Varzaneh Desert

The Varzaneh Desert (کویر ورزنه) is a field of tall sand dunes just south of the small town of Varzaneh, about 105 km south-east of Isfahan. It sits beside the Gavkhouni wetland, the salt marsh where the Zayandeh Rud river ends, so in one day you can see the river’s last trickle, white salt flats and golden dunes, and then sleep in a desert town with its own customs and dialect.

Where the Zayandeh Rud ends

Isfahan’s river, the Zayandeh Rud, rises in the Zagros mountains and flows about 300 km east. It never reaches the sea. It spreads out and evaporates in the Gavkhouni (گاوخونی) basin, a shallow salt marsh east of Varzaneh, on average about a metre deep and very salty. In wet years it is a lake with flamingos, pelicans, ducks and grebes; in dry years, and increasingly often, it shrinks to a salt crust.

The dunes formed downwind of this basin. Wind lifts fine sand and silt from the dry river plain and drops it where the air slows, building ridges that are among the most photogenic in central Iran: sharp crests, smooth faces and very few plants, unlike the scrubby dunes nearer Kashan.

Gavkhouni was listed under the Ramsar Convention in 1975. Because the wetland depends on water released upstream, and Isfahan, its farms and industry use most of the river, its condition is a direct measure of how the Zayandeh Rud is managed. The story of the river through Isfahan, and why its bed is often dry, is told on Zayandeh Rud and Isfahan’s bridges.

The town of Varzaneh

Varzaneh (ورزنه) is a farming town of roughly 13,000 people (2016 census). It is worth an hour or two before you head for the sand.

• The white chador. Many women in Varzaneh wear a white chador rather than the black one usual in most Iranian towns. It is the most famous local custom and the subject of many photographs; ask before photographing anyone.
• The Friday mosque. The old Jameh Mosque has a tall tiled portal and minaret from the Timurid period, and is the town’s main historic monument.
• Pigeon towers. Round mud-brick towers in the fields once housed thousands of pigeons, whose droppings were collected as fertiliser for melons and other crops.
• Dialect and food. People speak a local dialect alongside Persian, and the guesthouses in old courtyard houses serve home cooking.

In 2022 Varzaneh became the first Iranian town accredited as a Wetland City under the Ramsar Convention, recognising local work to protect Gavkhouni.

What to see in the desert

The dunes

The main dune field begins a short drive south of the town. Climb the first big ridge in late afternoon, when the light picks out the ripples, and stay for sunset. The sand is fine; walking along crests is far easier than straight up a slip face.

Salt flats and the salt works

Between town and wetland are salt pans where salt is scraped and piled. After rain, water lying on the flats makes a mirror, and dry periods leave hexagonal crust patterns.

Gavkhouni

If water is present, birdwatching at the wetland’s edge is best early in the morning. Keep a distance from flocks; disturbance makes birds abandon feeding areas.

Night

Many visitors camp or stay late for the stars. On clear winter nights the Milky Way is easy to see once the town lights are behind a dune.

Activities, and their cost to the desert

Varzaneh has become a weekend playground: camel rides, sandboarding, and quad bikes and 4x4s racing over the dunes. The motorised part is controversial. Engines are loud, tyre tracks break up crusts that hold sand in place, and fuel and litter end up in the sand. If you want the desert at its best, choose walking or camels, go on a weekday, and pick an operator who keeps vehicles to set tracks.

Practical notes and safety

• Come between October and April. Summer heat is extreme, and winter nights can be close to or below freezing.
• Most people arrive from Isfahan by car or on a tour; local guesthouses in Varzaneh arrange dune trips.
• Do not drive onto the sand or salt in an ordinary car. Soft sand and wet salt crust trap vehicles, and help may be far away.
• Carry water, a hat and sunglasses; sand glare is strong. Keep phones and cameras in a bag when the wind rises.
• Dress modestly in town, as elsewhere in Iran, and check current access and local arrangements. Follow your own government’s travel advice for Iran.

Varzaneh is an easy add-on to a stay in Isfahan. For a desert closer to Kashan with a historic caravanserai, see Maranjab; for the hottest and strangest desert landscapes, see the Kaluts of Shahdad.