Radek’s travel and photo blog

Tak letos uz popate zacinam s pripravama na dalsi expedici.
Tento rok jsem se rozhodl dukladne zaznamenat nejenom samotnou cestu, ale i pripravy a mesice zkoumani, hledani informaci a zarizovani ktere s ni jsou spojeny. Posledni dobou mne hodne lidi komentuje nase vypravy. Nekteri z nich je prirovnavaji k drsnejsi forme dovolene pri niz bez velkeho planu naskocime do ‘defiku’, vyrazime do sveta a malokdo z nich si dokaze predstavit kolik casu je treba vynalozit na zorganizovani takovehle akce.

Po dvou Marokach, Zapadni Sahare, Turecku, Syrii a Libyi uz nam toho moc v radiusu dojezdu nasich landroveru a casoveho limitu 4 tydnu moc nezbyva. Alzir se nezda byt moc stabilni a navic by to bylo geograficky dost opakovani lonske Libyje a tak jsem se rozhodl opustit po dvou letech Afriku a jet na vychod.
Pred tremi lety jsem se svymi cesto-kumpany stanul na hranici Iranu a koukal na jeho nadherne hory a uz tam jsem se rozhodl ze se zde musim jednou podivat. Od te doby jsem cetl mnozsvi povidek a vypraveni o neskonale pohostinosti jeho obyvatelu, kteri jsou radeji zvani Persany nez Iranci a mel moznost shlednout par krasou omamujicich fotek z Persepoli a pohori Zagros. Ma cestovni horecka zacina stoupat.

Pohori Zagros

Definitivne jsme se pro Iran rozhodli o Vanocich lonskeho roku. Mluvili jsme o nem sice uz od navratu z Libye, ale nikdo nebyl schopen dotahnout nejakou konecnou verzi. Po te co jsem se dovedel ze se mi kazdorocni spoluexpedicaci David a Ales letos nebudou moci zucastnit cesty, jsme se svym partakem a spolujezdcem Mirkem definitvne stanovili cil a dost od pasu nadhodili zastavky na Teheran, Esfahan, Persepolis, pohori Zagros a zbyde-li cas na smoceni tela v Perskem zalivu. Take padl navrh abychom aspon jednu z cest nejeli Tureckem (jelikoz jsme uz prejezd Z iranske hranice do Istambulu kolem Cerneho more absolvovali v 2005 pri expedici k Araratu a nechceme jej jeste opakovat dvakrat). Rozhodujeme se proto pro severni cestu Ruskem a Kavkazem na ceste do Iranu. 1300km Tureckem nechame na navrat, kdy znamy pocit unavy a mirneho otupeni krasou a zazitky predchazejicich 4 tydnu uz ztlumi jakykoliv prirodni skvost ci nudnou dalnici do sotva vnimave prumernosti.
Dale pak musime zajistit viza do Ruska, Armenie, Iranu a zjistit jestli Turecko-Kurdske rozbroje neznepristupni cestu kolem jezera Van jako tomu bylo na prelomu Milenia.

Teheran

Po nekolika tydnech traveni pocatecnich planu a ziskavani zakladnich informaci se poustime do viz. Iranske trva 2-3 tydny a neni k nemu poreba pasu. Pouze kopie zadni strany, 2x vyplnit ctyr strankovy formular a odevzdat 3 fotky s poplatkem Kc960. Jednodussi nez jsme cekali. Britum vezme vyrizeni viza pres mesic a Amici jej vetsinou ani nedostanou. Dekujeme Ceskoslovensko…
Dalsi dobra zprava. Turecka tranzitni cesta z Iranskych hranic do Erzurumu je otevrena a nehrozi nebezpeci. Bojuje se pobliz Irackych hranic…
Po techto pozitivech prichazi prvni komplikace. Armenie nema ambasadu v CR a proto se rozhodujeme vyridit vizum v Londyne. Druha moznost je Viden, ale jelikoz jeste travim par mesicu na ostrovech, nechavame to na Britech. Na vizum je treba jedna fotka, GBP 30 a vyplneni formulare, jehoz vysledek se dovime uz za 3 dny.
Horsi zpravu se dovidame pote co Mirek vola na Ruskou a Gruzijskou ambasadu. R/G hranice je po vyostreni politicke situace v 2005 uzavrena a jedinou cestou je objet ‘kus’ Ruska, tj Cecnu a Dagestan a vstoupit do Iranu Azerbajdzanem.
Ruske velvyslanectvi nedoporucuje tuto variantu a navic zjistujeme, ze Azerbajdzan uzavrel hranice s Armenii, coz znamena ze bychom se nedostali ani do Armenie ani do Gruzie. K tomu vsemu se dovidame ze Armenie ma zavrene hranice s Tureckem a proto cesta na Kavkaz pres Turecko znamena zajizdku na sever pres Gruzii.
Z bezvychodne situace nas dostava Mirek, ktery travice den nad internetovymi vyhledavaci nachazi trajekt z Ilyichevsku u Odesy, jenz nas muze vzit do Gruzie. ‘Trajekt’ ale stoji Kc 15000, trva 3 dny a muze byt az 3 dny zpozden (’Vyjizdi jednou tydne v utery, ale nekdy az ve stredu, popripade v patek’, informuje nas manager trajektove spolecnosti). Snazime se dostat z Ukrajincu nejake presnejsi informace a cekame na odpoved.
Zatim doladujeme cestovni inventar. Pokud vyjde trajekt, ceka nas 1500km Slovenskem, Ukrajinou s malou zajizdkou Moldavii s vyjezdem 23.3 z Brna. 25.3 bychom se mneli nalodit a 27.3 vylodit v Gruzijskem Poti. Pak bychom si dali 1000km Kavkazem a 31.3. bychom meli byt v Iranu. Nasledujici 3 tydny nas ceka prejezd ke Kaspickemu pobrezi, pohori Alborz, Teheran, Qom, Esfahan, Persepolis a Shiraz. Zde se budeme muset rozhodnout chceme-li k Zalivu, nebo na sever pres poust Dasht E-Kavir zpatky na Teheran. Odtud nas ceka cesta na Vychod k Jezeru Orumiyeh a pak Turecko s noci pod Araratem a prejezd Istanbulem a Balkanem domu. Slabych 11000km…

