Homeland of the Marsh Arabs

Getting to Chibayish marsh

Today we go to the marshes of Chibayish to see the homeland of the Marsh Arabs.  We walked to the station which had cars to Chibayish and managed to get seats in a nearly-full van, which then left rather promptly around 0915.

Just like in Yemen, passengers pay their fare to the people in front of them who also sort out the required change.  Eventually, the correct total for the entire vehicle gets to the driver.

Arriving at Chibayish less than an hour later, we transferred to a private taxi for a short ride to the Martyr’s Monument, which was the starting point for boat tours of the marsh.

Touring the marsh

After having our passports checked at the office by the monument, we went with a young boatman.  There were others around but none of them were fighting for our business, perhaps because they take their turns.

I’ve read suggestions of 2-3h tours of the marshes but that seemed a bit excessive, so we based on bargaining on a 2h ride.  That would allow for some stops at any points of interest.

He started at an exorbitant price for an hour but we got him down to 2h for less than that.  In retrospect, it still seems a lot of money for Iraq but some things in this country (eg. hotel and airport taxis) are disproportionately expensive.

We set off in the boat around 1025 to cruise through the marsh.  With bits of grey ground here and there that are topped with reeds, it is my assumption that the reeds poking out of the water are growing on submerged soil.  That’s as opposed to floating islands of reeds in Lake Titicaca.

There were a few traditional Marsh Arab huts of various sizes dotting the marshland.  They don’t appear to be in habited anymore but used as rentable picnic sheds by mainly Iraqi tourists.

It took perhaps only 20 mins for us to realise that 2h on the water would be far too much.  Fortunately, our boatman stopped at one of the larger huts where a group of mature Iraqi men were having a fish BBQ.  We had a 30 min chat and drink (water) with them, at first outside the reed hut and then inside.

The boatman offered a second stop at an even larger reed building which didn’t look pretty due to some canvas covering on the outside.  But I was so glad I took up the offer as the inside was impressive.  It was somewhat church-like but is used a reception hall.

After a total of 1h35 touring, the boatman dropped us near the main road back to Chibayish rather than the boarding point which would have required us to take a long walk.

We were somewhat pleased to have opted for a 2h ride as a shorter ride may not have allowed for chance encounters with friendly locals, which made the experience very special.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make full use of the 2h and couldn’t rescind on the agreed price.

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Girsu Bridge

We hopped in a taxi around midday to Chibayish and then to Nasiriyah, where we changed into another for Al Neser. iIn the sraqhared taxi, one of the locals thought I was like built like John Cena (whom I had to Google as I don’t watch movies or follow sports).  I guess musculature is a relative thing.

E had particular interest in seeing the Girsu Bridge, something I had not heard about.  Girsu was the capital of the ancient Sumerian Lagash kingdom.

We were very fortunate to find a driver at Al Neser that was familiar with the archaeological site as sometimes locals are not very familiar with their surroundings, eg. the taxi driver at Nasiriyah had never been to the Ur ziggurat.

Looking at the restored remnants of the Girsu Bridge, I couldn’t figure out how it was meant to be until I found some photos on the internet after the visit.  The British Museum describes the remains of the Girsu bridge as the oldest bridge in the world, at about 4000 years old.  However, there are various lists of the world’s oldest bridges which aren’t always in agreement.

After that we moved to the ruins of the settlement a few minutes away by foot.  The ruins also take the name of the modern name of the place which is Tello.

After about 40 mins at the Girsu Tello Archaeological site, we made our way back to Al Neser where we changed to a taxi back to Nasiriyah and another to the hotel.

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Back at the hotel around 1545, I was very pleased at our accomplishment for the day.  Having allowed a full day for the marshes, I was very happy that we managed to fit in Girsu as well.

Not having eaten a proper meal in days (partly due to the lockdown in Baghdad) I was keen for a kebab dinner.  We’ve mainly had local sandwiches till now.  Unfortunately, the restaurant near us which had the right photos on the outside had run out.  We shared a quarter chicken on rice.