Iraq’s marshes, Al-Jabayish
Al-Jbayish marshes are located in southern Iraq, 88 km from the city of Nasiriyah, the capital of Dhi Qar Governorate. The Chabayish marshes are one of the most beautiful natural scenes that a tourist can enjoy when visiting Iraq.
The Marshes or the Garden of Eden This is how I refer to the Marshes of Iraq in ancient accounts, as they are considered the cradle of the Sumerian civilization. According to historians, the reason for the emergence of the marshes is the receding waters of the Great Flood.
The Marshes are home to a people called the Ma’dan, also known as the Marsh Arabs, who work mostly as buffalo keepers in isolated settlements. The Marsh dwellers live in houses made of reeds.
Many residents of Ma’dan left decades ago. In the early 1990s, in the wake of the Shiite uprising against the Ba’ath party, Saddam Hussein deliberately drained the area as a punishment and a means to stifle the rebellion.
Today, after being re-flooded and partially restored, the marshes have become a tourist destination where they are visited by locals and foreign tourists, individually or in groups, for the purpose of getting acquainted with the life of the inhabitants in the marshes and taking a boat tour called the boats used in Marshes Al-Mashhouf. The marshes were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016.
