Thousand Valleys

A Story Within

They call it the “land of a thousand valleys.” Near the symbolic cemetery of Khaled Nabi—where the ancient gravestones famously resemble phallic shapes—we spent hours on the road, negotiating with different drivers just to reach the site. I had long marked this place as a must-see for my project. I was excited, having heard stories of its strange beauty.

But right before the road ended—just 50 meters from where the car could have taken us—the drivers abruptly told us to get out, claiming the slope was too steep for their vehicles. It felt intentional, almost spiteful. Then came the real news: from here to the top of Khaled Nabi, we’d have to walk several hours on foot.

The group was frustrated, and I was angry—mostly at the drivers, but also at the lack of clarity. So instead of following the main path, I climbed the opposite hill to find a new vantage point.

From up there, the landscape opened up. Hills layered upon hills, rolling into infinity. We launched the drone over Khaled Nabi and captured part of what I had hoped to see up close.

But time was against us. We still had a long drive ahead to reach the next town, and we wanted to avoid getting caught on the road after dark. So, reluctantly, we left—leaving behind the haunting beauty of that place. In the end, we did hit nightfall. Worse yet, we got lost. And tensions with the drivers only escalated.

But the vision of those thousand valleys stayed with me.

More about this location

Khalid Nabi Cemetery (Persian: گورستان خالد نبی, "Cemetery of the Prophet Khaled") is a cemetery in northeastern Iran's Golestan province near the border with Turkmenistan, roughly 60 kilometres (40 mi) northeast of Gonbad-e Kavous city, in the Gokcheh Dagh hills of Turkmen Sahra. It is mainly situated on a mountain ridge about 1 km distance from the mausoleum called “Khaled Nabi” who according to oral tradition of the Yomut Turkomans was a pre-Islamic prophet and whose mausoleum is visited by them for pilgrimage together with the neighbouring one of Ata Chofun ("Father Shepherd"), his son-in-law.

Turkmen Sahra (Persian: ترکمن صحرا) is a region in the northeast of Iran near the Caspian Sea, bordering Turkmenistan, the majority of whose inhabitants are ethnic Turkmen. The most important cities of Turkmen Sahra are Gonbad-e Kavus, Aqqala, Kalaleh, Maraveh Tappeh, Gomishan and Bandar Torkaman. There are, according to Ethnologue, roughly 719,000 Turkmens in Turkmen Sahra today.