#A day in the life of delta white series#

Regarded by some as the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden, these southern Iraqi marshes are one of the world's largest inland delta systems, and have been slowly recovering since Saddam Hussein ordered them drained in the 1990s.

But after 150km, the desert eventually turned to green as we veered off the highway and entered the vast wetlands of Al-Ahwar, or the Marshes. After I met my driver, we joined Route 1 on the outskirts of the city and spent the first two hours stuck in heavy traffic crossing desolate landscapes dotted with oil fields firing gas flares into the skies. By comparison, the start of my own journey was far more mundane. It was from Basra that the fictional mariner Sinbad the Sailor set out on his voyages to supernatural realms in Arabian Nights. The city straddles the Shatt al-Arab river, which is formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates – the two mighty waterways that inspired the name Mesopotamia (meaning 'between two rivers' in Greek).

#A day in the life of delta white series#

Though the region has experienced decades of recent conflict, it was also once home to a series of illustrious historical empires (the Babylonians, Assyrians and Sumerians to name a few), and Willcox reassured me that the journey would be unforgettable so long as I followed some simple rules: 'Keep a low profile, dress conservatively and don't photograph any of the armed checkpoints,' he said. My trip would be using Iraq's first and longest freeway, the 1,200km-long Route 1, as a conduit to explore the heart of ancient Mesopotamia. Willcox, who was charged with logistics and security for my journey, was briefing me before I embarked on a 530km, two-day road trip from Basra to Baghdad. 'But what's incredible about Route 1 is where it takes you: to the birthplace of some of the world's earliest civilisations, the home of many of humankind's greatest innovations.'

'This is not a scenic drive,' said James Willcox, of adventure travel specialist Untamed Borders.