- Kavir National Park
Kavir National Park is a protected ecological zone in northern
Iran . It has an area of 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 mile²). The park is located 120 kilometers south ofTehran and 100 kilometers east ofQom , and it sits on the western end of one of Iran's two major deserts, theDasht-e Kavir (Great Salt Desert).Siahkuh (Black Mountain), a large, semi-circular rock outcropping sits in roughly the park's center.The park encompasses landscapes of
desert andsteppe s, and is sometimes known as "Little Africa," for itssafari -like wildlife, including nativegoat s,sheep ,hyena s, wolves,gazelle s,leopard s, the rareAsiatic Cheetah , and thePersian Panther . Typically, the area receives around 150 millimeters (6 inches) of rain a year, most of which falls between November and May. The vegetation in the region is adapted todrought and salty soils. To retain water and combat grazing by animals some plants grow leaves with thorns, much like thorn trees and bushes found in Africa desert landscapes.Daracheh-ye Namak (Salt Lake) sits immediately outside the park boundaries. This is actually asalt marsh , and water flows into the lake from the north via the Qom River, which also flows through the northern part of Kavir National Park. The Qom is one of the very few permanent rivers through the entire desert expanse in Iran.References
*cite web | url=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16993 | title=Kavir National Park, Iran | publisher=
NASA Earth Observatory | accessdate=2006-05-08
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.