Afghanistan established its first national park on 22 Apri 2009 to promote and protect the natural beauty of Band-e-Amir, a series of intensely blue lakes created by natural dams high in the Hindu Kush. The lakes - seen here from space - are formed from mineral-rich water that seeped out of faults and cracks in the rocky landscape. Over time, the water deposited layers of hardened mineral (travertine) that built up into walls that now contain the water

An aerial view of Lake Band-e-Amir. The lakes are famous for their intense and varying colours, which range from faint turquoise to deep blue - a result of the minerals that fill the water and create the lake beds. Towering cliffs create sharp lines and shadows on the south side of many of the lakes

Band-e-Amir is visited by thousands of Afghans and pilgrims, though foreign tourism has all but ceased as security nationwide has deteriorated. The new park is near the valley of Bamiyan, famous for the giant Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in late 2001

According to local lore the huge natural dams of slow-growing mineral deposits that hold the lakes in place were thrown into position by Hazrat Ali, the prophet Muhammad's son-in-law, during the reign of the infidel king Barbar

Fish swim in the clear waters of one of the lakes. Prior to gaining national park status, Band-e-Amir suffered from habitat destruction for firewood and farmland, overgrazing and overhunting, fishing practices that included using hand grenades to blast the lake waters, and pollution

Years of conflict have taken a heavy toll on wildlife in the area. Snow leopards have vanished from the park due to hunting

However, Band-e-Amir still hosts ibex (wild goats), urials (wild sheep - pictured here), wolves, foxes, fish, and birds

A waterfall contrasts with the surrounding red cliffs of the high desert

Mineral-rich water in the park bubbles through the cracks of the Dam of the Slaves, the Groom's Dam, the Mint Dam and the Dam of Cheese and surrounding wetlands. But it is the Dam of Awe, or Band-i-Haibat, that attracts most visitors and where the government hopes tourist facilities including guesthouses and shops can be established. About two miles long and 1,500 feet wide, the waters are supposed to have healing properties for anyone who braves temperatures that remain icy all year round in an area just under 3,000 metres above sea level

For those who prefer not to swim, pink, blue and yellow swan-shaped pedalos can be hired for less than a dollar for an hour of floating about on the placid waters

Women walk on a trail to a lake at Band-E-Amir national park. The central highlands, dominated by the Hazara ethnic group, which has no truck with the Pashtun-dominated Taliban insurgency, is relatively safe and boasts other tourist magnets including the valley of Bamiyan, famous for the giant Buddhas destroyed by the Taliban in late 2001

Plants are seen along the edges of the lakes' clear blue waters. Afghanistan's National Environmental Protection Agency (Nepa) said the creation of the park would help the region attract international tourism and obtain World Heritage status. 'The park will draw people from Herat to Kabul to Jalalabad... to be inspired by the great beauty of Afghanistan's first national park, Band-e-Amir,' said Mostapha Zaher, Nepa's director-general

Nancy Hatch Dupree, in her classic 1970 guide to Afghanistan, wrote that a full description of Band-e-Amir would 'rob the uninitiated of the wonder and amazement it produces on all who gaze upon it'