Why this ride
On the way it passes The Central Marshes, The East Hammar Marshes and back through The Central Marshes. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes and The East Hammar Marshes
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 354 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 06
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes
The marshes of southern Iraq are one of the oldest inhabited landscapes on earth, and Huwaizah, on the Iranian border east of the Tigris, is the largest of the surviving wetlands. Here the river spreads out into reed beds, open lagoons and channels, and for centuries the Ma'dan, the Marsh Arabs, have lived on floating islands of piled reeds, in houses woven from the same plant.
Read the complete The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes is where the day begins. Next is The Central Marshes.
2. The Central Marshes
Between the Tigris and the Euphrates, in the far south of Iraq, lies a world of water, reeds and sky: the Mesopotamian Marshes, home for thousands of years to the Ma'dan, the Marsh Arabs, who build houses and great arched guest halls, the mudhif, entirely from reeds, travel by narrow boats called mashoof and keep herds of water buffalo. The Central Marshes are one of the main areas of this wetland, listed in 2016 with the archaeological cities of Ur, Uruk and Eridu as the Ahwar of Southern Iraq, a World Heritage Site that joins nature and the earliest cities of Sumer.
Read the complete The Central Marshes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Central Marshes comes up about 105 km into the recorded legs. Next is The East Hammar Marshes.
3. The East Hammar Marshes
The marshes of southern Iraq are one of the strangest places on earth to find in a desert. Where the Tigris and Euphrates come together in their last stretch before the Persian Gulf, the land is so flat that the water spreads out instead of flowing, forming a maze of reed beds, shallow lagoons and channels, some of them wide enough for a boat and others narrow enough to touch both banks. The East Hammar is one of the great blocks of marsh that survives here, a wide mosaic of reed and open water lying east of the Euphrates and close to the Iranian border. UNESCO inscribed the Ahwar of Southern Iraq in 2016, as both a natural wonder and the home of a unique culture.
Read the complete The East Hammar Marshes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 177 km into the recorded legs you reach The East Hammar Marshes. Next is back through The Central Marshes.
4. back through The Central Marshes
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Central Marshes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through The Central Marshes, late in the day. Next is The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes.
5. The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes to The Central Marshes
The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes → The Central Marshes is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The Central Marshes to The East Hammar Marshes
The Central Marshes → The East Hammar Marshes is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
The East Hammar Marshes to back through The Central Marshes
The East Hammar Marshes → back through The Central Marshes is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through The Central Marshes to The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes
back through The Central Marshes → The Iraqi side of Huwaizah Marshes is 105 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.