Wolves. I heard about them sometimes from local people while I was in Kyrgizstan and Tajikistan, and got warned about their danger. But I never encountered them though I camped many times. I once met a couple who claimed to have seen one while they were driving in Pamir. But I doubted if that was actually a wolf, being alone.
However, the threat finally came for real here in Iran.
I stayed in a hotel in Sarahs the first night. I started to move the second day. The way run in a desert. I had a simple meal at a small shop in a village a little before sunset.
The owner and his friend were looking at me and talking something while I was eating. When I finished the meal, they called me to come to the back of the house. There was something small on the ground tied to a rope. The man kicked it and pointed at it. It was a head of a dog! The neck looked as if it was ripped. Then he imitated howling with big eyes. Though I didn't understand his Persian, I got the meaning. Wolf.
They told me to stay in the village that night. I still didn't fully trusted them, thinking that could be a trick to let me stay in his house and earn money. But when I refused, he didn't insist but just looked at me and left. That made me nervous.
The owner told me to go 11km with his fingers. As I went, there was a ruin of a house. I camped behind it. The traffic was frequent and I was rather afraid of human, still wondering their story. Why he didn't help his dog if it was attacked by wolves? Why did he still keep it? Or was it actually a head of a wolf?
Nothing happened during the night. But I woke up in the early morning with barks of many dogs. I thought I heard some howls. But they soon finished. I didn't see any houses at all after the village. Where did they come from?
The third night, last night, I camped in a desert again. I chose a place near the main road. I heard a dog barking somewhere behind a hill ahead. A flock of sheep was moving home. There should be houses behind the hill. It should be safe, I thought.
I woke up around 2 o'clock in the morning. So many dogs were barking like crazy behind the hill! And I heard howls in between. Did they get exited and bark for some other reason? Were the howls of the dogs? But they sounded too furious, for too long. I was fully alerted and awoke in the darkness.
The traffic was nearly dead. I wondered if I should strike my tent and move. But if the wolves were really around there, that might attract their notice to me. I wore all the clothes, kept a knife in my pocket, to get ready to jump out of tent any time. I wished more cars to come. But I heard faint sound of a car only once in a while.
The barks never stopped. I started to fall asleep at the end, with having dreams that something came into my tent and pushed my body. The feeling was so real to wake me up frequently.
I finally woke up in sunshine, and felt so much relieved. The dogs saved me, I thought.
Wolves live in remote area in Iran. They attack domestic animals or human being in winter when there is nothing else to eat.
Once a car of a family got puncture in a desert at night. The father went out of the car to get a spare tire, then was attacked by wolves. He couldn't even go back into the car, and was eaten by them in front of his wife and kids. I heard it as a true story on a newpaper from an Iranian later. All the Iranians I met warned me not to camp in the desert this time of the year.
Well, the actual chance of such encounter should be low. But I don't feel like trying my luck after the experience.
I'm going to change my route. I'll go to Tehran first, instead of Yazd through a desert to where there are more remote areas. Besides, my bicycle is in bad condition. The front wheel wobbles. It needs repair. I heard there were good shops in Tehran.
12 Dec 2008, SurakuMareki, Iran, 11211km
