Band-e Amir National Park
Band-e Amir National Park (Dari: پارک ملی بند امیر; Pashto: د امیر بند ملي پارک) is located in the central Bamyan Province of Afghanistan. It was established on 22 May 2009 as Afghanistan's first national park to promote and protect the natural beauty of a series of intensely blue lakes created by natural dams high in the Hindu Kush. Band-e-Amir is a chain of six lakes in the southern mountainous desert area of the national park. The lakes formed from mineral-rich water that seeped out of faults and cracks in the rocky landscape. Over time, the water deposited layers of hardened mineral (travertine) that built up into walls that now contain the water. The Balkh River originates here and flows to Balkh Province in the north.
| Band-e Amir National Park | |
|---|---|
IUCN category II (national park) | |
View of the lakes at the national park in 2012 | |
Band-e Amir National Park | |
| Location | Bamyan Province, Afghanistan |
| Nearest city | Yakawlang, Bamyan |
| Coordinates | 34°50′23″N 67°13′51″E |
| Area | 606.16 km2 (234.04 sq mi) |
| Established | May 22, 2009 |
| Visitors | 169,900 (in 2018) |
According to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), who helped the Afghan government set up the park, Band-e-Amir is one of the few travertine systems in the world. They were created by the carbon dioxide rich water oozing out of the faults and fractures to deposit calcium carbonate precipitate in the form of travertine walls that today store the water of these lakes. Band-e Amir is one of the few rare natural lakes in the world which are created by travertine systems. The site of Band-e Amir has been described as Afghanistan's Grand Canyon National Park, and draws more than 100,000 local and foreign tourists annually.