As I selected a non-typical tourist country, I wanted to have an unusual experience and learn more about local and isolated cultures. In several travel blogs, I learned about one of the largest nomadic inhabitants in the world, located in Iran. I searched for Nomad. Tours website and I contacted them. It was important for me to see that already somebody went on such a trip before me, and regarding the correspondence, I had the impression that I talk to some serious people that I can trust. I chose a 3-day tour, but for the same payment, they offered me to join the day before in the neighboring city.
Since I visited nomads in February, outside the migration season, I was the only tourist on this trip. The tour joined the organizer, a guide and a cameraman. About the tour itself, you’ll hear a bit later, but I want to point out that it was the team that made my time unforgettable. If I just could “turn off” the language, it would be just as if I went with my mates to Zlatibor in Serbia. Later, during my stay in Tehran, I realized that Iranians and Serbians are very similar in their mentality – they have the similar sense of humor (including black one), they are very much related to family and friends and love to spend time together.
After meeting with the organizers in the morning, we left with a 4WD car into the mountains. At the foot of the mountains, one boy was waiting for us and he took us to the nomad family where we going to sleep in the coming days. It hasn’t been a long time when I completely lose my mobile signal. In the mountains, smartphones can hardly catch the signal.
For the next 3 days, I was living with nomads who, even for the majority of Iranians have a specific lifestyle. Most of the Iranians I met later were surprised by the photos I showed them from the tour. Nomads in Iran rarely abandon their lifestyle, thus preserving their unique culture.
During the 3 days of my stay, I lived as a nomad. The day would start with a traditional breakfast, then we would go to hiking. We visited improvised schools for the children of nomads, neighboring villages and waterfalls.
Mountains, like the ones where nomads are living, I didn’t see in my whole life. From the desert which is only 30km away, mountains are raising with peaks above 4000m. In cliffs of the river and rare plains, nomadic colonies have made temporary houses from stone, clay and clays of in which they remain 6 months a year. When the drought comes, they pack and put hundreds of miles together with the herd of cattle, going to their new home.
While my family, friends and colleagues organized a general search through the embassy because I forgot to say that I would not be available for three days, I was on one of the best journeys. Crude experience, untouched nature and still intact destination. I’m sure that in 5 or 10 years, nomadic trips in Iran will be a world-famous journey.