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ON ARRIVAL at the border post toIran it was pouring with rain. Wesoon found out that the Turkishinsurance had expired two dayspreviously and we were already abit anxious about this crossing, sohaving to deal with this problem justmade matters worse.This was to be financially painful,$150 less in our budgets for Iranand we already had only a limitedamount of cash, as you cannotuse ATMs anywhere in the country. A little poorer we passed throughthe gate where we were met withsurprising enthusiasm.“You and your family are one weeklate for the New Year celebration.”
Stamp!
“I am sure you will enjoy Iranand you are very welcome.”
Stamp!
 “You don’t have any whisky in those jerrycans do you?”We were in Iran. That was easyand not what we had expected.First stop was the Elgoli Park inTabriz, a place we were told youcould camp with Iranians.This is very true; Iranians aremaster picnickers and campers. Thewomen generally stayed inside thetent and shouted out translations totheir husbands in conversation withus; Milan and I, that is.
 picnics and friends for life
Even after midnight, they arrivedwith the family to have foodand a water pipe; it is a socialgathering and very nice to be apart of. Many Iranians gatheredaround our Land Rovers to seehow we lived and to probe for ouropinions on their country.Tabriz was to be a quick stop-over for a few days to get ourinsurance sorted and to get a feelfor the country. Getting aroundwas not a real problem; all signsare in both Farsi and English andthe roads are surprisingly good...but the traffic is not; it was notuncommon to have oncomingtraffic on your side, and the citydriving took some getting used to.In fact, it does flow; you just needto figure out how fast and in whatdirection.We camped only one night inElgoli Park and, after being rippedoff by a kind Iranian with a friendwho owned a hotel, we landed ina cheap central hotel where webumped into a Greek man and hisJapanese wife, Kosta and Chi,who asked if they could get a liftto Tehran.We had no problem with this,Kosta had travelled extensivelyall over the world for the past 27years so it was very interesting forus to hear his stories and get tipson places we were to visit soon.This lift was extended for the entirelength of our stay in Iran and webecame very close friends withthis special couple and I think wealways will be.Before we headed on we neededto fill up, which turned out to bequite a procedure. After finding afuel station with diesel the queuewas fun and long.The truck drivers just pushedus to the front. We knew that thecost was cheap, but not this crazy– $1.50 for 100 litres. In anotherplace we filled up we swapped aBic pen for 300 litres of diesel andonce it was even free.This was driver’s heaven. Westopped to quickly visit Zanjan andto see the building with the highestbrick dome in the world and thenwe went on to Tehran.Tehran is a city none of uswanted to spend time in. Ourmission for Tehran, however, wasto get our Indian visa. We plannedto bypass Pakistan by boat andTehran was also a place we wereto find out how to do this.We camped by the holy shrineof Khomeini on the southern sideof town where other overlandershad stayed. It was pleasant enoughand very popular, with goodcommunications to the city centre.Our first try at the Indian embassyproved to be a little frustrating aswe were told that because we werewith our own vehicles we could notget a visa. I butted in and said thatwe were filming and writing for anumber of magazines about our lifeon the road as two families.This helped and we had to havean interview the following daywith the consul. After three days,back and forth with the embassy,we had to wait for the decisionwhether we could go. We decidedto carry on travelling and went offtowards Esfahan. We had a stop offin Kashan first to see the beautifulgarden there and some of thetraditional houses.Kashan was our real first taste ofIranian hospitality. Kosta and Chimet a family and stayed with them– the following day the family invitedall of us to move into their houseand stay for a few days.This was wonderful; wediscussed many aspect of life inIran and discussed our similaritiesand differences in religion – alarge part of daily life in Iran. TheIranian hospitality is incomparablewith anywhere we have everbeen and we were going toexperience it many timesduring our three months.
 HAVING MADE their way throughEurope – becoming part of aKurdish music video along the way  – the two couples, four children andtwo Defenders of Adventure Family  arrive safely in Iran to continue their  adventure of a lifetime...
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46
January 2009
LAND ROVER
 
monthly 
LAND ROVER
 
monthly 
January 2009
47
by Richard Poskitt
Top left: Camping infront of Yazd Mosque.Top right: The turtleguards on Kish Island.Inset: Where are weexactly?
The families make their way through Iran experiencingsome unbelievable diesel prices and turtle-hatching magic
AN IRANIAN
 ADVENTURE
We knew that the fuel costs were cheap, but notthis crazy – $1.50 for 100 litres. In another place we swapped a Bic pen for 300 litres of diesel.
Top left: Lunch on thebeach on Kish Island.Main picture: A viewfrom the Towers of  Silence in Yazd.Inset: A welcoming sign in Tabriz.
 
