Khorasan Butterfly Watching Tour

In Khorasan Butterfly Watching Tour you will visit Kopet-Dagh endemic butterflies and other animals. The next important collecting cite will be Tandooreh National park. Several locations in each of these areas will be examined and explored. One-day back-packing programs will be executed in the Iran/Turkmenistan border which will give the participants a very good opportunity for collecting and other activities such as Photography and bird watching. The tour will return to Tehran from Shahkuh, The dream of every butterfly collector in Iran for centuries.

Some of the interesting and endemic butterfly species that one might confront in this tour are:

• Euchloe tomyris Plebeius afshar Lasiommata menava
• Zegris fausti Aricia miris Lyela myops
• Cigaritis epargyros Agrodiaetus glaucias Hyponephele comara
• Satyrium lunulatum Agrodiaetus erschoffi Hyponephele dysdora
• atyrium hyrcanicum Agrodiaetus phyllides Hyponephele interposita
• Turanana anisophtalma Agrodiaetus mofidii Melanargia evartianae
• Plebeius fergana Melitaea turkmenica Chazara kaufmani

Plus many others.

Locations: The Kopet-Dagh

Season: March – December

Area: Northern Khorassan, Kopet-Dagh mountains, NE Iran (Iran/Turkmenistan border)

Activities: Butterfly and moth collecting, Wildlife Viewing, Bird Watching, Backpacking, Natural History, Photography.

Highlights: Sarani Protected area, Golestan and Tandooreh National Park, Mt. Shahkuh

Full camping facilities are predicted for all the tour participants, including tent and light generator. Tour participants are requested to have their own collecting and preserving equipment and personal stuff including sleeping bags. A proper light-trap is also available for those who wish to collect moth as well.