto fill up, which turned out to bequite a procedure. After finding afuel station with diesel the queue

was fun and long.The truck drivers just pushed

us to the front. We knew that thecost was cheap, but not this crazy $1.50 for 100 litres. In anotherplace we filled up we swapped a

Bic pen for 300 litres of diesel andonce it was even free.

This was drivers heaven. Westopped to quickly visit Zanjan andto see the building with the highestbrick dome in the world and thenwe went on to Tehran.

Tehran is a city none of uswanted to spend time in. Ourmission for Tehran, however, wasto get our Indian visa. We plannedto bypass Pakistan by boat andTehran was also a place we wereto find out how to do this.

We camped by the holy shrine

of Khomeini on the southern sideof town where other overlandershad stayed. It was pleasant enoughand very popular, with goodcommunications to the city centre.

Our first try at the Indian embassy

proved to be a little frustrating aswe were told that because we werewith our own vehicles we could notget a visa. I butted in and said thatwe were filming and writing for anumber of magazines about our lifeon the road as two families.

This helped and we had to havean interview the following daywith the consul. After three days,back and forth with the embassy,we had to wait for the decisionwhether we could go. We decidedto carry on travelling and went offtowards Esfahan. We had a stop offin Kashan first to see the beautifulgarden there and some of thetraditional houses.

Kashan was our real first taste ofIranian hospitality. Kosta and Chimet a family and stayed with them the following day the family invitedall of us to move into their houseand stay for a few days.

This was wonderful; wediscussed many aspect of life inIran and discussed our similarities

and differences in religion alarge part of daily life in Iran. TheIranian hospitality is incomparablewith anywhere we have everbeen and we were going toexperience it many timesduring our three months.

HAVING MADEtheir way throughEurope becoming part of a

Kurdish music video along the way the two couples, four children andtwo Defenders of Adventure Family

arrive safely in Iran to continue theiradventure of a lifetime...

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46 January 2009 LAND ROVERmonthly LAND ROVERmonthly January 2009 47

byRichard Poskitt

Top left: Camping in

front of Yazd Mosque.

Top right: The turtle

guards on Kish Island.

Inset: Where are we

exactly?

The families make their way through Iran experiencingsome unbelievable diesel prices and turtle-hatching magic

AN IRANIANADVENTURE

We knew that the fuel costs were cheap, but not

this crazy $1.50 for 100 litres. In another place we

swapped a Bic pen for 300 litres of diesel.

Top left: Lunch on the

beach on Kish Island.

Main picture: A view

from the Towers of

Silence in Yazd.

Inset: A welcoming

sign in Tabriz.


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But we had to move on andso we headed for Esfahn. Thiscity was supposed to be the

jewel of Iran and we were lookingforward to it.

Esfahn is the city of beautifulbridges and parks, it spreads outfrom the river and is very modern.We camped in Bagadir Park and

on the first night we met otheroverlanders from Greece who aretravelling around the world in aDiscovery 3.

When we all set up camp wewere very much the highlight ofthe park; people asked us manyquestions and offered us tea andhome-made biscuits.

The Greek couple were going tostay for a few days but we decidedthat we should meet up again atBam to cross the bandit road toQuetta together in a weeks time.Since we had met other travellersthat said it was fine, we had decidedto drive through Pakistan after all.

We still had to wait for our Indianvisa and now we had to sort out thePakistani visa too. We called theembassies and discovered that wewould get the Indian visa and thatwe did not all have to go back toTehran to get the Pakistani one.

Great! Milan and I bookedourselves on the train to Tehran

the same night and planned on amaximum of two days there beforewe came back.

just follow the donkeyThe train system was reliableand very comfortable; we arrivedin Tehran at 5am and joined aman we met in our carriage formorning coffee and a walk to thecentre of town.

