Qeshm (all images)

Qeshm is the largest island of the Persian gulf. Located near the strait of Hormuz and 25km south of Bandar Abbas, it is 100km long and 35km wide at its largest and has an area of 1491 km². Qeshm is relatively flat (highest elevation is 350m) and quite dry, receiving on average only 183mm of rainfall per year. Around 100000 people live on Qeshm in 59 villages and the main city, Qeshm at its northeastern end. Qeshm is very interesting because of its scenery and has a number of tourist attractions (the geological formations in the Geopark, Namakdan salt cave and Stars valley; the Harra mangrove forest, the islands of Hengam and Naaz) and plenty of beaches. However it is not well known outside of Iran and its tourist infrastructure is relatively less developed, so that to visit the island it is necessary to use local travel agencies. We used the services of Fahim Saffari (tel: +98 917 9390965, email: fahimsaffari@hotmail.com), a young man who drove us around Qeshm with his Toyota Hilux car. Qeshm is accessible via ferries from Bandar-e-Pol and Bandar Abbas.