The Marshlands & The Confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers
- Feb 1
- 3 min read
December 5 – The Marshlands & The Confluence
We left Basra for Nasiriyah at 8:45 am expecting an hour bus ride. Our first stop of the day was the town of Al-Qurnah and a small park at the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers.
The Confluence, as some stories are told, was the site of The Garden of Eden and Adam’s Tree. The park contains a shrine, Cidra el Muntaha - the Tree of Life / Tree of Knowledge. What sits on a raised and fenced platform is a desecrated tree. We posed for silly photos with apples and visited with other Iraqis enjoying their Friday holiday. We met a man, with his young son, who had a small trained bird!
From here we drove towards the Marshlands. We passed roads that had been paused in construction for some time, roadsides littered with trash, poor rural towns with buildings in various stages of construction, a busy village market and a couple of check points. The check points varied from drive through to 15+minutes depending on the length of time to check and double check our documents. So much depended on who was or was not in charge.
We arrived at a tourist area of the Marshlands, and being a Friday, there were several Iraqi tourists visiting the area, also. There was one group of women who were having fun dressing-up in sparkly thobes and head dresses. Later they wanted to have their pictures taken with us.
Our tour had arranged for us to have a traditional lunch in the large reed Mudhif followed by a boat ride through the marshes. The interior of the mudhif was carpeted and the walls lined with cushions to rest against. The staff laid a long piece of white plastic down the center of the floor then set out plastic dishes, trays of rice, figs with tahini, pickles, salads of tomatoes and cucumbers, water cups, cokes, and a grilled fish. The tour had tried to arrange some chicken for me as I am allergic to fish, but the staff said they couldn’t get it. It was probably just as well because if they had cooked it with the fish, I would have had an allergic reaction.
We had a special guest join us for lunch and the boat ride. Sylvie introduced us to Jassim Al-Asadi, author of “The Ghosts of Iraq’s Marshes”. He grew up in the marshes and is leading a project to revive them and the way of life there. Jassim spoke of his work as we ate. Fred and I made note to order his book.
After lunch we boarded several small motorized canoe-like boats and toured the marshes. We saw some of the native birds, like kingfishers, and water buffalos. There were groups of Iraqis picnicking in tourist mudhifs, and several Iraqi groups enjoying the boat rides like us. (There are people living in the marshes, but much deeper than where we toured.) It was inspiring to watch how much Jassim was enjoying being in the marshes.
We headed on to Nasiriyah and our hotel. Dylan and Sylvie had been apologizing that the hotel wasn’t up to preferred standards, but was the best of what was available in Nasiriyah. Yes, it was tired, perhaps had once been a 4 star and was now a 2 star. Travel can require flexibility in expectations, and sometimes a sense of humor helps. From the little we had seen of Nasiriyah, the economy was much weaker than in Basra.
Dinner that night was at a nearby restaurant and no apologies were necessary as the food was great and plentiful. Yes, kebabs of chicken, beef, and lamb - some
are ground meat with seasonings, some are cubed marinated meat - in addtion to rice and various salads.
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