After Our Trip

Mountains and Plateaus

Before we left the Middle East we just needed one more adventure! Since its our last were traveling to the Zagros Mountains which is in the country of Iran and this mountain range was formed by tectonic plates, Elburz Mountains which is also in Iran and its highest peak, Damavand is volcanic. We will also be traveling to Turkey to go to the Anatolian Plateau that between the black sea and Mederterian sea.
Our guide for this adventure is Matt, he may look young well he is but age doesn't matter. The Anatolian Plateau is very large and it takes up 19% of Turkey! Overgrazing has caused soil erosion in the Anatolian Plateau. It is also very hot here, the climate of this place is semiarid. Next were going to the Elburz Mountains! Because it's volcanic Matt didn't feel safe getting to close to the mountains. That was a bummer. The Zagros mountains we decided to try to climb. Everyone was okay with that. We were 20 minutes into our mountain hike and some rocks start to crumble but were okay it Matt, Maddie, Mikolina , and Zoey ( Zoey is in the back Matt is in the front) we start walking again and then we hear Zoey cry out for help she fell off the mountain and we had only climbed 4ft up the mountain that is 9,000 ft. We are sorry to say that Zoey is no longer with us when she fell she snapped her neck. This post is in loving memory of Zoey.
-Mikolina

Water Scarce

Now back to our hotel room in Kuwait the Euphrates Friends decide to look back on the best and the worst of our treck through the Middle East. We all decided the best was when Zoey hallucinated due to lack of water and began to lick the desert floor because she thought that it was a lake. It was also one of the worst moments because water was so scarce. Did you know that the Middle East contains 5% of the worlds people and only contains 0.9% of the worlds water. This makes water one of thier most prescious, and fought over rescourse. It can only support around 2/3 of the Middle Eastern people. Wars can even break out over water! Oh well, atleast we made it, and I think we all agree that we learned a lot. Thanks for visiting our site!

~ The Euphrates Friends

Deserts of the Middle East

Last night was a LONG night in the Rub al-Khali. After a long hot day, the night got extremely cold! Now we are riding in a bus on our way to the Syrian Desert in Iraq. Whoop-de-doo! Another desert! Our first impression of the desert was that it was very rocky! Definately different from the Rub al-Khali. The climate of the Syrian Desert is arid. Our first stop was an oasis. It was very nice, and there were many Bedouin people living there. Then we met our tourguide, Robby. He was very young, but was approved by the group to show us around. He is pictured over there(---->) As we explored the area, and syrian hamster rushed by, and Robby told us a little bit about them. He said that they were first found in this desert, hence the name syrian hamster. The Syrian Desert is about 200,000 miles of land, so there is plenty of room for these little friends to roam around. We walked around the rocky wasteland for 20 minutes or so, and decided to leave for the next desert, the Judea desert. This desert is located in eastern Israel, so it took a while to ride the bus there. But when we got there, we were "rewarded" by high mountains of sand. Fortunately, the desert wasn't very large, so not much walking to do, but the day was extremely hot. We went to a small convenience store and purchased three parachutes. We wanted to parachute in the Rub al-Khali, but ran out of time. So we climbed a sand and rock mountain. Mikolina, Maddie and Zoey got into there parachutes, and jumped. Robby supervised. 1, 2, 3, JUMP! They all jumped off at the same time. Unfortunately Zoeys parachute didn't open. Maddie and Mikolina slowly glided through the air, and Zoey landed with a thunk. Fun times, fun times!

Picture of us, The Euphrates Friends

The Euphrates River Adventure

Today our journeys in the Middle east took us to the exciting Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Both rivers start in the country of Turkey, flowing seprately through Syria and parts of Iraq until coming together and becoming the Shatt al-Arab which from Iraq empties into the Persian Gulf.
Our adventures on the rivers took place in Iraq where we went on an exciting 3 day boat ride. First we started on the Euphrates River stopping in Babylon where we heard about it's fantastic biblical history. After that we decided some leisure time would be good and went deep sea fishing. Pictured here is our tour guide-Feroz with the days catch. This massive catfish took Zoey over 7 hours to haul into the boat. It weighed over 150 pounds and caused one of the Euphrates friends (hint hint:Zoey) to throw-out her back like an old man. After fishing we traveld down the river futher until we hit the ancient city of Ur. We took a tour of the once grand civilization, learning about its fantastic history. Did you know that the Sumner people controlled this area?

Rub Al Khali Desert

Our next adventure is the Rub Al Khali Desert! Zoey isn't so excited about going there, the heat is just too much for her, when it's around 131 Fahrenheit! Mikolina is really excited to go see the worlds largest all sand desert, and to take some pics of the sand dunes that are taller than the Eiffel Tower! Maddie is worried about riding a camel!

So were in the Rub Al Khali now and we deiced to camp out in it because it so big, 250,000 square miles we need some time to see most of it. Maddie, Zoey, Mikolina, and Hafsa. Hafsa is our guide for this adventure. Feroz was cool, but had to stay behind because he was only a tour guide the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Hafsa found us a good spot to set up our camp. Since Zoey through out her back on the boat ride, it was up to Hafsa, Maddie, and Mikolina to set up the tents while Zoey sat on a her Camel and stroked it's neck. Once everything was set up some Bedouin people( Bedouin people are a nomadic group the herds animals in the Rub Al Khali) stopped by and asked us if we needed anything, one of them noticed how Zoeys back looked a little funny and asked her if she was alright. Zoey told him that she had threw out her back. When Zoey said that he told her what to do to get her back aliened again. Zoey followed his instruction and he was right her back felt better. The Bedioun people said goodbye and told us to enjoy the Empty Quarter, the Empty Quarter is an other name for the Rub Al Khali desert.
The next day we diced to go explore the desert and take some pictures of some of the sand dunes. Hafsa told us that we would not go far just in a sandstorm happened we would not be lost. I found some really big sand dunes and took some great pictures of them. We got back to camp and everyone except Zoey tied up their camel. When Zoey was tying up her camel it deiced to spit on her. Lucky Zoey! That was out trip to the Rub Al Khali desert!

-Mikolina

The Somewhat Enjoyable Trip To The Persian Gulf

Today, we are going to board a big boat, and begin our exciting journey to the middle east! We got on the boat, met our tour guide, Iris (pictured over there--->), and we were on our way to The Persian Gulf. When we got there, we got free fact books. We were all super excited about them because they were extremely spiffy! After reading them, we learned that the average depth of The Persian Gulf is 50 meters. We also learned about the great fishing areas in The Persian Gulf that have been affected by petroleum spills over the years. Then, we went to a family owned restaurant and had some fresh cooked crab. We all agreed that it was the best seafood we had ever had. After the meal, we went to an offshore oilfield, and toured the facility. Then we followed the boat carrying some oil through the Strait of Hormuz to watch the journey they make. After a while, Zoey seemed to have food poisoning. She decided to lay down for a while,until she felt better. After that, we toured the coasts. The Iran coastline was extremely mountainous, but to the south, the coast was a lot more flat. We thanked Iris for an extravagant day, and got off the boat. After a long day of traveling by boat, we all felt a little seasick, so when they got back on land, they all felt relief. They were all preparing to travel to the Rub' al-Khali Desert the next day.
-Zoey