Safety is our utmost priority. One of the reasons that the early stages of opening the trail will require a local guide is to ensure that. Please read our safety briefing here. This has information on permits, trail conditions, remnants of war, weather, wild animals and much else.

Yes! Please refer to the ‘Hike the ZMT’ section of this website, and be careful to read all of the information before visiting the trail.

No - it is not possible to bring a drone into the country. If you attempt to bring one, it will be confiscated at the airport. Even if you already have one in the country, it is likely to attract the attention of local officials if you fly it along the trail.

For journalists, a permit can be acquired in advance. You can contact us here for information on how to do that.

We recommend staying with local hosts along the trail. If you would like to camp, please arrange to do so via a local guide.

You can download GPX (or other formats) of each stage of the trail by visiting the page for that stage (for example, Stage 1: Shush to Akre.)

We encourage this! Please see the ‘Service Provider’ page for more information on local guides.

Many women walk on the trail. If you are not familiar with Islamic communities, it may seem strange initially to see the segregation in some of the villages and homestays you visit. You might also notice there are few pictures of women on our website. Many of our female service providers prefer not to have their image shown online, but they will be a big presence during your visit, especially for women. Female visitors will often be invited into the kitchen during the preparation of meals, and to meet other female members of the family. The men involved in the trail will be respectful of your personal space. We also have female guides who work with some of our tour operators, and are hoping that soon there will be local guides on the trail too.

It is not necessary to for women on the trail to cover their hair, though you may want to bring a scarf to give you the option if you feel like doing so. Please dress appropriately - shoulders and legs covered (for both men and women) and no very tight fitting clothes. If you are dressed inappropriately, it is likely most people will be too polite to say anything, but you may offend them.

The entry point for the ZMT is the city of Erbil. You can fly there and for many nationalities, get a visa on arrival for the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Please check your country’s requirements. Please note that the Kurdistan Region visa will not allow you to visit Federal Iraq. However, if you have entered Iraq via Baghdad or Basra, you will be able to use the Federal visa to enter Erbil and the KRI.

There are unfortunately very few places in Erbil or the KRI where it is possible to pay via card. Most payments will be cash. We recommend bringing USD, which you can exchange to IQD (or sometimes use directly.) There are ATMs in the city, but they can be tempermental.

Most Kurds that you meet will speak a dialect of Kurdish- in Erbil this is likely to be Sorani. On the ZMT you may also encounter Badini and Kurmanji. Some people may speak Arabic, though often this is an older generation, who learned it at school. In the city, you will find English spoken occasionally, but this is rare in the mountains. Our Service Provider page lists the languages that our guides and hosts speak.