Iraq’s ‘paradise lost’ resort remains a macabre monument to war and decay
In the 1980s, Iraq’s Lake Habbaniyah was a tourist hot spot, popular with wealthy newlyweds and so luxurious it was even a haunt of dictator Saddam Hussein and his fearsome entourage.
Top-notch restaurants, flower gardens and pristine lakeside bungalows pulled in clients from across the Middle East and beyond.
But like much of Iraq, this oasis – between Fallujah and Ramadi – has fallen into disrepair since the US-led military coalition toppled Saddam.
“The tourist complex is terribly degraded,” says Karim Turki, 60, who spent nearly half his life working at the state-run complex.
Standing in front of a bungalow festooned with torn electric wires, he laments a “paradise lost”.
Piles of rubbish, drained swimming pools and a merrygo-round of limbless horses create a ghost-town feel.
Under the American occupation, extremists in 2006 and 2007 operated from the deserted complex.
Iraq’s police retook control in 2008 and the resort enjoyed a brief revival – amateur jet skiers returned and families enjoyed picnics on the shore.
In an attempt to attract new foreign visitors, a Turkish company was contracted to revive the facilities around the vast artificial lake, which was created in 1956.
But it was all in vain. After a few months, the company threw in the towel.
The zone became the scene of sectarian violence, culminating in ISIS taking control.
During the Iraqi army’s offensive to dislodge the terrorist group, the state requisitioned the resort’s 500 bungalows and 265-room hotel to accommodate some of those displaced by the latest round of conflict.
Although the government declared victory over ISIS in December and Iraqi tourism has begun to recover, the days of access roads to Habbaniyah being clogged by traffic jams are long gone.
But there has been a trickle of visitors – some keen to cool off briefly in the summer heat, others seeking a longer trip down memory lane.
“People come to Habbaniyah today to remember the good old times,” Mr Turki says.