TEHRAN – Golestan National Park or Golestan Forest, located in the northeastern province of Golestan, is the oldest national park registered in Iran and a unique refuge for wildlife, which offers a wide spectrum of flora and fauna.

Being one of the oldest national parks around the world, it has been listed as one of the top fifty ecosystems in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1930. 

Stretched to 87,402 hectares, it is home to one-seventh of Iran's plant species, one-third of all birds and half of the country's mammals, as hosting 1,350 plant species and 302 wildlife species.

Wildlife species living in

The area include Persian Leopard, Brown bear, jackal, Persian ibex, wolves, wild cat, Caspian Red deer, wild boar, gazelle, mountain goat, fox, and coyote. And plant species growing in the region consists of several endemic ones such as Alma saffron, Persian Ironwood.

In the past, the Asiatic cheetah also lived in the area of Mirzabaylu plain, but the last cheetah was seen in the area at least 40 years ago. Of course, in October 2014, a cheetah was observed in this plain, but no one could photograph it.

Golestan National Park weather varies from very humid to semi-arid with precipitation of less than 200 to 1000 mm. Temperatures in Golestan National Park vary from -25 degrees to +35 degrees depending on the different months of the year. The highest absolute temperature reported in the park was 42 C in the southeast of the park.

So far, 150 species of birds have been identified in Golestan National Park. Golden Eagle, eastern imperial eagle, saker falcon, falcon, and bearded vulture are among the endangered birds of the park. Other birds of Golestan National Park include common pheasants, shrikes, griffon vulture, rosy starling, typical warblers, wheatears, finches, and common blackbirds.

The park holds a share of 3 species of amphibians and 24 species of reptiles.

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