Jungle trekking within salty seawater in Iran’s Mangrove forests

The mangrove forests, located in southern Iran, are different from the common imagination of a forest as they emerge in salty seawater.  

Mangrove forests with an area of about 10 million hectares are one of the most valuable forest ecosystems in the world.

These habitats are named differently in local dialects and languages as they are distributed in three Iranian provinces of Hormozgan, Sistan and Baluchestan, and Bushehr. In Hormozgan (Harra), in Baluchi (Tamar), in Bushehr (Gorm) and in the other parts of the southern Iran they are called Tul.

The scientific name of the mangrove is Avicennia marina which has been derived from the name of Avicenna, the Persian scholar who is said to be the first person to mention the natural properties of this plant.

The trees in the forest have spiritual value and are sacred to local communities in some countries.

MM/FM