The Kaluts is a large area in which the rough, rocky desert has been sculpted by millennia of wind erosion into long lines of photogenic formations. Much the most impressive of these are five- to 10-storey high yardangs (‘sand castles’) with vertical or stepped sides. They are especially spectacular at dawn and sunset when light and shadows turn the scene into a shimmering canvas of gold and brown.
The most accessible concentration starts 30km north of Shafiabad and stretches around 3km between Kalout and the building known as the Lut Caravanserai (and much further off-road). Further east the formations tend to be lower and more rounded, albeit many are sharpened on one side.