Band-e Amir

LakesBamyan,Afghanistan

Six lakes at 2,900 metres in central Afghanistan, held back by travertine walls the water built, sacred to the Hazara and crossed in swan boats.

September·Peaking now

Jun–Sep

Everything runs: the road is at its best, paddle boats cross Band-e Haibat, and the sapphire deepens under a midday sun, brightest in August when wildflowers dot the cliffs. Days are mild near 20C, but nights bite and the snowmelt water stays icy.

Year-round Six lakes sit at about 2,900 m below crimson cliffs, held back by natural travertine stone dams. The dams and basins are permanent, but boats and guesthouses run only from spring to autumn, and deep snow seals the plateau in winter.

Band-e Amir is a chain of six lakes at 2,900 metres in the central highlands of Afghanistan, in Bamyan province, held back by natural walls of travertine that the water itself built, each lake a different shade of blue against red cliffs, the country's first national park. The dams are the wonder. The water is rich in dissolved limestone, and wherever it spills over a barrier it lays down fresh stone, so the walls have grown over thousands of years into curving dams up to ten metres high that step the lakes down the valley one after another, and they are still building; you walk along the crest of the wall between two lakes, in places barely wider than a path, with still blue water on one side and the spill where it overflows on the other. From the rise above the shore the whole chain lines up below, stepping down the valley in blues from sapphire to turquoise, brightest under the high sun of summer and frozen white in winter. The lakes are holy. The Hazara people of the highlands tell that Hazrat Ali, the Prophet's cousin, made all six by a miracle to free a family from a cruel king, and the dams are named for the tale, the Dam of Wrath, the Dam of the Slaves, the Dam of the Mint; a shrine stands on the shore of Band-e Haibat, the largest and deepest, and families come up from the hot valleys to picnic along the water through the summer, women bathing in a screened pool for the blessing. Brightly painted pedal boats, many shaped like swans, set out across the blue in season. The bare steppe around the water holds the Afghan snowfinch, a small ground bird found almost nowhere else on Earth, and the road in passes the Buddha niches of Bamyan. The park has stayed open through everything the country has been through. Band-e Amir is a staircase of water that built its own steps, and the people of the mountains have always known it was a miracle.

Worth knowing

Good to know

The road is only open from late spring to early autumn — snow blocks the pass through winter and the lakes freeze solid, so plan for roughly May to September.
Walk the travertine wall between Band-e Haibat and Band-e Panir for the classic stepped view, and come toward midday when the sun drives the blue to its deepest.
Foreign women are usually let in despite the ban on Afghan women — the guards decide at the gate, and may bar photographs or the pedal boats.
Bathing here is a religious act as much as a swim — pilgrims wade in at the shrine end because the water is held to cure illness.
Nights drop toward freezing even in July — at 2,900 metres the cold lands the moment the sun goes, and the plateau gives no shelter, so carry proper layers.

Things to do

1
Spend a pilgrimage day on the Band-e Haibat shore
Families arrive through the day and spread out along the shore to picnic, up out of the heat of the lower valleys. They pray first at the water's edge, where Hazara pilgrims have been coming for generations. Tea, a few words and children daring the cold water are as much a part of Band-e Amir as the colour is.
2
Walk along the travertine dam
Follow the crest of the natural stone wall that divides two of the lakes, in places barely wider than a path, still blue water on one side and the spill where it overflows on the other. Underfoot is the pale, ridged travertine the springs have been building for ages. Away from the busier shrine end, this is the quietest ground on the lakes.
3
See the whole chain of lakes from the ridge
Climb the rise above the shore and the lakes line up below you, stepping down the valley one travertine dam at a time, each a slightly different shade of blue against the red cliffs. From up here the scale of the system — six lakes strung along the plateau — finally makes sense.
4
Paddle a swan boat across the blue water
In summer, brightly painted pedal boats — many shaped like swans — set out across Band-e Haibat, the largest and deepest of the lakes. Gliding over water this intensely blue, with the travertine dams and bare cliffs all around, is the classic Band-e Amir afternoon on the water.