Heavy snowfall on Korek Mountain brings joy to tourists

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Tourists were seen rushing and queuing for the cable car to get them to the top of Korek Mountain to enjoy the view and snowy scenery, as the area experienced around a meter of snowfall daily for five days straight.

“This is our first time coming here,” Salwa Adnan, a tourist, told Rudaw’s Bakhtiyar Qadir on Thursday.

“Nature is wonderful and there has been a lot of snow this year compared to previous years,” she added.

The majority of the tourists that visit Korek Mountain come by buses provided by the local travel agencies.

“More than 2,000 tourists visit Rawanduz daily,” Chya Muhammad, Director of Tourism of Rawanduz, told Rudaw on Thursday. “Since the beginning of the year, 18,000 tourists have stayed in Rawanduz and about 45,000 tourists have visited the area.”

Temperatures at Korek Mountain have dropped between three to four degrees below zero, which led tourists to keep warm by dancing to Kurdish folk songs.