Thursday, September 25, 2008

Kouhrang Potential Tourist Hub

Kouhrang
Potential Tourist Hub
118026.jpg

Kouhrang is among the most beautiful towns of Chaharmahal-Bakhtiyari province. It hosts various springs such as Deimeh, Parak (some 75 km from the provincial capital Shahr-e Kord), Sardab, Morvarid and Kouhrang mineral water (Chelgard), as well as natural attractions such as Choma Cave and Inverted Tulips Plain, Mehr News Agency reported.
The town’s verdant landscape and natural attractions appeals to most urban tourists.
118032.jpg

Inverted Tulips Plain
This plain is situated 12 km from Chelgard in the vicinity of Bano-Staki Village. It extends over 3,400 hectares and is filled with the magnificent flora of mainly red and yellow inverted tulips. The flower blossoms from April to May and brings hordes of visitors from far and near.

Kouhrang Waterfall
The waterfall has been created from the water released by Kouhrang’s first tunnel. The tunnel was built in 1954 to transfer the water of Kouhrang Spring and other adjacent springs to Zayanderoud River.
Efforts to transfer water from this region date back to a long time ago. During the reign of the Safavid Dynasty, efforts for creating a fissure in the mountain and transferring water failed.
118035.jpg

Chelgard Ski Resort
This 800-meter-long ski resort is located near the town of Chelgard and on the slopes of Karkonan Mountain. The resort has been divided into two sections: one for men and another for women.
It is one of the most famous ski resorts in the Zagros mountain range. Adequate snowfall, suitable access road and favorable climatic conditions attract hundreds of skiing fans every year.
Many resorts have developed around mineral springs known as spa towns. Hence, Kouhrang can be referred to as a spa town.
Kouhrang Mineral Spring
118029.jpg

This spring originates from the slopes of Zardkouh Mountain and flow into Kouhrang Lake, subsequently joining Zayandehroud River through Kouhrang’s first tunnel. The beautiful scenery surrounding the spring and the nomadic tribes living in its vicinity enhance the region’s beauty. These and other features have increased Kouhrang’s potential as a tourist hub.

Iran’s Achaemenid tablets

Restoring Relics
119244.jpg

A special team has been formed to search the archives of state institutions to locate documents to prove Iran’s ownership of Achaemenid tablets currently kept at the University of Chicago.
Announcing the above, Omid Ghanami, director general of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO) for legal affairs, said the archives of ICHHTO have been surveyed completely and the team of experts is searching the archives of the Customs Administration, Foreign Ministry and the Presidential Office, CHN reported.

False Claims
The official emphasized that documents obtained so far reveal that Iran had loaned the Achaemenid tablets to the university.
“ICHHTO wants to win in the US court dealing with the case and secure the return of tablets to Iran,“ he said.
119235.jpg

The exact date of the court hearing has not been announced.
Defense attorneys of nine US nationals made baseless accusations that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism and provided Hamas with weapons and ammunition in the 1997 bombing in Beit-ul-Moqaddas in a federal lawsuit filed against Iran in Chicago.
Iran did not show up at the court, which it considered incompetent, and the judge issued a default judgment and sentenced Iran to payment of huge sums of money as compensation.
In order to collect the compensation, the attorneys of the plaintiffs called for confiscation and auction of Iran’s cultural and historical assets kept at a few American museums, universities and institutions, including the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute.
119241.jpg

Excavations
In 1937, joint archeological excavations were undertaken by the Iranian government of the time in cooperation with the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute at Takht-e Jamshid (Persepolis). A large number of cultural and historical relics were found.
The parliament of the time had passed a law in 1930 authorizing joint archeological excavations and permitting foreign institutions to take some of these findings with them for research activities.
119238.jpg

Until the final days of the former monarchical regime and the early days of the Islamic Revolution, American and French archeological groups carried out excavations in all parts of the country and took artifacts on loan.
The Islamic Republic is determined to prove the Iranian origin and ownership of these artifacts and bring them home.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Turkmen March in Tehran

Iranian Turkmen parade during large-scale military parades to mark the 27th anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Iran that sparked the bloody 1980-88 war, in Tehran, Iran on Saturday Sept. 22, 2007. Threats and economic sanctions will not stop Iran's technological progress, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Saturday at a large parade featuring fighter jets and radar-avoiding missiles designed to show off the country's military might. From AP Photo by HASAN SARBAKHSHIAN.
12 months ago: Iranian Turkmen parade during large-scale military parades to mark the 27th anniversary of the Iraqi invasion of Iran that sparked the bloody 1980-88 war, in Tehran, Iran on Saturday Sept. 22, 2007. Threats and economic sanctions will not stop Iran's technological progress, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Saturday at a large parade featuring fighter jets and radar-avoiding missiles designed to show off the country's military might.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Caspian Sea: An Overview

