Wadi Dana Unshot

Wadi Dana, Kerak, Jordan

It turns out that I'm still not fully on board the digital revolution. With my old-fashioned film camera, I changed my battery not more than once a year, and then usually just because the battery had expired, not because it was used up. So I wasn't thinking about batteries when I chucked my new digital camera in my bag....

When I arrived at Dana Village, my camera had just enough juice to push out the lense ... but not quite enough to close it again! Much to my embarrassment, I'm back to stealing other people's photos from Facebook.

From Dana to Feynan

Not only that, but of course there were dozens of great shots I saw on my way down the valley that I just wish I could take.... But I guess that just gives me an excuse to do the hike again!

It's a longer route than I usually do in Jordan - 18km or so - but all downhill. From Dana Village to Feynan Ego-Lodge is a drop in altitude of about a kilometer, from Kerak Plateau above sea level to Wadi Araba below sea level. (Wadi Araba is the region between the Dead Sea and the Red Sea.) Wadi Dana is also a dry wadi, unlike the narrow, wet wadis that Tareef Cycling Club tends to prefer for hiking. Though still carved by water, Wadi Dana is less of a canyon and more of a valley, broad and U-shaped with gentle gravel slopes instead of steep rock walls. The vegetation was different, too, more widely scattered, with even some broad slopes of new grass peeking up among the scree.

From Dana to Feynan

Everywhere I turned, there were these stark, bare trees, as well.

We finished the trip with a good deed. Dr. Ramzi and his brother, who organize the trips for Walking Jordan, are very interested in getting the money and cast-offs of rich Jordanians in Amman out to the desperately poor who need them in the countryside, as well as doing other projects like trash pick-up in Orjan. One of the families they've recently hosted set up a Bedouin tent for us and served us mensef, the left-overs of which will feed them for days. Some hikers also brought along second-hand clothes and other things to give away.

From Dana to Feynan