First stop was the Indian Embassyand, after waiting a while, we metwith the consul who said that wehad arrived during a diplomaticspin and our filming was nothing torequire special paperwork for. Our

visas were ready that same day.This done we went off to the

Pakistani Embassy where were told,quite simply, that if we were all notthere we could not possibly havean interview. Irritated beyond beliefwe bought a flight ticket back toEsfahn and travelled back, all eightof us, to Tehran. This really was

the last city in the world I thought Iwould be going to three times.We met a few more overlanders in

a Land Rover and they suggestedthat, due to weather and the factthere was no privacy at all in India,we should take the kids to Africainstead. They had travelled through

Africa for eight months and loved it.We toyed with the idea but let it go

because we were looking forwardto South East Asia. We would,however, have a lot of shipping tosort out to get there.

Back in Tehran we received ourPakistani visas and decided togive the Land Rovers a service

and do a bit of shopping beforewe went to Yazd, the next plannedvisit. Yazd has to be my favouriteplace in Iran; it has a sense ofsimplicity about it and everythingcomes to life after 7pm.

Here we camped outside ofthe popular Silk Road Hotel. Wemet many backpackers and other

overlanders and had a good timediscussing places we were planningto go and have been.

We were also informed about theweather and nightmares of shippingin India and the idea of changingour route popped up again. Still notdiscouraged, the very next day weheard that a bomb had gone off incentral Islamabad.

Were we really going the rightway? We still had a bit to see in Iranso we decided that we would keepan eye on what was going on inPakistan. And so, after extendingour visa, we headed for the coast.

We stopped off in a village to ask

where we could camp. Pia cameon the radio and said: Its not aproblem, just follow the man onthe donkey. We camped just onenight on this mans land wherethe conversation was truly signlanguage. It was magic.

This village was very close to asmall town called Firus Abad. Here

you will find almost every other carto be a Series Land Rover. It wasincredible they were all runningwith bits added here and there andwere looking in pretty good shapeconsidering their age.

an ancient cityThere were, not surprisingly, anumber of Land Rover workshopshere. This is also the town wherewe discovered a small leak on the110s main fuel tank, made by alodged stone between the cradleand the tank. Since it was noturgent and the mud seemed tohold the diesel in OK, we thought

we would fix it later.Kosta suggested that we should

not drive past Persepolis withoutseeing it. We had not originallyplanned to visit Persepolis but weare glad we did; if there is only onereason to visit Iran this is truly it.

It is a well-preserved, ancientcity which was a hub for the

Zoroastrian Empire. The city waslost to the world for centuries untilan excavation in the 30s revealedits marvels of sculpture to theworld. The kids had a chance to runaround and we were able to campnear the guard house for free.

Further towards the coast wedrove through one of the mostbeautiful deserts I have ever seen. Itwas getting hotter and, not havingan air conditioner in the 110, Lina,I and our kids were beginning tosuffer; the air outside was like the airfrom a hair-dryer.

Just to top it off, by the coastthe humidity was high and it

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Top left: A gathering of

Land Rovers in Esfahn.

Top right: Queuing at

the fuel station.

Main: Returning from a

swim on Kish.

Inset: Kashan Fin

Garden.

Top left: The man on

the donkey.

Top right: Curious girls

gather around Pia and

the kids.

Inset: A Series Land

Rover not in the best of

shape.


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was going to be sticky fromnow on. We camped on thebeach, not far from the townwhere the boat was to take us

to Kish Island.Kish is a small island off the

coast of Iran. It is a free zone,meaning you can arrive and stayhere for 15 days without the needof an Iranian visa.

It is, however, not the place foroverlanders. In fact we believe wewere the first to ever come here witha foreign vehicle. To get there wetook a ferry boat which was $100per car. This gave us the luxury ofparking in the heat and humidity forsix hours while they loaded it.

The accommodation was non-

existent, so finding a place in the carto sleep was difficult at least forme, so the bonnet of the 110 waswhere I had a good few hours sleep.

After we arrived we went throughthe usual border crossing routines,even though we were still in Iran.

Eventually we were let onto theisland. We had to go to an officeto gain permission to use theinternational beach camp the only

beach, we were told, where menand women could swim together.

We then found out that this hadbeen closed for four years. So,swimming was no longer to be afamily affair because Pia and Linawould be restricted to the women-only beach.

