Day 90: Celebrating Afghanistan’s first national park
This is one of the six natural lakes now protected in the new Band-i-Amir National Park. Credit: Alex Dehgan/WCS
When I think of Afghanistan, I think of war, tribal strife and Bin Ladin. Not once, until I saw this announcement come through last week, have I thought of beauty, biodiversity or environmental stewardship. And yet, there it is.
Afghanistan even has a National Environment Protection Agency, and this week it announced the establishment of the country’s first internationally recognized national park.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) put up some of the money and teamed up with the Wildlife Conservation Society to conduct preliminary wildlife surveys, identify and delineate the park’s boundaries, and work with local communities and the provincial government.
The park, known as Band-e-Amir, will protect one of Afghanistan’s best-known natural areas: the spectacular series of six deep blue lakes separated by rare natural dams made of travertine, a mineral deposit.
Havasupai Falls. (Don't be jealous. I've been in there.) Photo by Matt Ebiner
In the United States, Travertine deposits are responsible for Havasupai Falls (pictured at left), an incredible marvel deep inside the Grand Canyon on the Havasupai Indian reservation.
Band-e-Amir had been a destination for travelers since the 1950s, with a peak visitation in the 1970s. Tourism was almost entirely absent during the war years between 1979-2001.
Today, the area is visited every year by thousands of Afghan tourists and religious pilgrims as well as many foreigners currently living and working in-country.
Though much of the park’s wildlife has been lost, recent surveys indicate that it still contains ibex (a species of wild goat), urial (a type of wild sheep), wolves, foxes, smaller mammals and fish, and various bird species including the Afghan snow finch, which is believed to be the only bird found exclusively in Afghanistan.
Source: The Wildlife Conservation Society
