ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – After attracting hikers and skiers, Iraqi Kurdistan is also going to be the destination for motor bikers. The Dutch travel company Motor Trails that organizes “adventurous motor tours,” will be developing a tour to this new destination.
“We want to see beautiful places that are not touristic, meet people and drive on trails and tracks. We are looking for an element of adventure,” says the company’s owner Marco Brand, during a trial tour in the Kurdistan capital of Erbil.
He started Motor Trails 15 years ago, with a trip through Vietnam. Although he was working for a travel company, he would also go off by motorbike to discover new places. “I like to go on my own, even if I am not preparing a trip, to discover the unknown trails.”
The idea of organizing sightseeing tours for bikers started when he was driving through Vietnam. “When I drove through the rice fields, I felt the urge to show this beauty to others.”
Motor Trails now has 35 destinations, most of them in Asia and Europe. Groups are usually comprised of six to 10 motor cyclists, accompanied by a guide, a mechanic and a backup car with spare parts. Special tours are Nepal-Holland, and the Central Asia Silk Route, from Holland to Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia.
On this latest tour, motor cyclists take their own bike, but often Brand rents motorbikes locally. You cannot take your motorbike with you on a plane, and on most of the routes a slightly lighter bike is preferable to the heavy Harley Davidsons and the like mostly in use in Holland.
“A lighter bike, with a 250 CC motor is better for off-road biking, as it is more maneuverable and easier to get back up after a fall. Otherwise, you are mainly occupied with the bike, and that is not the idea.”
The object is to feel the freedom of driving through the most beautiful countryside possible, Brand says. “You hear and feel everything. You are not cooped up in a can of cold air, and you can decide on your own speed.”
For his trip through Kurdistan, he had to rent the bike in Turkey, as no motor clubs are known in Kurdistan yet. This meant he had to bring official papers from the owner that he is allowed to take the bike across the border. The paperwork delayed him for three hours at the Turkish-Iraqi border.
On his discovery trip through Kurdistan, Brand is looking for trails and tracks that will take a motorbike to the villages and towns. “The way you get somewhere almost is more important than where you go. The motor will get you to places where a car cannot go.”
One problem is the lack of good maps that not only show highways and main roads, but also the dirt roads and even minor roads that Brand wants to use for his tour.
Driving around for just a few days, he already has a good feeling about the place. He recounts drinking tea at a checkpoint, a chat and picture with men hanging around in a village he passed through, a bottle of water offered by strangers and a meal that he was not allowed to pay for in a small restaurant. “I was even invited for meals at home, but had to refuse because I needed to move on.”
Even though Kurdistan still is associated with the dangers of Iraq, his pictures and reports on Facebook have already pitched the trip to his first customers. “People react saying they want to be in the pilot tour they know I will be organizing first to try out the new destination.”
The safety situation in Iraqi Kurdistan does not seem to be an issue. The motorcyclists that book Brand’s tours are looking for adventure. “Last year we did Tajikistan, and this year even Congo, which is a special and dangerous destination,” he laughs.
Motorbiking would be a new asset to the fast growing Kurdish tourist industry that already brings Western tourists in on organized tours to see the natural, historic and cultural sites, that offers hiking tours into Kurdistan’s rough mountains and luxury stays in five-star hotels in the Kurdish cities of Erbil and Sulaimani.
Skiing sites are being developed at the Korek Mountain, near Kurdistan’s third city Duhok and on a couple of other places. Canoeing on Kurdistan’s fast mountain rivers is another new activity under development.
On top of that, during the first months of Erbil’s year as the Arab Tourism Capital, many Iraqis have flocked to Kurdistan to enjoy the nature, waterfalls and parks, with one park attracting people with a hot air balloon ride.
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