TRAVEL FEATURE - IRAN JOANNE KARCZ
THE DUNES ARE ALIVE
Like a small boat tossed about on a stormy sea , I ’ m being thrown around the backseat of an old , weathered sedan while hanging onto the grab handle for dear life . My partner and I exchange worried glances . Maybe this wasn ’ t such a good idea .
We ’ ve signed up for an afternoon tour of the Maranjab Desert , an hour ’ s drive from the Iranian city of Kashan . We expected a 4x4 . Instead , we ’ re in an Iranian built Paykan , a four-door sedan based on the 1966 Hillman Hunter .
Mehdi is driving , although it feels more like a desperate race to me .
Confident of his driving ability , and oblivious to my fear , Mehdi speeds along the busy and narrow , corrugated dirt road overtaking slower vehicles , hooting at motorbikes and tourist buses in his path .
Suddenly the road surface changes to thick sand and the car slews within centimetres of a parked bus . Mehdi blasts the horn forcefully , muttering under his breath . Iranian drivers are crazy but Mehdi ’ s driving is crazier than most .
Today is Friday and the end of the Iranian weekend . Tomorrow everyone returns to work , but today they all seem to be here in the Maranjab Desert . Families and friends from as far as Tehran , a three hour drive away , spent last night camping in the desert . Others came for the day for some off-road driving , to picnic or to just to hang out .
Heavily laden four-wheel drives , motorbikes , large tour buses and regular sedans like ours speed in single file along the sandy road with little regard to a safe following distance . Mehdi obviously knows the desert well . His knowledge of the side roads and short cuts at times keeps us away from most traffic which is surprisingly heavy .
Overtaking slower local tourist
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