Band-e-Amir â€“ Afghanistanâ€™s first national park. Six amazing lakes surrounded by heart-stopping cliffs and natural scenery make up the Band-e-Amir National Park. The lakes, covering 59,000 hectares of rock and land, are situated approximately 75 kilometres to the north-west of the ancient city of Bamyan, close to the town of Yakawlang. Plans to make Band-e-Amir a national park began in the 1970s but decades of civil war prevented the efforts being put into action. Photo: Homayon Khoram (UNAMA).