But we had to move on andso we headed for Esfahãn. Thiscity was supposed to be the jewel of Iran and we were lookingforward to it.Esfahãn is the city of beautifulbridges and parks, it spreads outfrom the river and is very modern.We camped in Bagadir Park andon the first night we met otheroverlanders from Greece who aretravelling around the world in aDiscovery 3.When we all set up camp wewere very much the highlight ofthe park; people asked us manyquestions and offered us tea andhome-made biscuits.The Greek couple were going tostay for a few days but we decidedthat we should meet up again atBam to cross the bandit road toQuetta together in a week’s time.Since we had met other travellersthat said it was fine, we had decidedto drive through Pakistan after all.We still had to wait for our Indianvisa and now we had to sort out thePakistani visa too. We called theembassies and discovered that wewould get the Indian visa and thatwe did not all have to go back toTehran to get the Pakistani one.Great! Milan and I bookedourselves on the train to Tehranthe same night and planned on amaximum of two days there beforewe came back.
 just follow the donkey 
The train system was reliableand very comfortable; we arrivedin Tehran at 5am and joined aman we met in our carriage formorning coffee and a walk to thecentre of town.First stop was the Indian Embassyand, after waiting a while, we metwith the consul who said that wehad arrived during a diplomaticspin and our filming was nothing torequire special paperwork for. Ourvisas were ready that same day.This done we went off to thePakistani Embassy where were told,quite simply, that if we were all notthere we could not possibly havean interview. Irritated beyond beliefwe bought a flight ticket back toEsfahãn and travelled back, all eightof us, to Tehran. This really wasthe last city in the world I thought Iwould be going to three times.We met a few more overlanders ina Land Rover and they suggestedthat, due to weather and the factthere was no privacy at all in India,we should take the kids to Africainstead. They had travelled through Africa for eight months and loved it.We toyed with the idea but let it gobecause we were looking forwardto South East Asia. We would,however, have a lot of shipping tosort out to get there.Back in Tehran we received ourPakistani visas and decided togive the Land Rovers a serviceand do a bit of shopping beforewe went to Yazd, the next plannedvisit. Yazd has to be my favouriteplace in Iran; it has a sense ofsimplicity about it and everythingcomes to life after 7pm.Here we camped outside ofthe popular Silk Road Hotel. Wemet many backpackers and otheroverlanders and had a good timediscussing places we were planningto go and have been.We were also informed about theweather and nightmares of shippingin India and the idea of changingour route popped up again. Still notdiscouraged, the very next day weheard that a bomb had gone off incentral Islamabad.Were we really going the rightway? We still had a bit to see in Iranso we decided that we would keepan eye on what was going on inPakistan. And so, after extendingour visa, we headed for the coast.We stopped off in a village to askwhere we could camp. Pia cameon the radio and said: “It’s not aproblem, just follow the man onthe donkey”. We camped just onenight on this man’s land wherethe conversation was truly signlanguage. It was magic.This village was very close to asmall town called Firus Abad. Hereyou will find almost every other carto be a Series Land Rover. It wasincredible – they were all runningwith bits added here and there andwere looking in pretty good shapeconsidering their age.
an ancient city 
There were, not surprisingly, anumber of Land Rover workshopshere. This is also the town wherewe discovered a small leak on the110’s main fuel tank, made by alodged stone between the cradleand the tank. Since it was noturgent and the mud seemed tohold the diesel in OK, we thoughtwe would fix it later.Kosta suggested that we shouldnot drive past Persepolis withoutseeing it. We had not originallyplanned to visit Persepolis but weare glad we did; if there is only onereason to visit Iran this is truly it.It is a well-preserved, ancientcity which was a hub for theZoroastrian Empire. The city waslost to the world for centuries untilan excavation in the 30s revealedits marvels of sculpture to theworld. The kids had a chance to runaround and we were able to campnear the guard house for free.Further towards the coast wedrove through one of the mostbeautiful deserts I have ever seen. Itwas getting hotter and, not havingan air conditioner in the 110, Lina,I and our kids were beginning tosuffer; the air outside was like the airfrom a hair-dryer.Just to top it off, by the coastthe humidity was high and it
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48
January 2009
LAND ROVER
 
monthly 
LAND ROVER
 
monthly 
January 2009
49
Top left: A gathering of Land Rovers in Esfahãn.Top right: Queuing atthe fuel station.Main: Returning from a swim on Kish.Inset: Kashan FinGarden.Top left: The man onthe donkey.Top right: Curious girlsgather around Pia and the kids.Inset: A Series Land Rover not in the best of  shape.
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