A 70-strong group of environmentalists and tour leaders last week took it upon themselves to promote “responsible tourism” in Badab-e Soort, which was closed last month due to significant damage inflicted by careless tourists. Badab-e Soort is a natural site in Mazandaran Province in northern Iran. As Mehr News Agency reports, the group began by installing signs that encourage tourists to pay attention to the importance of preserving natural heritage and avoid littering. The effort, organized by the Tehran-based tourism education institute Avaye Arasbaran Tourism, is part of a campaign called “My Heart Beats for My Heritage” that began in May. Badab-e Soort comprises a range of stepped travertine terrace formations created over thousands of years as flowing water from two mineral hot springs cooled and deposited carbonate minerals on the mountainside. Due to carelessness on the part of officials and tourists, which resulted in flattening the stepped terraces and polluting what little water still flows from the springs, Mazandaran’s officials were forced to close one of the most popular attractions to the public.
