Within a corner of the vast Dasht-e Lut, I could forgive you for wondering if you’ve stumbled into a lost city – as miles of eroded sand towers, walls, forts, blocks stick out of the desert.
A ruined city – so, it seems.
Centuries of extreme water and soil erosion shaped these strange desert formations of the Kaluts.
The Kaluts range 145 km across the desert province of Kerman
Sitting only at 56 meters above sea level, this is the lowest region in Iran.
Apparently, the Kaluts Desert is the hottest place in Iran
And also the world.
The temperature in the Lut Desert can exceed 65 degrees centigrade in the shade in summer.
So don’t visit in summer, okay?
I was there in early winter, and it was still boiling at mid-day.
… And I kept hanging out for the impossible dream of an ice-cold 6-pack.
INFORMATION: I was in the Kaluts Desert some years ago, so for recent info about getting there, etc, read this post on the Kaluts from 2019.
Travels in Iran – 2011