Iran--Salt Lake

One of the last things that we expected to see in Iran was a great salty lake. Lake Urmia is located in the northern part of Iran, near Turkey, and is the 3rd largest salt lake in the world. It has been on record for a long time as it was mentioned in Assyrian records way back in the 9th century BCE.

This lake is too salty to support any fish life. The only aquatic life is a brine shrimp which entices many migratory birds to make a stop over on one of the many islands. The flamingo, especially, enjoys the shrimp but so do the pelicans, storks and ibis.
On one of the 102 named islands one of the grandsons of Genghis Kahn is buried.

The lake is fed by several small mountain streams and underground springs. There is no outlet except by evaporation.
There is a controversial highway/bridge over the middle of the lake that was finished in 2007. It cuts the lake in two but was built in such a way that the lake can flow back and forth through the bridge part. However, the bridge is already starting to rust!! As we drove over it we discovered that it certainly wasn’t a super highway!!

We saw no resort developments along the lake. But several people were enjoying going in “swimming” and floating in the salty water. The people will suffer later, our guide said, since there is no fresh water available to wash the salt off. Perhaps they were there for the medical effects as the water is said to be a cure for rheumatism.


Interestingly, there are two great salt deserts in the eastern part of the country. As the water evaporates from the occasional cloudburst it leaves great patches of salt on the desert floor. We did not see these.