If you boldly decide to travel overland from Iran to Pakistan, be prepared to a lot of endless hassle and idle time. Boredom and solitude will be much more marked if, like me, you are travelling alone. As a matter of fact, this is not an easy border crossing. It is actually located in a very problematic area called Baluchistan, spread across the two countries. The region is additionally ravaged by intermittent tribal and sectarian violence, especially on the Pakistani side. This is indeed the reason for all the extreme security measures you will be facing until you leave Baluchistan. But let’s proceed by chapters.
1) ZAHEDAN > MIRJAVEH (IRAN)
This is the easiest stretch. You will need to catch a shared cab in Khatam Square:
Better to go there early in the morning (around 7 or 8 am) for two purposes:
- Avoid sultry heat (from May to August)
- Get moving faster, as taxis only leave when they are completely full.
As for me, I was very lucky because I turned out to be the last, missing passenger. We thus left immediately at 7 am. Be mindful to confirm two conditions:
- Na dar baste (= “no private cab”). See my previous article about Iran.
- “Marz” (=”border”). Mirjaveh city is actually located 10 Km before the border. Hence make sure the taxi is leading you to the wanted point. If the cab is shared with three more passengers, the total price should be around 250,000 – 300,000 IRR. I paid 300,000 myself.
2) MIRJAVEH – TAFTAN BORDER CROSSING
This is the only possible crossing for foreigners (June 2018). Open Monday to Friday.
Important: in order to be sure to reach Quetta when the NOC office (see below) is open, it is warmly suggested to cross it on Monday or Friday.
If you are a solo backpacker (with no private vehicle), the process is quite smooth and swift.
Follow the steps below:
- After the taxi drops you at the entrance, just walk across the first bar. Maybe another taxi will give you a free ride for a few hundred meters until the terminal.
- Since you will be given priority (as a foreigner), jump the queue and show your passport to the officer. Wait 10 – 15 minutes until another officer checks your visa and stamps you out. That’s all for the Iranian side.
- Walk to the Pakistan side. On the right you will notice a sign for passport control. Reach the counters at the bottom and exhibit your visa. See my previous article about how to get it in Tehran.
- Exit the office. From that exact moment you are in custody of the Baluchi special police called Levies. You will not be left alone until you quit Baluchistan. Special security measures. You will end up exhausted after a few days : )
- Jump on the Levy’s motorbike and get to the customs office. Wait for a few minutes. No bag inspection (manual or electronic) whatsoever is carried out. Rest assured.
3) TAFTAN (Day 1)
Taftan is the first Pakistani town after the border. After customs gives green light, you have to jump again on the Levy’s motorbike. He will lead you to the nearby police station. Although I was initially promised I would be accompanied to Quetta that very same day, I was instead held and delayed further and further. After some time you receive two or three visits from officers asking you what are your plans, where are you going, do you know somebody in Pakistan, etc. I would advise to have some notes ready with names, addresses and phone numbers. It will speed up the process. In my case, even if I crossed the border very early at 8 am, I could not move from there until the following day. I was not able to understand whether cars, policemen or other stuff were not available that day. Luckily, at least, you may rest and sleep for free in a room with ceiling fan.
However, bear in mind that:
- You are not allowed to leave the police station all day long. Only in the evening, an office might escort you to the close ATM and shop for your errands. The atmosphere was really strange. No noise, no lights on, just few people around. A desert city in the desert : )
- Although you are provided with some basic food in the evening, it is recommended to buy water and supplies in Zahedan the previous night. Just to be more comfortable, above all if it is hot and Ramadam month (as it happened to me) !
- In the room you will be sleeping on the floor with ants and flies : ). There is nevertheless a carpet to reduce your pain. But since the “accommodation” is free of charge, you cannot complain too much.
- Policemen hardly speak English.
- Very likely you will observe paperless migrants coming in and out. It will be a funny mess, for me at least. You may speak with some of them to hear their interesting stories.
- No internet or local sim card are available. Nonetheless, if you have an Iranian sim, it will be still working at local fares. For me it was useful to kill some time.
- Basic squat toilets and wash rooms are available, in questionable hygienic conditions : )
4) FROM TAFTAN TO DALBANDIN (Day 2)
The following day you will be woken up very early around 6 am by a levy. Between May and August, it is totally recommendable to leave as early as possible to avoid the suffocating desert heat. There are around 300 Km to be covered through the arid and scorching desert. Be sure you have enough water. You will be changing 4 or 5 cars, like a relay.
The advantage of being travelling alone is that you can fit on the front seats. In case you are two or more passengers, then you should stay in the open, rear loading area, facing blistering sun (in summer), numbing cold (in winter) and annoying dust (any time).
In Ramadam at least you do not lose so much time in those relays, because there are no çay breaks or any annexed symposiums. You should then reach Dalbandin around 12 30 – 13 h. If it isn’t hot and Ramadam, maybe it would be feasible to continue straight to Quetta. Otherwise, you are again stuck there for the rest of your day. Again in a police station (free of charge). There might be also an option to go to the only hotel in town, if you wish to. I kindly declined. I was searching for a more genuine and adventurous experience.
Here are the highlights at Dalbandin police station:
- You are not allowed to leave the police station all day long. Only in the evening, armed security guards will escort you to the bazaar to buy some supplies.
- Despite my constant asking, no local sim card was provided. Hence really no internet this time.
- I was assigned a Station Head Officer room for the afternoon and evening. I could uncomfortably doze off on a reclining chair.
- Some water was handed to me after a few hours.
- Some rice was offered to me, of course to be eaten with hands : )
- You may have the chance to talk with some prisoners, to wander off and hear again engaging stories.
