Chah Kuh Canyon
Interesting facts
- Qeshm, home of the canyon, is the largest island in the Persian Gulf, about 135 km long and covering some 1,491 square kilometres.
- In 2006 Qeshm became the first geopark in the Middle East recognised under the UNESCO-backed Global Geoparks Network.
- The island lost its geopark status in 2013 over unenforced environmental rules, then won it back after a UNESCO decision in May 2017.
- Chah Kuh is counted among the most impressive of the roughly two dozen geosites that make up the Qeshm geopark.
- The gorge can be entered from four directions, with passages leading in from each side of the eroded rock mass.
- In its deepest sections the walls rise so high and close together that little daylight reaches the sandy floor.
- The same Qeshm geopark includes Namakdan, a salt cave about 6.6 km long and one of the longest known salt caves in the world.
Why it is worth it
On Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf, a gorge of pale, layered rock has been hollowed by water into a gallery of strange shapes: walls pocked with hundreds of holes and niches, cavities shaped like lenses, spoons and spheres, and passages that narrow until only half a metre separates one side from the other. Chah Kuh, the "valley of wells", is one of the most striking sites of Qeshm, an island whose landscapes are protected as a UNESCO Global Geopark.
The canyon is about a hundred metres deep. At its northern end it is broad and gently sloped, with a U-shaped profile, but towards the south it closes into a steep V-shaped slot that is hard to pass. The rock is a calcareous sandstone with interbedded layers of red marl, silt and limestone, sedimentary rocks belonging to the Zagros range. Slightly acidic rainwater has slowly dissolved the calcium carbonate that binds the rock, first opening small fissures and then, over very long periods, enlarging them into the hollows, alcoves and galleries that cover the walls. Wind and occasional heavy rain have continued the sculpting, leaving textures comparable to those of similar landscapes in Germany, England, China and the United States.
The name comes from the people of the nearby village of Chahu Sharqi, who dug three or four wells in the canyon to collect and keep the rainwater that runs through it. In a hot, dry climate where fresh water has always been scarce, these wells mattered so much that the whole gorge came to be named after them.
The canyon lies in the Shahab district of the island, in Hormozgan Province, roughly 70 km from the town of Qeshm.
Getting there
The canyon lies beside the village of Chahu Sharqi on Qeshm Island, roughly 70 km by road from Qeshm town. The nearest airport is Qeshm International (GSM), about 37 km away in a straight line. The town of Bandar-e Khamir, about 30 km away in a straight line, is on the mainland across the Khuran Strait.
On these lists
26.68590, 55.53690per Wikidata