Kal Jenni

Kal Jenni (کال جنی), or Jenni Canyon, is one of the most mysterious and stunning valleys in Tabas, South Khorasan province. It is located some 30 kilometers north of the city of Tabas and runs 8 kilometers long with its first 3 kilometers being covered with lime stone while within the middle 2 kilometers small waterfalls have created ponds some of which are 1.5 meters deep. This name consists of two parts: Kal, referring to any valley formed by a water stream in the long run, and  Jinn, an intelligent spirit of lower rank than the angels, able to appear in human and animal forms and to possess humans (effectively a genie).

There are many reasons to attribute this valley to genies. First, there are many mysterious-looking arcs, columns, and walls in the canyon which are seemingly made by erosion. The next reason is related to wind as when it sweeps through the valley, it makes strange sounds due to the structure of walls which give the impression that there are supernatural entities living around. Also in windy weather pebbles will hit you as you walk in the valley leading locals to conclude that genies were defending their territory. This was considered the house of the dead; you should not go near it, let alone enter; villagers told of the curious who went into the caves and never came back, and, in the harshest version, of a mother whose child was born wrong being blamed on the spirits of this valley. When the desert wind funnels down the gorge and threads through all the openings, it does not simply blow; it moans, whistles and mutters in a way that, at dusk in an empty desert, is genuinely unsettling.

The valley's real secret is architectural. There are two relatively different types of Troglodytic architecture. The first species are cavities that are scattered and irregularly located perpendicular to the surface of the Kal Jenni area and seemingly created to move and transfer river water to the other side of the mountain or to direct water through the aqueduct to human settlements.

The second type of these structures has a regular pattern and there is an entrance near the riverbed, and the second hole is located at a distance of about 9 to 12 meters above the entrance, which seems to be an opening window or observation post. This building's entrance is in the east-west direction. Its main elements include: 1) the entrance, 2) Two corridors, one horizontal and one vertical, 3) A central corridor with a window facing west, 4) A well in the main corridor and near the entrance of the vertical corridor of this building, and 5) At the end, two rows of 10 rooms in the symmetrical position face each other in the north and south of the corridor.

Cut into the cliff faces, hard to reach and easy to miss, are the “houses of the Zoroastrians”. They are not natural. They are rooms, corridors and connecting tunnels, hewn by hand into the rock, with the chisel marks of their makers still legible on the walls. Some historians say that the chambers go back to the Sassanid era and the period after the Arab conquest — the centuries when Zoroastrians, once the state faith, became a hunted minority - and have been carved by the followers of Zoroastrianism to do religious seclusion, known as Chelleh.

To enter, you have to enter a tunnel that is about 1 meter above the riverbed, and this high altitude is probably due to the natural erosion of the riverbed. The route of access to these structures is not clear, but what is available from the available evidence, such as the presence of palm logs in both this valley and in Kal Jenni, as well as stepped cuts in the vertical body of the walls can be how to access the entrance. 

After the entrance of the structure, there is a horizontal channel that is carved to a depth of 4.4 meters and a height of about 1.2 meters inside the mountain. There is a vertical well at the end of this tunnel, and it is completely similar in structure to the wells created for digging aqueducts. 

In order to access the space above the well, cuts are made in the wall, and by placing the foot inside these points, it is possible to move upwards. In the middle of the well, a belt with a depth of about 2 meters and an angle of nearly 90 degrees has been dug into the entrance tunnel axis, which induces a recessed space. It is probable that it is a recess space for temporary rest and then continuing to move throughout the path of the well.

After climbing up the well, there is a corridor 11.5 meters long. The arched roof of the corridor is more similar to the arches of the Sassanid period in terms of form. There are four ledges on both sides of the corridor, and the door of some rooms opens to it. A room is located at the end of the corridor. The eight of the corridor in the middle of the arch is about 3 meters. The gates lead to 6 rooms and a narrow corridor with holes. Some rooms have niches and closets, and two rooms have pre-entrance edges that may have been used to store food. The type of the roof and some niches are the same as the forms of the Sassanid period.

In the main corridor and next to the vertical well, a narrow corridor is separated from it in a curved shape, which has a lower height compared to the main corridor, and its use cannot be determined correctly. The provision of natural light inside the corridor is mainly by means of a hovel that has been cut in the vertical surface of the wall, which has also been used as a window and place for observation

The gorge itself has a beginning, a watered middle, and a dry end. The canyon takes the shape of V in some areas and U in others, and sometimes even the walls close overhead until, in places, only a ribbon of sky shows between them. There is normally little precipitation in the region but in springs, seasonal floods are waiting in ambush. There is water flowing in the valley in most sections originating from Azmighan rural district and joins the aquifers later in the path. In some areas the depth of water reaches two meters. The stream runs green for the central stretch, then — by the hand of the villages downstream — it is diverted into a qanat and led away underground to irrigate their fields.

Kal Jenni was registered as a National Natural Heritage site of Iran in 2017 and now sits inside the Tabas UNESCO Global Geopark (designated in 2023).