Iran is home to two well-known deserts: Lut Desert (Dasht-e Lut) and Kavir Desert (Dasht-e Kavir). In Persian, the word ‘lut’ means an area without any water or vegetation. This massive land covers an area of 51,800 km² and is surrounded by mountains, making it one of the driest and hottest lands on Earth. In fact, Lut Desert has a record land temperature of 70.7°C. Lut Desert has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.
The Lut Desert is home to strong winds for almost half a year, which has resulted in the creation of various bedrock features carved and streamlined by sandblasting (known as aeolian-yardang landforms). These yardangs are locally known as ‘Kalut’, they cover an extensive area in the western part of this desert and are easily accessible from Kerman.
Apart from these mysterious landforms which cover one third of the desert’s land, you can find huge sand-seas throughout the eastern and southern parts of the Lut Desert. Some of these sand dunes reach a height of 475 meters and are amongst the largest dunes in the world. The desert is also home to some of the tallest nebkhas (dunes that form around vegetation) in the world, some of which are as tall as 12 meters. The Lut Desert is a place full of enigma: the more you explore it in depth, the more you will be astonished.
maranjab desert tour is the other Iran desert tour.
