Where Are Band-e Amir Lakes – Afghanistan’s National Park
Natural dams of limestone rearrange river Band-e Amir and turn it into a series of great lakes between bare mountains.
Among the sun scorched the western slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains, where rain seldom falls and water has little, hidden a series of cold, shiny lakes.
Spread along the river Band-e Amir at an altitude of almost 3,000 meters, while some of them can be reached by dry mountain road 80 km long, which leads from the Afghan city of Bamiyan.
Lakes, “bordered” by purple rocks of limestone and clay, lined up one after the other along the 11 km of the river. From each lake river with a slow stream passes over the natural dams, which creates a winding network of streams and wetlands filled with willow, moss, grasses and aquatic plants that stretch all the way to the coast of the next lake.
The lakes vary in color from milky-white to blue-green, and the color depends on the water depth, brightness, and amount and type of algae that live in the water. Long are only 90 meters to 4 kilometers.
How do Band-e Amir Lakes form?
In the summer on the natural dam that created lake flanked by stalactites of minerals in the surrounding rocks. These minerals, and most often it is a calcium carbonate, are responsible for the existence of lakes. When the snow melts, the water filtering through the limestone and marl and dissolve their mineral content, which then refers to the river.
When calcium carbonate comes into contact with water plants, some of them, due to chemical reactions, merge with the existing layers of sediment and deposited on the riverbed and the edges of lakes.
Over time, the residue crystallized and hardens and thus resulting porous rock called travertine or tufa. Exactly this layer of porous limestone sparkle under the rays of the sun and its reflection in the lake contributes to the different shades of color of water. The accumulation of tufa over the centuries has created a dam and turned the river into a series of lakes.
Six lakes in series are: Band-e Gholaman (Lake of the slaves), Band-e Qambar (Lake of Caliph Ali’s slave), Band-e Haibat (Lake of grandiose), Band-e Panir (Lake of cheese), Band-e Pudina (Lake of wild mint) and Band-e Zulfiqar (Lake of the sword of Ali).
Two more cool places are The Chocolate Hills in Philippines and Bora Bora paradise on earth in French Polynesia…
Facts about Band-e Amir National Park
No. 1 – Afghanistan’s first national park
No. 2 – it is a series of six deep blue lakes
No. 3 – lakes are located in Hindu Kush mountains
No. 4 – it is knowed as Afghan Grand Canyon
No. 5 – Band-e Amir means Commander’s Dam
No. 6 – average depth is 150 meters
No. 7 – surrounding roads were mined by the Talibans
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