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Qasr-i Bahram is now used as a work-base for rangers working in the restricted-entry Kavir National Park. This modern photograph shows the northwest iwan, with the (restored) arched entry to the underground stabling. [SA.M.7]
The elaborate eleven-sided corner towers and stone walls, seen here in the 1970s, are still now in relatively good condition. When he visited, Morton found what seemed to be the local quarry for the stone. [SA.M.5]
This is the ‘back’ entrance of Qasr-i Bahram in the 1970s. The doors have been changed, and the small canal supplying water is now more visible, but otherwise this looks almost exactly the same now. [SA.M.4]
Qasr-i Bahram, as the building is now called locally, is still stunning. Local experts say it was built as a hunting lodge for Shah Abbas. Graffiti recorded in the building in 1971 included a date of 1001AH/1592CE. Despite this, there is no record of Abbas stopping here when he passed in 1601 on the 1000km …
In 1628, Herbert described the “notable” caravanserai at Syacow, “which is built from the ground of good freestone, white and well polished, yea to the best of my remembrance . . this was the first building of this material I saw in eight hundred miles”. Here it is in the 1970s, when AH Morton visited. …
This image shows the area north-east of Kashan, up towards the Khurasan Highroad. In 1601, Shah Abbas walked through Kushab (bottom left here) and Dastkan, then across the white salt wastes of the Darya Namak, via Hauz-i Aga Muhammad and up towards Pul-i Shurab. He apparently did not stop at any of the three nearby …
Siahkuh (also called Abbasabad or Qasr-i Bahram) and Haramserail are situated close together, and between the fearsome salt plains of the Darya Namak and a 30km expanse of salty mud. Siahkuh is said to have been built as a hunting lodge for Shah Abbas the First, while the nearby Haramserail is suggested to have been …
Stone lions are the traditional grave-markers for the bravest of Bakhtiari warriors – these are in Chahar Mahal, at the western end of the migration, with the mountains we have walked over behind us.
New mothers are the only people the family groups do not wait for – breastfeeding women must stop to feed, and then hurry to catch up later. The babies always stay, or are put back into, the cribs for breastfeeding. In our walking group, Khanom-Gol had given birth to Qader, her first baby, only seven …
As we came towards the end of the migration, everyone was getting tired. Blonde children are surprisingly common among the Bakhtiari, and this little one stood no chance of keeping up with his mum if she didn’t carry him – I had to run alongside to take this photo.