Karun: Misadventures On Iran’s Longest River (Short Version)

In the spring of 2014, adventurers Tom Allen and Leon McCarron set out to follow Iran’s longest river, the Karun, by human powered means. Their aim was to go beyond the politics and explore the culture and geography of this most misunderstood of nations – and have a great adventure doing so. But despite Tom’s deep personal ties to Iran, they found that cultural differences run deeper than they’d realised. And when the once-calm waters of the Karun turn nasty, they wonder if they’ve bitten off more than they can chew…

Official festival selections: Nissan Adventure Film Festival 2015, Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival 2015, Sheffield Adventure Film Festival 2015, UK Adventure Travel Film Festival 2015.

Awards: People’s Choice, Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival 2015.

Filming locations: Esfahan/Isfahan, Chelgerd, Shahrekord, Shushtar, Ahvaz, Abadan, and everywhere in between (mostly Charmahal & Bakhtiari and Khuzestan provinces).

This believe it or not is Iran it’s not quite what I’d expected but then it’s always been a misunderstood place my name’s Tom I’ve made a career out of traveling and exploring new places I’m here to find the source of Iran’s longest river the Kon for the

Next month I’m going to be following the Kon all the way down to its mouth near the Persian Gulf but right now I just need to find a place to sleep not easy in a complete white out I’m not alone up here in the Zagros Mountains my friend Leon has been

Wanting to visit Iran for a while so he’s agreed to join me for this trip Iran isn’t exactly on the tourist Trail we’re both pretty well traveled but I’m still expecting expecting this to be a real journey into the unknown even so this first day is proving far more challenging than we

Could have imagined Leon just mentioned he can hear plenty of wolf noises outside are you being serious about that yeah how close are they uh it’s very hard to tell closer than I’d like closer than he’d like what do you suggest we do suggest I get back in the

Tent He suggests he gets back in the tent and stops aring around outside so what did you hear out there I heard a few wolves how did the Wolves sound kind of holy and Barky um but it’s very very hard to tell how close ending is I think they’re probably just up in

The mountain somewhere let’s hope so a baptism of fire wasn’t it hike up a stream into the mountains sleep in the blizzard get really cold have some wolves come along the whole point flowing a river is to experience a country and I think it’s fair to say

We’ve experienced one side of Iran in the last 12 hours definitely this is an Iran that I didn’t know existed Jesus so yeah this is um one end of the river basically let’s see how it compares to the other end we’ve only got a month-long visa to

Get down to the mouth of the river at the Persian Gulf from here we’ll head south and west through the remote valleys of the zagas mountains following the karoon as closely as we can Cody wearing a pair of trainers with holes in them and wailing through a frozen River

Our river trip is really just an excuse to explore the culture of this part of Iran I’m just as interested in the social encounters as the Landscapes we see traveling by foot is pretty slow but it’s by far the best way to meet people along the

Way this is just about one of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever walked through and I don’t say that lightly this is absolutely stunning everywhere you look it is just awesome I’d rather I didn’t have this heavy pack but it’s a small price to Bay

To be out here feel very very lucky to be able to walk this road in the same way I’d be very unlucky to get eaten by a wolf on it it’s funny a lot of people would come to Iran and be afraid of people and I have absolutely no fear of people

Whatsoever I I know the Iranians very well and doesn’t face being the slightest hey he I basically said that people keep saying that there’s wild animals on this road and they like and he was like yeah that’s that’s right and I said so does that mean you know is it

Dangerous for us and he was like it’s not dangerous if you’re just walking in the daytime but you need to get indoors for the night this isn’t my first visit to Iran hospitality is a really important part of Iranian culture and when it comes to finding somewhere to sleep I always seem

To end up in the homes of strangers in preparation for this trip I’ve spent the last couple of years years studying fary now I can actually have a conversation instead of just smiling politely over endless glasses of tea what a privilege and again unconditional Hospitality our backpacks for this trip

Are stupidly heavy mainly because we are carrying inflatable kak in them along with everything else now that the Kon has gotten big enough we’re keen to get onto the water and see what Iran looks like from the river itself what you reckon ex I mean yeah without the swearing I’m extremely excited at

Our level of skill and our ambition this is just about right the awesome thing about rivers is that you just have no idea what’s around the next corner because the um River meanders a lot more than the road we’re covering probably about one and a half times the

Distance which is fine um we’re not trying to cover distance we’re trying to see this country from another perspective and this is proving to be a fantastic way of doing that home’s about to run first Rapids this suddenly feels like a terrible idea maybe an experienced paddler will look

At this and say that’s nothing but I think for me and even for Tom as well this is quite dangerous stuff and I’m really excited to try it but my heart is fluttering so I should just go and do it these rers were pretty big bigger

