The boat pushes off before sunrise. Mist sits low on the water, and somewhere a buffalo calls. Our host, Abu Haider, has lived here all his life.
Built from arches of bundled reeds without a single nail, the mudhif is a guesthouse and meeting hall — and one of the oldest building forms on earth, depicted on Sumerian seals five thousand years old.
Mesopotamian Marshes
A UNESCO-listed world of water, reeds and water buffalo — home of the Ma'dan people and their extraordinary reed architecture.
Baghdad → Baghdad
Walk through five thousand years of history — from the ziggurat of Ur to the gates of Babylon and the golden age of Baghdad.
Najaf → Basra
Holy cities, date-palm rivers and the marshes of the Ma'dan — the soul of southern Iraq.
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