- In Ramadam month, you can join policemen for a frugal meal after iftar (evening prayer).
- It happened to me that for the night the S.H.O. room was busy with some punishment to prisoners : ) I thus was transferred to the starry open terrace. Although at the beginning I was offered a “nude” floor, I could at least eventually obtain a blanket and a loose mosquito net (you will absolutely need it in summer).
- Basic squat toilets and wash rooms are available, in questionable hygienic conditions : )
At 6 am, after an almost sleepless night, you are collected by a levy to carry on your trip to Quetta.
5) FROM DALBANDIN TO QUETTA (Day 3)
Coming after two nights spent in police stations, this stretch is fairly demanding. You will switch countless police pickups (every 15-20 Km) across numberless military checkpoints, where you will have to register and provide passport and visa info all the time. Very extenuating.
For this part of the trip you will use more the jeep rear loading area, often equipped with protective tarpaulin though. One or more armed levies will constantly stay by your side. Eventually, after 6-7 hours you should reach the busy Quetta. You will be escorted first to a peripheral police station to then be transferred to the central one, inside an armored car. The first impact you get there is really disturbing: more and more armed policemen (with bullet-proof jackets), military vehicles and checkpoints. That is added to the intrinsic, perennial chaos in the city. To the rhetorical question if I wanted to be moved to one of the available (and expensive) hotels in the city, I unhesitatingly replied I would feel comfortable enough at the police station.
Here are the highlights at Quetta police headquarters:
- You are not allowed to leave the police station all day long. Every displacement must rigorously occur with armed security guards.
- Try as much as you can to insist that you wish to go to the Home Department office asap. You need a NOC (No Objection Certificate) to buy any public transportation ticket and leave Baluchistan. This document is valid only from the following day after issuance. This is why it is so important to fix it first thing at your arrival. Unfortunately, however, the office closes at 4 pm. In some occasions (like it happened to me) even at 2 pm. It is normally shut down on Fridays and Saturdays. Therefore, try to arrive in Quetta between Sunday and Thursday.
- Although there is no clear “accommodation”, you may stay and sleep in a “common” room and bed. There is no luxury at all, but once more, it is all free of charge. Leaving aside the room conditions, you will be woken up all the time by incoming policemen at any hour.
- Given the frantic activities, you will be the least of their priorities. No food or water is provided until evening (in the Ramadam period).
- Despite my reiterated begging, no simcard nor internet was arranged in the first day.
- In the evening a frugal “Ramadam dinner box” is delivered. Enough to keep going.
- You may again kill some time by speaking with policemen or prisoners.
- Basic squat toilets and wash rooms are available, in questionable hygienic conditions : )
6) QUETTA (Day 4)
The second day in Quetta infuses some more hope. I could eventually speak with the main officer in charge and explain him that I needed NOC, local simcard, money exchange and supplies, especially water. Although Quetta is generally a bit colder than other places in Pakistan, it becomes dramatically hot in June too.
Our first walk (always with armed body guards) in quest of water was vain though. All shops were closed. I was then escorted to the Home Department office for NOC eventually. This is a troublesome part of the endless Pakistani red tape. It took 3 hours for a piece of paper. No computers nor clear procedure. In spite of my insisting and escalating to the main officer, I could NOT get NOC for:
- the same day (meaning you have to spend one more night in Quetta and, for me, at the police station)
- bus transportation. Since there are no armed guards inside, they unmovably think it is not safe for foreigners.
Therefore, NOC is instead valid for trains and the following day.
While waiting for the supervisor to come, I could miraculously escape and go to the food shop alone for 15 minutes. So much freedom !!
Subsequently, my other requests were finally met too. Together with my armed task force, I was able to exchange some dollars and purchase a local simcard to provide signs of life to my family : )
Afterwards, I was accompanied with my NOC to the railway station to buy the train ticket to Peshawar (32 hours by the way). If you have to travel between May and August, I strongly advise to purchase a seat with A/C. You pass through scorching areas with over 50 degrees temperature.
Food and water were again delivered after iftar in the customary “Ramadam box” (same content of the previous day). It was however free of charge. So no much complain.
7) FROM QUETTA ONWARD (Days 5 & 6)
The train connecting Quetta – Sibi – Sukkur – Bahawalpur – Multan – Lahore – Islamabad (Rawalpindi) – Peshawar leaves at 9 am. It takes 32 hours up to the final destination. At 8 am you will be kindly escorted by jeep and motorbike to the railway station. You can ask to buy some water and supplies before entering the building.
Despite my illusory hope to be set free right after the train departure, I was constantly followed and questioned at my seat by the new guards and inspectors. I had to show my passport and train ticket at least 10 times in the station and inside the train.
This steady stream of hassle found eventually an end after leaving Baluchistan, when controls and inspections started to become laxer and laxer. Suddenly you even start to miss some company : )
To sum up, the journey from Zahedan to Quetta is very absorbing and demanding. The main obstacles might be:
- Solitude in travelling alone
- Communication problems
- Red-hot temperatures between May and August
- Ramadam limitations
- Discomfort in vehicles and lodgings
- Tiresome bureaucracy and paperwork
- Extreme security measures
- Desert dust
- High air pollution in Quetta
- No shower for a few days
- Problems with food and water supplies
- Internet not available for a couple of days
Apart from these minor mishaps, the experience is indeed unique and authentic. You will feel like one of the few tourists around the world crossing these very complicated lands. You will feel like part of a very intricate regional tissue. You will ultimately feel maybe in danger. But be positive and smile. Everything is free of charge : ))
