Trip South

A few weeks ago for our semester break we boarded a bus headed to the south of Jordan. Our first stop was Wadi Dana Nature Reserve, where we spent the night in very comfortable tents at a camp in the middle of the mountains. I'd seen pictures of Wadi Dana before visiting and, to tell the truth, I wasn't very impressed. When I arrived though, I was blown away by the views of green mountains, valleys, and caves nestled into the mountainside. Pictures couldn't do this place justice. As soon as we arrived my friends and I threw our stuff in tents and raced off to hike the cave trail before it got dark to see the caves that used to be used as houses in prehistoric times. One was even a church. We hiked up to see them, took some cool pictures inside them, then returned to the camp for a delicious meal. The stars in Wadi Dana were brighter than I'd ever seen them anywhere else in Jordan (before I went to Wadi Rum that is). We slept well in our nice, comfortable tents, then hiked more in the morning. From Wadi Dana we headed down to Sloavak Castle to see the ruins there. The most exciting ruins were the networks of caves and tunnels that run for miles under the castle. We were warned by our guide that it wasn't safe to go explore them too far, maybe 15 feet in at most, but they were so cool we couldn't help ourselves. We climbed down into the earth below the castle where the air smelled old and damp. We never saw the scorpions and snakes we'd been warned frequent the tunnels these days. I was disappointed we didn't have very much time to explore the tunnels, but the castle was really just a short break on our way to Petra. Once we arrived in Petra we had a few hours to swim in the hotel pool, eat lunch, and rest. That evening we all took the bus to Little Petra, where I really enjoyed myself. Some Bedouin men helped us rock climb up into the ancient buildings and take pictures in them. I liked Little Petra as much as I liked normal Petra, because, even though the sights weren't quite as impressive at Little Petra, the temperature was much more comfortable for exploring the ruins. The next day we went to Petra. The ruins were impressive, as was the desert scenery. The heat, though, got to me after a while. If anyone reading this plans to visit Petra at some point I would advise either going in the winter or being prepared to spend a fair amount of money on transportation (camels, donkeys, carriages) because walking around in the heat you'll get too tired and uncomfortable to see everything.

Note: Having trouble posting the actual Petra pictures. I'll probably add them in my next post.






One of the caves in Wadi Dana.













Wadi Dana














Little Petra. We climbed up into this building.













Dinner by candlelight in Little Petra.