Iraq’s wildlife defender
Early one morning in November, Azzam Alwash parks his truck beside a sandy embankment in southern Iraq and climbs down to the water, where his boatman, Abu Haider, is waiting in a narrow wooden skiff. Alwash embraces the old man and bums a cigarette. As Abu Haider steers the boat away from the district capital […]Matthieu Aikins writes for Mens Journal:
Early one morning in November, Azzam Alwash parks his truck beside a sandy embankment in southern Iraq and climbs down to the water, where his boatman, Abu Haider, is waiting in a narrow wooden skiff. Alwash embraces the old man and bums a cigarette. As Abu Haider steers the boat away from the district capital of Chibayish, kingfishers circle and dive around the marsh; a moorhen runs along the surface and heaves itself aloft. Alwash's laugh cuts through the wind. In cargo pants and hiking boots, with a fitness tracker strapped to his wrist, he looks like a tech entrepreneur on safari. "Can you believe there was nothing here before?" he shouts. "It was all desert!"
