Kavir National Park is a protected ecological zone in northern Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

. It has an area of 4,000 square kilometers (1,500 mile²). The park is located 120 kilometers south of Tehran

Tehran

Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...

 and 100 kilometers east of Qom

Qom

Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....

, and it sits on the western end of one of Iran's two major deserts, the Dasht-e Kavir

Dasht-e Kavir

Dasht-e Kavir , also known as Kavir-e Namak or Great Salt Desert is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian plateau. It is about 800 kilometers long and 320 kilometers wide with a total surface area of about 77,600 square kilometers , making it the Earth's 23rd largest desert...

 (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

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

 and steppe

Steppe

In physical geography, steppe is an ecoregion, in the montane grasslands and shrublands and temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biomes, characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes...

s, and is sometimes known as "Little Africa," for its safari

Safari

A safari is an overland journey, usually a trip by tourists to Africa. Traditionally, the term is used for a big-game hunt, but today the term often refers to a trip taken not for the purposes of hunting, but to observe and photograph animals and other wildlife.-Etymology:Entering the English...

-like wildlife, including native goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

s, sheep, hyena

Hyena

Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...

s, wolves, gazelle

Gazelle

A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...

s, the rare Asiatic Cheetah

Asiatic Cheetah

The Asiatic Cheetah is now also known as the Iranian Cheetah, as the world's last few are known to survive mostly in Iran. Although recently presumed to be extinct in India, it is also known as the Indian Cheetah...

, and the Persian Leopard

Persian Leopard

The Persian leopard , also called Caucasian leopard, is the largest leopard subspecies, and is native to eastern Turkey, the Caucasus mountains, northern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, and parts of western Afghanistan...

. 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 to drought

Drought

A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. Generally, this occurs when a region receives consistently below average precipitation. It can have a substantial impact on the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region...

 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.

Namak Lake

Namak Lake

Namak Lake is a salt lake in Iran. It is located approximately east of the City of Qom at an elevation of above sea level. The lake has a surface area of about 1800 km², but most of this is dry. Water only covers 1 km². The lake only reaches a depth between 45 centimetres to 1 metre...

 (Salt Lake) sits immediately outside the park boundaries. This is actually a salt marsh

Salt marsh

A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...

, and water flows into the lake from the north via the Qom River

Qom (River)

The Qom River receives its water from the Zagros Mountain and the Namak Lake; It is a large river in Iran. The Qom flows through the city of Qom, and together with the Qareh Su it gains a length of approximately . The water level strongly fluctuates between 312 m³/s and only 4 m³/s. This is...

, 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.
The Kavir National Park lies in the central province of Semnan and spans an area of 440,000 hectares.

Environment

Local authorities consider insufficient labor force, excessive use of land to graze cattle and illegal hunting as the main problems the park is faced with. Despite the vastness of the park, only 30 rangers work there under the most difficult conditions and for minimum wage. A more detailed look, however, reveals that there are graver problems than those mentioned by the authorities:

The major oil projects currently being implemented in the park are believed will eventually turn the area into a salt land. The area is frequently used for military maneuvers.

The park is sometimes host to car racing competitions, which, together with the military maneuvers, have led many unique animal species, such as the Asian zebra and the Asian cheetah to flee the area as they do not feel secure anymore.