Kavir National Park

Kavir National Park is one of the largest and oldest protected areas in Iran. Most of it lies in Garmsar County in Semnan Province, with smaller parts extending into Tehran, Qom and Isfahan provinces. The area covers about 670,000 hectares (6,700 square kilometres), of which 420,000 hectares are national park and 250,000 hectares are protected area. Kavir National Park is a peninsula-like region enclosed between the Namak Lake (Salt Lake), the Rig Desert (Kavir-e Rig), the Central Desert (Kavir-e Markazi) and the Garmsar Desert, and it is a striking example of Iran's deserts and arid steppes.

In the past, the wildlife of this region was so diverse and abundant that it was known as "Little Africa" and the "Serengeti of Iran". Although its wildlife has declined greatly today, it still shelters many of Iran's desert animals and plants, and for this reason it is one of the 9 biosphere reserves in Iran. In total, 34 species of mammals, 155 species of birds and 34 species of reptiles have been identified in the area. The Asiatic cheetah, Persian leopard, wolf, striped hyena, sand cat, red fox, Rüppell's fox (sand fox), goitered gazelle (jebeer), wild goat, mouflon, jackal and caracal are among its notable mammals. In the past, large herds of Persian onager lived here; the last ones were seen in 1984 (1363 in the Iranian calendar), and today they have almost certainly disappeared from the park. The goitered gazelle (a more delicate and smaller gazelle than the common deer-like gazelle) is, if not already extinct, on the verge of extinction, but the population of the jebeer in this area is probably the largest in all of Iran.

In total, 355 plant species have been identified in the area, 20 of which are endemic. The park's plants are drought-tolerant and salt-tolerant types that have adapted to the lack of water and the salinity of the soil, and many of them are characterised by small leaves ending in thorns. Wormwood (Artemisia) grows on the flat areas, caravan-killer (Caravan-kosh) plants in the valleys and rocky foothills, and tamarisk, camel thorn and reeds around the springs, while wild almond shrubs, Shir-khesht and Khanjak shrubs are seen in the foothills. The park's birds include chukar partridge, see-see partridge, Pander's ground jay, houbara bustard, various sparrows, linnets, larks and swallows, a variety of birds of prey including the golden eagle, saker falcon, steppe eagle, falcon, Barbary falcon and kestrel, as well as migratory birds such as flamingos, ruddy shelduck, coots and various geese and ducks. Kavir National Park has an arid, desert climate; most of its rainfall occurs between Aban and Ordibehesht (roughly November to May), and intense heat usually lasts in the area from early Khordad until the end of Mehr (roughly late May to October).