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The latest from the Iranian Golestan Tour April 2008 by Ian Green The above encounter took place near the end of Greentours visit to Tooran, a vast area of central Iranian desert and mountain protected as a wildlife refuge. We also visited other national parks in the Alborz Mountains and the edge of Turcoman steppe in a two and half week trip where we never saw another foreigner let alone a tourist during the whole trip. Indeed we found that in some places we were the first visitors since a similar Greentours trip four years ago. These are all natural areas of considerable size and beauty and with an amazing range of flora and fauna and it is a travesty that the dedicated work of the rangers is not supported by more visitors who they love to see as this gives them the moral support they need for this often low paid work. The highlights of our current tour were many. The mammals were wonderful. This year we did not encounter any Brown Bear or Leopard as we have done on previous trips, but this time we managed sightings of two gorgeous smaller cats, both at close range. A Steppe Wild Cat (of the distinctive large and spotty form that characterises the dry lands of Iran) was hunting in a gully not three hundred yards from our guesthouse, and in another part of Golestan, again not far from our guesthouse, a delightful meadow that backed into the forest by a river had a Jungle Cat stalking across the field at the same time, bizarrely, as an Otter. We saw herds of Urial (Marco Polo Sheep) in Golestan, the biggest eighty strong, and small groups of Alborz Red Sheep in Tooran. Ibex, Goitred Gazelle, Jebeer Gazelle, Brandt’s Hedgehog, Stone Marten, Wild Boar and Rüppell’s Foxes were seen. Perhaps the two best mammal sightings were just by the guesthouse at Sulegerd in Golestan. A large male Wolf was trying to sneak past in almost cartoon fashion just an hour before dusk when he was spotted – he didn’t wait around for us to set the telescope up once he realised he’d been spotted! Rarest was undoubtedly the almost mythical King Fox of Blandford’s Fox, a beautiful little animal with a black face mask and large black bushy tail, that is almost unknown outside Iran and very rarely encountered inside it. The trip has started in the Alborz Mountains where anywhere above 2000m still had some snow even in this early season and so the snowmelt flora soon got us going. Iris reticulata and Merendera trigyna flowered with various Gageas. Splashes of yellow on the cliffs below were Dionysia aretoides. The fabulous Hyrcanian Forests on the lower northern slopes of the Alborz form a band stretching for hundreds of miles and is in a large part still untouched. Under the beeches and hornbeams were magical displays of Primula heterochroma along with Corydalis hyrcana (deep pink) and Corydalis marshalliana (yellow). Hazelnut Orchids and Orchis adeinochila were joined by delicate Caspian Bluebells and similarly coloured Anemone caucasica. We found our first tulips here, the yellow Tulipa biebersteinana, and one of the plant finds of the trip, what seems to be the ‘lost’ Tulipa harazensis. Further east where the mountains meet the steppe in the wonderful unspoilt wilderness of Golestan we encountered many tulips. Red species here were montana, shining hoogiana, woodland-loving wilsoniana, large michelliana, and a mystery species, similar to eichleri, in the woodlands. Stunning yellow and purple Iris fosterana coloured the tracks in the high grasslands and the tall yellow Crown Imperial Fritillaria raddeana formed dominant swathes in the highland valleys. The forests and alpine meadows at Olang and Abr held massed displays of an un-named Scilla as well as some lovely plants of Galanthus transcaspicus and Fritillaria kotschyana. Great bowl shaped flowers of Paeonia ???? decorated fern-bedecked hornbeam forest full of bear and boar diggings. Everywhere were colourful Astragaluses, Onobrychis, poppies and Boraginaceae. Other highlights included two Eremurus species, pink Fritillaria gibbosa, ten species Gagea, blue Ixiolirion, various orchids, the elephant trunk Rhycocorys maximus, the smelly aroid Eminium albertii and, in the desert, Iris loczii and Cistanche salsa. The birdlife of the Hyrcanian Forests bears quite a resemblance to our own however the steppes and deserts and high mountains have many great species. Migration was in full swing and very obvious for a day or two after rain at Golestan where raptors were going through in numbers. We watched Steppe, Imperial and Spotted Eagles passing through here and Golden Eagles that were resident too. Lammergeier, Griffon Vulture, Black Vulture, Short-toed Eagle, Pallid Harrier and Barbary Falcon were all seen in this area. In the desert we saw Saker, Osprey (!) and both Shikra and Levant Sparrowhawk. The Iranian endemic Pleske’s Ground Jay was seen twice, once very well, and other good desert species included Mongolian Trumpeter Finch, Yellow-throated Sparrow, ten species of wheatear, Crown Sandgrouse, Menetries’, Desert, Upcher’s and Booted Warbler. A real bonus was Houbara Bustard at Khosh Yelagh where we were surprised to find an arid (admittedly highland) valley full of breeding Ring Ouzels. Cream-coloured Coursers and Black-bellied Sandgrouse were in the desert and high in the open juniper steppe of Golestan we found White-winged Grosbeak. The reptiles were good too with agamas, geckoes, steppe-runners, skinks, Horsfield’s Tortoises and snakes, the latter including the lovely white, grey and black spotted snake! It was an amazing experience to spend so much time in such wilderness areas visited by so few people and our thanks in particular to the rangers at all the national parks and to the forestry protection officer in the eastern Alborz who not only showed us some of his beloved forests but also hosted us in his family house. |
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