As long as humans have found transcendent meaning in earthly places, they have made special journeys to those places. Traditionally, a pilgrimage is an act of religious devotion, but lately the word is used to describe a trip to any place that is especially inspiring to the traveler. Continue reading
Even in its ruined state, the Roman Temple of Hercules, including the evocative, disembodied Hand of Hercules, commands the high ground in the city of Amman.
Amman’s central hill, Jabal al-Qala’a or the Citadel, was among the earliest parts of the city to be settled, with archaeological evidence of habitation going back to the Neolithic period. A list of occupiers includes many of the usual suspects, as well as a few relatively small, regional powers – Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, biblical Ammonites, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and the early Islamic Umayyad and Ayyubid dynasties. The Umayyad Palace is another prominent historical remnant on the Citadel.
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Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan
At around 120 square miles, the Dana Biosphere Reserve is the largest nature reserve in Jordan. It’s located just off the King’s Highway (or the Dead Sea-Aqaba Highway, depending on where you enter) between the Dead Sea and Petra.
On the eastern edge, the 15th-century village of Dana commands the reserve’s high point at almost 5000 feet. The low point is more than 160 ft below sea level, at Wadi Araba.
Dana Village
The reserve is cut through with deep sheltered canyons and trails for all levels of hikers. The convergence of 4 biogeographical zones means a range of environments, from lush highlands and scrubby slopes to parched wadi beds, supporting a rich biodiversity, with some 800 plant and 450 animal species endemic to Europe, Asia and Africa.
Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan
Dana Biosphere Reserve, Jordan
In its management of the reserve, the NGO Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) strives to balance environmental conservation with the economic needs of the local Bedouin tribes. In 2005, the RSCN built the Feynan Ecolodge in Feynan Wadi, where copper mining had been the main industry for over 3 thousand years.
The remaining copper is deep and would require environmentally devastating blasting to reach. The lodge, and tourism in general, provides a sustainable economic alternative to copper mining.
Rummana campground, Dana Biosphere Reserve
The Rummana campground at the other end of the reserve near Dana Village offers tent camping with jaw-dropping views.
Standing sentinel at the Visitor Center entrance to Wadi Rum, this massive rock is popularly known as the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, after the book by T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia). The traditional name of the rock formation is Jabal al-Mazmar. Lawrence was a British army officer who joined the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. Beyond the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, hundreds of equally awesome rock formations frame the sandy corridors, broad and narrow, that crisscross the Valley of the Moon.
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the Dead Sea
Petra
school girls at Mt. Nebo
Mt. Nebo
boys at Jerash
Ajloun Castle (Qal’at Ar-Rabad) is a 12th century fortress built by the Muslim Ayyubid dynasty to enforce order amongst local tribes, guard nearby iron mines and defend against Crusaders in the northern Jordan Valley. The castle sits at about 4,000 feet atop Mt. Auf the highest ground in the area, with gorgeous views across olive groves and pine forests for miles around. A visit to Ajloun Castle pairs well with the Roman site of Jerash, about 30 minutes away. This is also a beautiful area for hiking and the protected, cool mountain forests are a welcome retreat from sweltering summer temperatures in this desert country.
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Aqaba, on the Gulf of Aqaba at the very top of the Red Sea, is a beach resort and the only sea port in our mystery country. This is the meeting point of two continents – Africa and Asia. At night the lights of Israel’s Red Sea resort, Eilat, twinkle 4 miles to the west and Egypt’s Taba resort is less than 7 miles away. For international tourists, Aqaba tends to be overshadowed by Petra and Wadi Rum, both within a couple of hours drive away, but divers and snorkelers enjoy the clear waters and thriving coral reefs of the Aqaba Marine Park.
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photo from caritasjordan.org.jo
Established in 1967, Caritas Jordan is a branch of the Catholic charity, Caritas International, which first began serving the poor in 1897 and operates today from 200 locations worldwide.
The mission of Caritas Jordan is to provide food, shelter and health care to anyone in need, including Jordanian nationals, refugees, and migrant workers; to facilitate self-sufficiency by connecting those in need with opportunities of work, education, vocational training and micro-credit; and to engage Jordanian society at large with the personal and community rewards of volunteerism.
Since 2011, Caritas Jordan has worked to ease the plight of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, mainly in Mafraq in northern Jordan, about an hour’s drive northeast of Amman. The Zaatari camp, about 6 miles outside of Mafraq, is home to over 80,000 refugees. Every day Caritas staff and volunteers distribute basic necessities – food, clothes, heaters, mattresses, blankets, sheets, towels, toiletries, hygiene items and school supplies – to residents of the camp.
In 2014, with the help of over 2,000 volunteers, Caritas Jordan served some 450,000 people.
For interested travelers to Jordan, Ya’lla Tours will arrange volunteer activities with Caritas Jordan.
November 2015 – Ya’lla Tours president Ronen Paldi (left) at Caritas Jordan headquarters in Amman with Caritas Jordan General Director Mr. Wael V. Suleiman (center) and Ya’lla’s partner in Jordan Mr. Jack Farraj
The grand entrance hall pictured above is all that remains intact of the large palace complex that once wrapped around the north side of the Citadel, the historical and geographical center of the country’s capital Amman, as well as its highest point. The palace was built around 720CE by the Umayyads, a dynasty that ruled the area 661-750. Much of the complex was destroyed by an earthquake in 749. The entrance hall takes the unlikely-for-Islamic-architecture shape of a cross because it is built on top of the foundations of a Byzantine church.
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