7576 km: Iran, Gilan, Qisum Forest

26 August 2019

Hirkan Milli Park - Astara border from Azerbaijan to Iran - Qisum Forest

Orux map screenshot: 
BLUE line is the planned route 
RED line is the actual route we drove

Finally I am able to continue the Blog. The Internet in Iran is good, but the government blocks certain internet pages, such as Facebook and Blogger. It took me 3 days to find a suitable VPN app (Kiwi VPN), that can be downloaded fast and gives easy access to continue this blog.

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On 26 August we arrive at 10am at the border crossing in Astara from Azerbaijan to Iran. There are only few cars waiting to cross the border.

The Azerbaijani officers are friendly, but have some difficulties to finish our car papers. Finally after one hour, including checking rondomly our car we can leave Azerbaijan. We don't have a clue why they check the car, when we are leaving the country.

People, who travel by bus coming from Iran have to walk through a cage to go to the Azerbaijani immigration office ....

...... after crossing the border by foot with their luggage. Not easy in this heat.

The Iranian officers are very friendly and it seems that we have a smooth and fast border crossing. Our BlueBird is more or less carefully checked and we are ready to finish the paperwork with the "Carnet de passage" of the car, as we get the information that a veterinary needs to check on Tara, if she is healthy to enter the country, although she has all necessary vaccinations written in her passport.
Since they don't have everyday a dog crossing the border, they cannot find a vet to do the necessary examinations, so that Tara can officially enter Iran.
The officers themselves are unhappy, that we cannot proceed, but they have to follow the law. Finally after 2 hours they find a vet who arrives after another half hour. He looks at Tara, says that she looks healthy, checks her passport and finishes her papers. Tara now officially allowed to enter Iran.

The rest of the car paperwork is finished fast and finally after 4,5 hours border procedures we are in Iran.

Fresh pistachio...

... melons...

... fruits and vegetables 

Rice fields of the Gilan province

Tired and exhausted we need a break, specially for Tara, who had to stay in the car for such a long time feeling our stress. By coincidence we see an intresting lake and get reworded with a beautiful landscape of the "Steel Lake".

New methods to keep kids secured in the car while driving

We get a hint of a very nice landscape, where we can camp. So we drive up to nearby Qisum forest. A beautiful forest beside the Caspian Sea, but already the entrance, full of vendors and cars, doesn't promise a relaxing atmosphere.

This time of the year a lot of Iranian tourists from all over the country are on the way. These one day tourists have their picnic, don't care about nature, don't care about the next ones and leave their trash behind. The same bad habit as we could see in mostly all the other countries we travelled through. Very sad.

The place we spot to spend the night, is more or less clean and we enjoy the traditional food we got from a nearby restaurant.

Tara - as usual - finds Iranian friends to play with