Shriabad Park and waterfalls is 7 km south of Khanbebin, in Fenderesk district of Golestan Province. With jungles, waterfalls, and a cave it is a well-known tourist destination especially in summers.
Provincial director general of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Department described Shirabad waterfall 'as a stairway', which includes 12 large and small waterfalls. Its largest waterfall is 30 meters high and plunges to a depth of 40 to 80 meters to form a pool.
Ghorban Abbasi said registration of Shirabad on the Natural Heritage List is significant and added that the region's unique flora and fauna, in particular the Samandar (Salamander) living in the Shirabad cave, are reasons of its national heritage status, IRNA reported.
The cave itself lies higher than the waterfalls and has a pool, stalactites, and a 'mud bed'.
Conservation
Heritage tag will help to preserve and protect the region and introduce it to tourists, Abbasi asserted.
He hoped the tourism industry would prosper in Golestan with the registration of its natural and historical sites. Increase in number of visitors has spurted growth in related areas leading to enhanced income and job creation for locals. It also reinforces cultural and social standards of the region, he claimed.
In Golestan Province, with a population of 1.8 million, the slopes of the Alborz Mountains are the source of many waterfalls and fountains, which has earned it the name of 'land of waterfalls'; some of which are Kaboudval, Golestan, Baran Kooh, Ziyarat, and Do-Aab. Shirabad is the third natural place to be registered in the province.
