Alfons Gabriel and Iran
Alfons Gabriel (1894 – 1976) was an Austrian geographer and travel writer who made several trips to Iran’s deserts. Gabriel wrote five books about his trips and findings in Iran. His book, Durch Persians Wüsten (1935, meaning Through Persia’s Deserts), has been translated into Persian. On his second trip to Iran in 1933, he crossed Dasht-e Kavir (the Central Desert) where he discovered the flagstone road dating back to the time of Shah Abbas, the Safavid King.
He made his third trip to Iran in 1937 crossing the southern part of Dasht-e Lut. Not many pictures of Gabriel survived but it is said that one of them, taken with his wife in front of their tent, is of Aroosan village in the Central Desert. Gabriel has written many beautiful things about this village in his books.
Alfons Gabriel’s journeys—spanning the 1920s–1930s—produced groundbreaking maps, ethnographic studies, and photographic records of remote regions few Westerners had ever seen.
Key Expeditions & Discoveries
- Crossing the Lut Desert (1933)
- Gabriel was among the first Europeans to document the Dasht-e Lut’s hyper-arid core, confirming its status as one of Earth’s hottest places. His temperature readings (published in The Lut: Scientific Results of a Desert Expedition) remain cited in climate studies.
- Mapping Baluchistan’s “Forbidden Zones”
- Venturing into Sistan and Baluchestan, he recorded nomadic tribes like the Baluch and Brahui, their customs, and hidden oases—later detailed in his book Through Persia’s Deserts.
- Medical Ethnography
- As a doctor, Gabriel studied local diseases and traditional healing practices, even noting the use of camel urine as a disinfectant by desert tribes.
Controversies & Legacy
- Colonial Tensions: His work, funded by European institutions, sometimes clashed with Reza Shah’s modernization efforts.
- Forgotten Archives: Thousands of his photos (held in Vienna’s museums) reveal lost Iran—from Qajar-era bazaars to vanishing nomadic camps.
The Dasht-e Kavir Desert trekking route in the Tehran to Yazd trek is one of Adventure Iran desert’s tour based on the one followed by the great pioneer, Alfons Gabriel.
