The enchanting beauty of Iraq's 'water city'

The marsh in the port city of Basra is, according to legend, the site of the world's greatest flood and the inspiration for the biblical Garden of Eden.

Referring to southern Iraq, people often think of images of the heat or war, conflict. However, this place also owns the beauty that anyone who first admires must be surprised. One of them is the marshes of the port city of Basra, along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Above the water are dozens, hundreds of boats traveling by the people creating a poetic and interesting scenery.

The port city of Basra is a bustling place for boats and ships, and the place to export goods into the Persian Gulf. Photo: Odditycentral.

This swamp wider than 804 km2 is formed by the region's two largest rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates meandering before reaching the Persian Gulf. These are the two rivers that created Mesopotamian civilization. It is a quite special wetland ecosystem, inhabited by more than 500,000 people of different ethnic groups.

All houses and trees are submerged in water, so the main means of transportation here are homemade boats. The houses are built entirely of materials available in the swamp such as reeds, grass straw and unburnt bricks, called Mudhif houses with naturally curved roofs. These houses are usually more than 2m wide, about 6m long and about 3m high with entrances at both ends, the space between them is completely clear. To build the Mudhif house, the skillful craftsman will carefully select reeds about 10m long, hand-woven, pinched and tied together to form a dome for the house. Eventually, they weaved small reeds in a grid-like shape that covered the house so it always "soaked in" the light and fresh air from the outside.

The house is built with reeds with the advantage of being easy to move. In the spring, if the swamp water rises too high, the roof is lowered to move to higher ground and rebuilt as it was in less than a day. The "shelf life" of a reed house can last more than 25 years.

It is believed by many to be the inspiration for depicting a biblical image of heaven. Photo: Odditycentral.

Traditionally, people will set up a common Mudhif house - a place to resolve disputes, conduct diplomacy with other tribes and also a focus for religious celebrations.

Looking down from above, any visitor must be amazed at the beauty of the swamp. Many people think that it is the inspiration for the image of the paradise garden in the Bible and the Koran.

In the belief of indigenous peoples, this is where the greatest flood on Earth occurred and also where Abraham - the ancestor of the Arabs was born. For Muslims, Christians or Jews, this area preserves a lot of ancient cultural values ​​from ancient times.

People build houses, grow vegetables and raise cattle on their own land. They raise buffaloes, sheep and fish as their main source of food. Photo: Odditycentral.