Jak se bude vyvijet planovani dal a info o priprave auta dam k lepsimu priste.

English:

 

Another year and another expedition planning.

This year I’ve decided not only to capture the trip photographically but to publish my ‘expedition diary’ as well as write down all the details of planning, research needed to prepare such a journey.

After two expeditions to Morocco and Western Sahara, Turkey, Syria and last year Libyan Sahara crossing there’s not much left in a 4 week radius of our Defenders. Algeria seems to be pretty unstable at the moment and geographically it would be a repetition of Libya and so we decided to leave Africa after last two years and head east.

Three years ago I stood on the Turkish-Iranian border by the Ararat looking at the beautiful mountains of Northern Iran and there I made the decision to come back one day.  Ever since then I have heard many touching stories of Iranian hospitality and have seen many beautiful pictures of the ancient Persian sites and incredible mountains.  The definitive decision to go to Iran fell over the Christmas 2007.  My every year travel companions could join me this year and so we made the decision with my trusted co-driver Mirek to go on our own.

We have hastily chosen the main stops to Teheran, Esfahan, Persepolis, Zagros Mountains and we have some time left Persian Gulf as well.  We have also decided to undertake one of the journeys via Russia in order to avoid travel twice through the Balkan-Turkish transit via Istanbul and Trabzon.

The first steps will be to find out whether the Kurdistan part of Turkey is open to tourist as the war between Turkish army and Kurdish separatists started again.  Next we have to sort out the Russian, Armenian and Iranian Visa.

Iranian should take 2-3 weeks and costs 960 Kc (£30), similar situation applies to Russian one. Armenian visas can be obtained from London’s Embassy for £30 and takes 4 working days.

 

There are first set backs.  The following borders are closed: Russia-Georgia, Armenia-Turkey, Armenia-Azerbaijan. That means we can enter the Caucasus range from Russia without the large deviation to Azerbaijan (avoiding Chechnya and going through Dagestan).  Russian Embassy doesn’t recommend the above so our Northern route seems to lead to dead end.

Luckily Mirek is discovering the Ukrainian ferry company which sails between Illyichevsk by Odessa to Georgian Poti.  Ferry for a Land rover and two persons costs $800 and takes 3 days.  We are being informed that it can be delayed by up to 3 days though…  We’ve asked for more info and expecting the reply soon.

If above goes ahead we will be setting off from Brno on 23.3 and drive 1500km through Slovakia and Ukraine The ferry departs on 25.3. and arrives to Poti on 27.3..  Then we’ll spend several days browsing through Georgian and Armenian Caucasus and we should enter Iran on 31.3. Next 3 weeks we’ll be spending by driving and exploring the areas of Northern Iran, Caspian sea, Albroz mountains, Teheran, Esfahan, Persepolis and Shiraz.  There we’ll have to make a decision of either take the trip toeards Gulf, or detour east via Dasht E-Kavir desert to back to Teheran.  From there we will be heading towards lake Orumiyeh and to Turkey and Balkans.  We’re expecting to cover around 10000km.

I will inform on the progress of planning soon.