Originally Posted by mahsita

Hi Brennan,

I would like to make a few clarifications that might help you t understand Iran a bit better:

To start with Nasarin is a girl and not a man .

I was traveling in Iran on bike during fall 2012 and winter 2013 and I visited Kerman, Bam, Zahedan, Some little villages in Baluchestan and the Persian Gulf regiono and I shall say that it was SAFE.

Please bear in mind that most of the people who work in travel agencies in Iran don´t have any idea of the places that they send people to. Most of them are unexperienced girls with no love for traveling and no curiosity to explore anything. I have been working a lot with different Iranian travel agencies sending groups there and I found it very hard to get them to arrange a trip off the beaten track. they are used to send you the same itinerary over and over again including cities with monuments and cultural visits. Anything different or new would be a headache for them. Besides there is not a single agency in Iran who is familiar with motorcycling or creating packages for cyclists.

On the other hand and with regards to the safety issue in Southern Iran I shall say that most Iranians have never been to that part of Iran and just out of ignorance and because of the rumours they think that is a dangerous area. This was the very reason that I decided to visit that area (I´m quite an expert in travelling to conflictive countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mali...) just to find out by myself that they are very hospitable regions ignored by the Iranians and economically abandoned by the government just because of their distance from Tehran and also their racial and religious differences with the rest of Iranians.

It is true that there is some drug smuggling going on there but what would you expect from a frontier region with no other economic resources at all? Besides, in cities such as Kerman or Bam smoking opium is part of the family tradition and is a natural part of many social gatherings without being considered as something criminal.

I might be able to help you out a little bit as I know most of the travel agencies in Iran and apart from that I have some motorcyclist friends there from my last trip and know many good people in Kerman and Zahedan .

Let me know if you need anything with a PM and also check out my post about Baluchistan at Overland on motorbike in Baluchistan/Iran | Not Just a Tourist

Good luck