#2: [12-Sep-11]

04-Sep-2011 -- 36N 45E is one of the unvisited confluence points in Iraqi Kurdistan and I identified it as the most probably reachable one. 36N 44E is to be reached (if possible at all) from the al-Mawṣil - Baġdād road, and I was not willing to go anywhere near there. 37N 44E is located on the slope of a high mountain and will require some trekking. I’ll try it in the coming days.

So 36N 45E is situated in the Dūkān Lake, the biggest artificial lake in Iraq, but 50 m from the shore in a fjord-like scenery. So it would be probably possible to reach the shore and be in the 100 m-limit of the point.

I went to Dūkān directly after crossing the Iran-Iraq border in Pīrān Šahr. I had to take the long road to avoid the zones being bombed by the Turkish and Iranian armies. The first day, I camped on the shore of the lake, 3 km from the point, but I realized that I would have a lot of climbing and swimming to reach the point from there. The second day was spent in mechanical and logistical issues but I saw the entrance of a promising track to the point. I went back to the same place to camp but was relocated by the army to a “safer” place, next to a checkpoint on a noisy metal bridge on a truck road. I was not really happy, but well, they do their job. They were afraid that wild animals might attack me…

On the third day, I took the track and it lead me spot on, 800 m away from the point on the right piece of land (to reach the other shore 100 m across, you might have to drive more than 150 km around water and mountains) in an abandoned village (2-3 houses). From there a nice trek on goat trails took me to the shore. I didn’t climb down to the water as it was pretty steep and I couldn’t have reached the point anyway as I didn’t intend to swim. So I stopped at half-slope 90 m from the point.

I’ll go to Arbīl now, then give a try to 37N 44E before entering Turkey on my way to Belgium. You can know more about my trip here.

In the waters of the Dūkān Reservoir, about 30 m from shore (possibly depending on the actual water level).