We had stayed the night in Tatvan, Eastern Turkey, with the plan of heading to the Iran border at Esendere the next day. We chose this border crossing because it was recommended by other fellow adventure travelers as being an easy crossing with little hassles, and more importantly no extra "fees" charged at the border, which some people had experienced at other borders (that were closer). It wasn't a straight-forward decision, because the border is in the South-Eastern part of Turkey, where there is ongoing tension between the Turkish military and the PKK (Kurdish separatist group - not directly related to current tensions in Iraq, these tensions have been going on for years). However we were happy it was safe for us (particularly during the daytime), and headed down towards the border.
We had a few surprises on this day, and the first was the scenery. We told you just in the last blog about how much we have loved the scenery in Turkey (particularly Central and East), but it was to be outdone again! As the road continued South the geography became more and more mountainous, and more and more stunning. The mountains were covered in snow, and contrasted with the increasingly dry and desolate plains below. We climbed in altitude, and more and more mountains appeared on the skyline. At one point we could see mountains in a 270 degree radius. After we climbed over the highest pass (2700m), the scenery became more of what I imagine Pakistan or Afghanastan would be like - dry and desert-y hills with steep, dramatic mountains behind. It was particularly amazing simply because we had no idea we would encounter such beauty today.
We finally made it to the border at Essendere at 3:30pm. I had imagined a small, lonely border post with little traffic. Instead we were greeted with absolute chaos! There were trucks and buses everywhere, and with absolutely no order - people jostled for whatever space or ground they could gain, by whatever means necessary. It wasn’t clear at all which way to proceed through the border, but we followed a bus and ended up in the right place. The second thing that struck us was the amount of people in casual clothes running around who looked like they were doing official things, but didn’t in any way look official. I was nervous to deal with anyone without a uniform, as I knew there could be sharks around trying to rip us off or extort money (even though coming to this border was specifically to avoid such sharks). Someone (casually dressed) noticed us, and ushered us slowly past the waiting trucks/buses, and up near the front of the queue. He was an example of someone who was clearly a legitimate/official/employed helper, but you couldn’t possibly tell just by looking at him. He was extremely helpful though in showing me the way to get the car documents and our passports “cleared” out of the Turkey side. We entered into a building that was so run down it would be barely fit for animals. We queued up and got our passports stamped out, and then back out to proceed to the Iran side. The same helpful Turkish man, then took us into the Iran “Carnet” department via the office’s back door, thus jumping the queue! We then had some very interested and friendly customs officers “inspect” our car - mostly out of curiosity I think. Inspection over, we were ushered over to a parking place, and told to come inside where we chatted with a friendly Iranian customs officer, while drinking complimentary tea. He asked about our plans, and about what our jobs were. After the chat he took us to another office of someone who looked higher ranking (maybe his boss?), I think just to show-off the Kiwis who had come through their border! (I would guess NZ passports would be pretty rare through there). With show-and-tell finished, we were ushered back to our car and told to wait while the document stamping and “officialising” process was finished. Another Iranian “gopher” (also without uniform) came back with our documents, and ushered us through the maze of vehicles, many of whom were trying to come towards us in our lane to jump the Iran->Turkey queue, right to the exit of the border post. We were very thankful, and after turning down an offer of money exchange (at a poor rate), we sped away from the border, very relieved to be finally “free”, and with no loss of Euro’s from our wallet. Bey Iran Khoda Hafez - Welcome to Iran!
(Photos below are of the drive from Tatvan to Esendere. As much as would have liked to take photos at the border post, they were forbidden, and I didn't want to risk upsetting any of the gun-bearing soldiers!)
