Hiking the Jordan Trail: Dana to Petra: Day 1
Raring to go, our vehicle dropped us off in Dana Biosphere Reserve and we began our hike.
What awaited us was a vast playground of rocks and wadis - apart from the odd shepherd and his flock, we didn’t encounter any other people…bliss.
Dana is Jordan’s largest nature reserve and is a joy for trail walkers- the phrase of the day was certainly “wow, look at that rock!” The impressive sandstone cliffs tower over the land, reaching as high as 1700m.
This is a place where mountain meets desert meets valley and the colours were just starting to pop as the vegetation grew green- a few week’s time our guide told us, and the whole valley would be covered in wildflowers.
We walked for 15km, weaving through the cliffs and finally dropping down into Wadi Al- Nakheel- a beautiful dry riverbed valley. We camped a little further up, near Al Mansura.
Green just starting to come through
Mountains all around
the views began to unfold the higher we climbed
the sandstone enscarpment
New life..
Plants growing in holes in the rockface!
patterns in the sandstone
the Lonely Tree
Feet & a view
Dropping down into Wadi Al- Nakheel- and hiking along the dry riverbed as the sun went down
Incredible rocks
close up on the banding
