Misbehaving

Dana Nature Reserve, Jordan

It is on the UNESCO world heritage list, the nature reserve at Dana. Perched high on a hilltop the small village of Dana with its traditional stone houses overlooks the beautiful gorge. The reserve is natural habitat for some rare and endangered animals and as such a lot of things are regulated. You can hire guides and do some hikes, but you can't camp inside the reserve. There are 2 campgrounds in the area, or so does the book say...

Upon closer look you notice that those stone houses are all in ruin, except for the two converted into hotels and the other two which are small shops. It's a pity. Maybe some investors will discover the opportunities there. With some international financial help a project was created to help build a crafts centre for local women, an eco lodge and to create the terraced gardens. It's amazing what a little bit of water can do. The water captured from a local spring channeled through narrow ditches waters the orchards on the hillside. There are lots of olive and pomegranate trees and a few other trees. The tall poplars are clearly identifiable from the distance. Although these gardens do not cover a huge area they house many birds. It's wonderful to sit there in a peaceful spot in the shade and watch or listen to the birds overlooking the gorge. I did that for hours.

Given the mountainous terrain and the beautiful gorge I wanted to go on a trek described in my book as outstanding. But doing that turned out to be more difficult to organize. Or maybe I just gave up too soon. Anyway, I joined some people on a guided hike from a village South of Dana down to Feinan.

The hike was really nice, it followed a little stream down its canyon from limestone through sandstone and then basalt. That means that both colours and features changed along the way. Indeed, what started as a white easily to be walked canyon with small white walls turned next into a narrow canyon with high vertical walls and then ended in a vast desert surrounded by basalt mountains.
What made this place interesting for me was the vegetation. Again it showed what a little bit of water can do. From the beginning in the river bed of the tiny shallow stream there were hundreds of oleanders sprouting out of the stony soil. Then there were spots where the water was dripping down the rock wall and the little pools beneath were surrounded by more greenery than expected. When the stream disappeared somewhere along the narrow canyon the vegetation did, too only to reappear as soon as the stream reappeared, too. And this was spectacular because suddenly the vertical walls were decorated with hanging green plants (they looked like some sort of ferns, but little do I know about it) clinging on to the wet rock. It looked surreal. Then, in an opening like a green plaza along the shady narrow road which the canyon was, we found ourselves in an oasis. Dozens of palm trees, more oleanders and some deep pools were surrounding us in this spot delimited by steep cliffs.

It was also interesting to notice the evolution of the little stream, since we ended up wading through it, hopping across it hundreds of times, jumping over pools and little waterfalls. We also saw a few fairly big crabs along the way. Towards the end the water was captured in big pipes to be used for farming. In the end this is desert country and water very precious.
What I did not like about this hike was the pace. It was much too fast for me and it did not allow me to explore any spot or hang around for pictures. Oh, well.

At the end of the hike in Feinan we split up. Everybody else was going to Petra, I wanted to return to Dana. I carried sleeping bag and my magic carpet with me but was thinking about spending the night at the campground there. Well, bad news! The eco lodge was built on the campground site. There was no camping or rooftop sleeping possible and an economy room costed 43JD, that's about 60USD.
"Forget it", I said to the staff."Rather than pay I will run back up to Dana."

And so, although it was close to 4pm and I felt tired after the 15km and 6+ hours walk in my much too tight boots (with more weight on my back than the others, of course), I started going up the Dana valley. For the first few kilometers I encountered numerous bedouin tents and bedouins. They were herding goats and most invited me for tea. But I did not stop, thinking about making it back to the village that evening. Although, I have to admit that there was also this other thought, about spending the night in the beautiful peaceful surroundings away from people. I guess I'm turning wilder and wilder :-)

After about 2 hours of hiking at a good pace I could see the village in the distance on the hilltop. There was still a long way ahead. I had left all the bedouin tents behind and figured that it was time to stop. My feet were hurting, I felt tired, nobody was going to come by now since it was going to get dark soon.
The sun was close to setting and the light beautiful. I had followed mostly the river bed rather than walk on the dusty trail but now I had climbed to a higher spot close to the trail from where I could see all the surrounding area well. The big towers, the deep precipices and the ridges were all glowing orange-red. This was a very beautiful and wild place. I found a rocky area with caves and cavities and some flat slabs. That was it: I could sleep on a nice even hard surface away from the dust. I took pictures at sunset and had a much improved dinner: a tuna can with flat bread and some sweet stuff afterwards. By 8:30pm or so I was sound asleep under a beautiful starlit sky.

Yes, I did break the rules! And yes, I did enjoy doing that! I'm not a rule breaker, actually rather afraid of going against rules, but this kind of stuff I'd do anytime! In the end, when I left, there was not even a trace of my sleeping over.

In the morning the sky was gray and heavy with clouds. Oops, I was hoping it wasn't going to rain. I packed my stuff and left. About 2 hours later I reached Dana after a steep and boring uphill. It was windy and chilly and the visibility very poor. Actually, I could not see the village in the clouds for quite a while. And, to be honest, I kept thinking of Fish River Canyon and other places which had a much bigger appeal. Yes, this valley was beautiful, but far from the exciting spectacular I had experienced previously in Jordan and elsewhere.

It did not rain that day but the sky never cleared properly. I spent hours in the terraced gardens, did laundry and discovered some yellow tulip shaped flowers growing out of the hard dusty soil. No leaves, nothing, just the big bright flowers. They resembled giant crocusses but, of course, nobody could confirm that.

A nice peaceful spot Dana is and definitely a great hiking and scrambling area. But I'd go off the beaten track rather than follow the boring straightforward trail through the valley. And then, I'm sure, the spectacular would reveal itself.