Marsh Trail
Round Trip, Distance 1.5km / Time 30 minutes Grade easy / Guided or self guided
The Marsh Trail is an easy loop around the marshes and pools. From the visitors' center, the trail leads out to the marshes across a wooden walkway. It then crosses a dry area to reach a viewing platform overlooking the Chechan pools, the center of the huge springs that once spilled millions of cubic meters of water across the marshland. Before they dried up they were popular swimming holes for local people. In fact, the villagers refer to the two pools as the "man's pool" and the "woman's pool", an indication of their designated swimming areas.

On leaving the viewing area, you will walk along an ancient Umayyad or Roman wall (no one is certain who built it), constructed of black basalt rock. It has an intricate structure, with buttresses jutting out of the wall on either side. The wall was possibly a water control system, used to separate salt water from fresh water and a barrier against winter floods.

The trail leaves the wall across more open water and reeds, to a bird hide made of local mud brick. The hide overlooks a large stretch of shallow water that attracts many birds - including vivid blue kingfishers. And you may be lucky enough to see the water buffaloes. From here the trail leads back to the visitor center, past a circular ancient wall, like a basalt donut, the original purpose of which remains obscure. It is thought to have been for saving fresh water during the summer or for providing decadent Romans (or Umayyads) with a secluded, communal bathing pool in the marshes.