Hormuz Island

Hormuz is a salt dome pushed up through the sea floor, and the minerals brought up with it colour the whole island: hills and beaches in red, ochre, yellow, white and purple, with a shore in one place where red soil runs into the water and stains it, and valleys of banded rock that have made the island a subject for artists. The red ochre, gelak, is high in iron oxide and is used locally in cooking and as a pigment, mixed into bread and sauces, which visitors are usually offered. A Portuguese fort of 1507 stands on the northern shore, built when this was a major trading post controlling the strait. The island is small enough to circle in a day by motorbike or tuk-tuk.

History

Stone tools from Chand-Derakht, on an uplifted marine terrace, show people here more than 40,000 years ago. The island, called Organa by the ancient Greeks and Jarun in the Islamic period, took the name Hormuz from the harbour town of Hormuz on the mainland, 60 kilometres away, whose ruler moved his residence to the island around 1300 (Wikipedia, Hormuz Island).

Highlights

• Coloured mineral hills - red, ochre, yellow and purple soils across the island.
• The red beach - iron-rich soil staining the water at the shore.
• Edible red ochre - gelak used locally as pigment and in food.
• The Portuguese fort of 1507 - the trading post on the northern shore.

When to go

November to March; summer is brutally hot. A day to circle the island, better with an overnight to see the colours at both ends of the day. Nowruz brings large crowds and accommodation is impossible then.

What to expect

Accommodation is limited to guesthouses and camping and books out at holidays. Boats cancel in wind. Taking soil from the island is prohibited and enforced. There is very little shade and no reliable water. Summer visits are not advisable.

Nearby

Bandar Abbas is on the mainland; Qeshm lies west.

Key facts