By John Lee.
The Zagros Mountain Trail in Iraqi Kurdistan has won the Best Wider World Tourism Project award from the British Guild of Travel Writers (BGTW).
According to the citation from the BGTW:
The Zagros Mountain Trail is Kurdistan's (and Iraq's) first long-distance, multi-day hiking trail. Stretching for 215 kilometres across the Zagros Mountains in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the trail provides a unique opportunity for hikers to discover one of the Middle East's least visited and most misunderstood regions.
The path connects ancient pilgrimage paths, Sumerian roads, nomadic mountain routes and the same trails used by Kurdish refugees to escape Saddam Hussein's forces during attempted genocides.
The trail provides new opportunities for the 30 local communities along its route to benefit from tourism. The project helps train local guides and connect hikers with homestays, while showcasing and protecting the natural beauty of the Kurdish mountains and the history of the Kurdish people. Rather than viewing Iraq and Kurdistan through the lens of conflict, the Zagros Mountain Trail is forging a sustainable future for adventure tourism in the region.
The project was largely funded by Abraham Path, a non-profit aiming to create a wider network of hiking trails across the Middle East.
(Source: BGTW)
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