Caspian Sea: An Overview

According to Medlem-Spray website, the three picturesque provinces are bound by Caspian Sea in the north and Alborz Range in the south. The landscape is divided into a multitude of valleys whose rivers drain into the sea.Caspian Sea, the largest landlocked lake in the world, is located in northern Iran. The Iranian Caspian coast, including the three littoral provinces of Gilan, Golestan and Mazandaran, with its thick forests and large-scale rice paddies presents a striking contrast to the dry inner plateau of Iran.
There are several roads connecting Tehran to the three provinces, all through breathtakingly beautiful scenery, across the mountains or alongside rivers. One of the roads from Tehran to Chalous on the Caspian coast, winding north across the rugged Alborz mountains, passes the popular ski resort at Dizin.

With their tropical climate in summer and mild winters, beautiful sandy beaches and scenic beauty, the three provinces are very popular among Iranians as a holiday and weekend resort. Numerous holiday and residential complexes and private villas dot the landscape.
The total area of Caspian Sea is 435,000 square kilometers or one-fourth the size of Iran.

Nomenclature
Caspian Sea has been called the Hyrcanian, Abaskun, Jorjan, Khorasan, Tabarestan, Mazanderan, Xvalyn and Khazar, with the last three names used in Persian, Azeri and Turkish languages. The most populous parts, namely the southern and western Caspian coasts, belonged to Iran until the Arab conquest in the 7th century AD.
Culturally and linguistically, they retained their Iranian character in the following centuries, but in the Middle Ages, the population became fused with the incoming waves of Turkic nomadic tribes, and these immigrants accounted for an increasingly large component of the ethnic makeup.

Coastline
Caspian Sea’s coastline is 6,397 km long, of which more than 900 km is along the Iranian side. About 128 large and small rivers flow into the sea from Iran and Sepidroud, Shalman, Shafaroud and Tonekabon are the largest rivers. The highest salinity level reaches 12.7 ppt (about 1/3 of the ocean salinity) during summers. The average water temperature in the coastal regions throughout the year ranges from 15.9 degrees centigrade to 17 degrees centigrade. Temperature difference between the coldest area in the north and the warmest area in the south is 4 degrees centigrade during winter and 16 degrees in summer.
Fish Species
There are over 120 fish species in the southern part of Caspian Sea, which are commercially divided into sturgeons and bony fishes. The bony fishes are also divided into sardines and other species. The main commercial species are as follows:
Sturgeons: Beluga (Huso huso), Russian sturgeon (Acipenser guldenstadti), Iranian sturgeon (A. persicus), and Sevruga (A. stellatus). The Iranian caviar--a famous and exclusive product worldwide--is produced by these species.
Bony fishes: Kutum (Rutilus frisii kutum), Mullets (Mugil auratus and M. saliens), Carp (Cuprinus carpio), Bream (Abramis brama), Pike-perch (Lucioperca lucioperca), Roach (Rutilus rutilus) and Salmon (Salmo trutta caspius).

Sustainable Fisheries
Iranian Fisheries has put great emphasis on development of sustainable fisheries. Large sums of money are allocated for the preservation of sturgeons. Because of their importance, fishing sturgeons, caviar-producing species, is only the responsibility of the state-run Iranian Fisheries.
It also monitors methods to prevent overfishing and damage to fish stocks. For example, beach seining is the only allowed fishing system for licensed cooperatives to catch bony fishes other than sardines. In order to prevent illegal fishing, marine guards control activities in the Caspian Sea.
Iranian Fisheries has established Iranian Fisheries Research and Training Organization to extend technical and scientific support to fisheries-related activities.
Funds are allocated to researches on identification and conservation of fish stocks. Millions of fingerlings are produced annually by Iranian Fisheries and released to ensure the sustainability of different fish species in Caspian Sea.
The fingerlings of the following species are produced by Iranian Fisheries: Rutilus frisii kutum, Acipenseridae and Abramis brama.

Threats to Biodiversity
Caspian Sea is connected to the open sea through the Volga River. This makes it very vulnerable to the effects of industrial pollution. Oil exploration activities by the Caspian Sea littoral states have increased in the past decade.
There are also international plans to transfer oil and gas through underwater pipelines in Caspian Sea. These activities will certainly have adverse effects on the marine and coastal ecosystems of Iran.
On the domestic front, development of coastal communities, the sewage flowing into the coastal waters and polluted rivers threaten the coastal ecosystems. Population increase and unemployment in the region also increase illegal fishing. Manmade barriers and obstacles close the migration routes of fishes, leading to the destruction of many spawning grounds.
These problems should be addressed to protect the fish species as well as the livelihood of fishermen living along the Caspian coastline.