Than anything I’ve done to date in my life um Stakes are high but so far so good lons are just cap size we’re now in the middle of a Gorge with no way out and he doesn’t have a paddle what an idiot this river is terrifyingly fast when you’re in it I

Managed to get across to the bank and haul myself up but I I lost I lost the paddle in the boat now the shocks worn off I’m starting to think about how the hell we get out of here wonder if I can Scrabble up one of these

Banks I paddled on Downstream while Leon continued on foot the next 24 hours were a perfect example of the wonderful chaos that ensues when you travel in Iran so what happened were I mean still kind of processing it but essentially we we find a bridge hike up to a town it’s actually

Full of really nice people including a taxi driver who just took us in instantly came up with a solution to the paddle problem called up the guy we drove up there the guy brought out this paddle we Bartered a bit came to a price then we went back to this guy’s house

Had a hugely enjoyable and quite odd night with him and his Pals just sitting around listening to him be completely entertaining and then him and his pal drove us to where we wanted to start this morning um in a place called two Bridges which was just at the other end

Of The Gorge that I capsized in that would have so the whole thing I mean it’s a bit of a whirlwind but essentially less than 24 hours after capsizing and losing my paddle we are back on the river and all is well again the old favorite of dry bread and dat molasses

Really quite something it’s only now that I’ve stopped for lunch that I can really appreciate exactly how epic this place is that we’re in it’s amazing to be back in the boat so quickly and with any luck I might even avoid falling out this time we’ve been making good fast progress for a

Couple of days but it’s pretty clear now that the river is growing Wilder and Wilder by the minute in all directions at once there’s no obvious line to take there’s edies everywhere there’s recirculations everywhere it’s very very very difficult to hit your way through if you’re at all interested to

Know what my comfort level is with paddling it is slightly below this so we’re portaging which requires taking the boats out of the water and walking them up this bouldery Rocky Bank it’s got to the point now where we could carry on but it’s pointless we’re not

Here to do white water rafting we’re here to follow a river and uh we’re basically going to have to do it on foot from from here on not because it’s impossible to paddle but because we can’t afford to make that kind of slow progress when we got such a long way to

Go looking thoroughly inconspicuous with my new paddle we abandon the river and continue on foot the landscape has now changed beyond recognition from our starting point in the snowy mountains which seems like an age ago this is a road among roads for sure the valley is getting less and less

Remote and with time fast running out we really need to find find a way of speeding up our journey put our cameras in here what’s the cheapest adult bike they have here we were just about to buy some bicycles for like 100 to man 20 quid and

Then without like any any kind of correlation to anything whatsoever we got BL in a tiny little watch shop who’s just G us two bikes for our trip as long as we get them back in the same condition gu we just met on the streets

Don’t even know name is why I love this part of the world because you never know what’s going to happen good perfect thank you thank you very much walking and pack crafting was slow tiring ways to travel cycling’s proving faster easier and a lot more fun ding ding Leon’s still finding things to

Winge about of course this beautiful road but it’s just full of tunnels which are complete death traps full of trucks death traps it’s full of beautiful scenery which is awesome and then full of bridges which are also death traps it’s 3-1 in the death traps versus awesome this competition I’ve always loved cycling

For the peace and thinking time that it gives me I once spent nearly 2 years on a bike trip and these Mountain Roads remind me of so many others that I’ve pedal in my life we descend down epic switchbacks and out onto the plains we know that before long

We’ll hit shush toow a city that everyone we’ve met has told us we must see oh my word seriously what you makeing that it’s incredible there’s so much Persian history hiding away in these modern chaotic cities of Iran this place doesn’t turn up in many guide books but

For a Ians it’s a really important part of their Heritage and now we’re here it’s easy to see why this final stretch is a Race Against Time to get to the end before our visas run out we reached the city of Abida where the karon joins the Great Rivers

Of the Tigris and the Euphrates and together all three rivers flow out to the Persian Gulf this area is one of the ancient Cradles of human civilization it’s here that our River Journey comes to an end and it feels like a fitting point at which to finish this challenging and fascinating

Trip this trip was hard hard work and at times it actually felt pretty dangerous but we made it somehow in so many ways this was thanks to the warm-hearted nature of Iranians we met along the way thanks for everything a few times we’ve asked people if there is a little shop around

Where we can buy food and they said no I’m not telling you where the shop is because you don’t need any food you’re in Iran if you need anything you just ask someone and they will give it to you thank you very much many nights on this

Journey we were taken in by strangers or stopped on the roadside by drivers who just wanted to check that we were okay this is the Iran that I’ve grown to love and it’s a world away from the typical image of the country if nothing else I hope that our

Journey has shown that there’s more to this part of the world than all the endless political squabbling just out of this world it’s other worldly I know I’ll be back here soon to explore another part of Iran and I’m sure it’ll be another brilliant Adventure what a

Cool Journey what a cool way to see a country and just a great excuse for an adventure