There is, however, a very goodreason for visiting Kish Island; theturtles. This has got to be one ofthe few places in the world wherehawksbill and greenback turtlescome to the shore to lay their eggs.

a sting in the tailWe had the privilege to meeta woman who manages theenvironmental guards protecting

the beaches for the turtles. Weended up staying with the guardsfor three weeks and saw a numberof turtles come to the beach to digand lay their eggs.

In fact, we had them lay their eggsin our hands. The reason we stayeda little longer than planned wasbecause the first of the nests wereready to hatch and we didnt wantto miss it.

So we stayed and not one butfive nests hatched. One nest wasbroken so we had one night, until3am, running up and down thebeach picking up lost baby turtlesand releasing them in the ocean.

It was an experience we willnever forget, but it was a real pitythat the kids did not see most ofit due to the action being very lateat night/early morning when theywere sound asleep.After one of these nights we

set up our blanket for breakfastjust under the shade of the car. Amoment later a scream came fromOliver and everyone rushed over tosee what the problem was.

It was not the normal scream. He

had stood on a scorpion that hadcrept out from under the blanket.

The guards got him and Lina andput them in the pick up while I foundthe documents and the satellitephone. Off to the hospital.

In my haste and shock Ihad picked up only half of thedocuments we might have neededbut, most importantly, I did not grabmy shirt. On arrival at the hospital

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I was not allowed in and, in fact,not allowed on the premises at alltopless. I could not believe it.

Lina and Oliver came out soonafter and said that the scorpionsting was not fatal and he wouldbe all right after the anti-venomvaccination. Hoping that this wasto be the last trip to hospital, Milansoon got an infection in his eye.

He had had a few problems withthis on the journey but now he wasin real pain and could not see. Thedoctor said that he should restbut the humidity camping was nothelping. It was time to get back ontothe mainland.

In the meantime, the situationin Pakistan was not getting any

better; another bomb went off inIslamabad. We had heard from theradio and other travellers that themonsoon was longer and harderthan expected with temperaturesreaching over 50C in Delhi and veryheavy rain in the south. It was notthe right place to go with the kidsso we decided that we would makealternative plans.

After another boat trip our next

stop was Shiraz, the city we justpassed by on our way to the coastand we still did not really have time toenjoy it. Our trip back north throughIran was fairly quick with a stop off inYazd to drop off Kosta and Chi anddo another service on the cars.

The 110 had to have a propshaftknuckle joint replaced, along withthe snorkel having to be refitted. Thelabour was very cheap and, while wewere fixing other bits to the cars, Inoticed another Land Rover outside.

slight change of plansAt closer inspection it was notactually a Land Rover but anIranian copy. Everything looked thesame outside but it had an interior

from a Mitsubishi. It also had anafter-market air conditioner fitted,so I asked the owner where he gotit from being Iranian, he kindlytook us there. All cool now, with ournew Iranian air-conditioner fitted forless than 400.

Suddenly I remembered the leakon the fuel tank and asked if theyknew anywhere that could fix this they did and took me there. The

following morning the 110 was in fora new, custom-designed, 45-litreextra tank and a temporary fix onthe main tank, all for 100.

By now we had only a limitedtime left on our last visa extensionto leave and, due to the Pakistansituation, the police could notguarantee our safety to the borderand through to Quetta. On our lastnight in Yazd we all sat down tohave a serious chat about the tripand where it was going it wassuggested that we should drive toSouth Africa instead.

Lina and I had spent many yearsgrowing up in East Africa and lovedit. We shared stories of what it waslike to see the animals in the wild

and how the people were veryfriendly. Also, it would really be niceto see some old friends.

It would, of course, be the moresensible adventure for the childrenwith less hassle. So, it was set; wewere off to Africa and our spirits werehigh from the exciting twist in ourtrip. Happy with our new destinationwe headed for the Turkishborder and onwards to Africa.

Top left: Laying eggs.

Top right: The Iranian

camping park.

Main: Turtle beach on

Kish Island.

Below, clockwise from

top left: Tightly packed

on the boat; Tuvalie

cooking; The first light

for a baby turtle.

LRM

Top left: Camping with

local interest.

Top right: One of

Esfahns beautiful

bridges.

Inset: The Land Rover

that is not quite a Land

Rover.

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Overland Trip part 3