WOUNDED TIGRIS

An Iraq-based Northern Irish journalist ventures down the Tigris River through the fraught landscape of Turkey, Kurdistan, Syria, and Iraq.

McCarron and his crew, which included British photojournalist Garthwaite, a Swiss filmmaker, a local river expert, and a Kurdish fixer/interpreter, among others, followed the ancient, beleaguered Tigris from the Kurdish highlands to the Iraqi marshes where it merges with its twin Euphrates, before emptying into the Persian Gulf. From the river’s source in Birkleyn, Turkey, the team ventured 70 days by car, raft, or rickety boat, observing the imposing landscape, exploring ancient historical records and religious lore, and engaging with the curious, mostly hospitable locals along the way. For centuries, the mighty, iconic river was the source of bountiful fish and the key to trade and transportation. Because it was prone to flooding, the Tigris has, in more recent times, often been dammed, submerging significant villages, such as Saladin’s ancient capital of Hasankeyf. It has also suffered from widespread pollution and, in parts, been “downgraded…from a river to a stream.” During their journey, the crew navigated checkpoints (“for the next few hundred miles, everywhere we would go had been held by ISIS at some point between 2014 and 2017”); and felt the effects of the simmering unrest in Syria and the remnants of previous Iraqi conflicts, especially when passing through Saddam Hussein’s birthplace of Tikrit. The narrative flows organically, delineating such daily hardships as negotiating with the police, as well as the evening delights of breaking bread with new friends in their homes. Garthwaite’s full-color photos, included at the end of the text, are vibrant and illuminating, and McCarron thanks her in his acknowledgments for sharing her notes and reading drafts of the manuscript. The book also includes a glossary of relevant terms.

A brave adventure grippingly evoked and featuring pertinent historical context.