Within a corner of the vast Dasht-e Lut, you could be forgiven for wondering if you’ve stumbled into a lost city – miles of eroded sand towers, walls, forts, blocks stick out of the desert.

Girl with kite amid Kaluts.

A ruined city – so, it seems.

These strange desert formations are shaped by centuries of extreme water and soil erosion.

The Kaluts run for 145 km, across the searing desert province of Kerman.

Sitting only at 56 meters above sea level, this is the lowest region in Iran.

BOTTOM-LEFT: Guy from nearby oasis village beside crumbling mud-fort on route to the Kaluts.

And apparently, the Kalut Desert is the hottest place in Iran.

And also, the world.

The temperature in the Lut Desert can exceed 65 degrees centigrade in the shade in summer.

So don’t visit in summer, okay.

BOTTOM-LEFT: Note the guy sliding down – that trail of dust – a Kalut.

I was there in early-winter and it was still very hot at mid-day.

There were a lot of Iranian families having picnics out there this day

… And I kept hanging-out for the impossible dream of an ice-cold 6-pack.

Desert sunset.

INFORMATION: I was in the Kaluts in 2011 and things change so for recent info about getting there, etc, read this post on the Kaluts from 2019.

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