Entry

Fresh Approach To Reaching Petra

May 8th, 2007 07:29
Harish Kohli, http://www.awimaway.com

Most tourists to the world’s historical monuments travel do a whistle 
stop tour – by the grand highway and in large busses. They travel 
there to look, bye the t-shirt and hop back on the bus… well for 
another destination. But there can be and are, simpler ways of getting 
to these places. The unimaginative one for Petra, for instance, is via 
the country’s Desert Highway – from Amman airport to the Siq, Petra’s 
gargantuan gorge entrance, in about two hours. Take that option and 
you can be away to Aqaba by nightfall.
Petra Is Like A Dream
Petra is a like a dream. Rainbow-streaked sandstone gorge walls have 
been cut to create exquisite column-fronted facades and cavernous 
tombs, extensive water channels and a monumental theatre. Then there 
is the setting in the Shara Mountains, which defies the usual Arabian 
Desert stereotypes as the Ghuweir is already demonstrating. 
The Trail
The trail we’re walking, newly stitched together from grazing tracks, 
Bedouin migration routes and this first-day canyon descent will bring 
us not only to Petra but, we hope, to a richer appreciation of the 
place and its surroundings. 
By the time we reach the foot of the canyon, crag martins are surfing 
the gloaming, stuffing themselves with insects. The Wadi 
Araba, “Valley of the Arabs”, stretches before us, a semi-desert that 
stalls the Ghuweir’s gravel-lined stream, with its pink-flowering 
oleanders, in its tracks.
Next morning, the sun is still low as we stride out across the plain. 
Moses came this way, and many early Christians were martyred in the 
region’s brutal copper mines. We descend past caper bushes and desert 
roses to a stream, where we cool our feet, leaving our footprints 
among the fresh hoof marks of the elusive ibex goats. 
This is unrivalled walking, and not only for the dizzying views of the 
mountains and the Wadi Araba far below. Immersion in the local 
history, culture and geology is providing us with an illuminating 
context for the city we’re approaching. 
The Camp
The distant specks of light are candles at the new Wadi Feynan 
ecolodge. On the boundary of Jordan’s flagship nature reserve at Dana, 
this is Foreign Legion fort from the outside monastic retreat within. 
Goats graze among the scattered tents of the Bedouins as we head 
south, hunkered down against the gathering heat.
For the night, we sleep in communal tent with walls woven from hemp 
and camel hair. It sports a patterned pelmet and is furnished with 
rugs and bolsters, but it’s also patched with plastic sacks. The 
overall effect is intriguing – like a wedding marquee in a shanty 
town. 
For showers, there is an unexpected waterfall and meals are simple – 
chicken stew cooked over the campfire. 
The City
We have been walking for five and a half days when we finally arrive. 
We take a rocky trail and round a final corner to a sublime pay-off: 
we are standing before the monastery’s mountaintop façade, almost as 
if we’ve stumbled on the most awe-inspiring of Petra’s many monuments. 
The main city site – churches and temples, forts, imperial tombs and 
the extraordinary theatre – lies in a mountain bowl below the 
monastery. Our walk to Petra has not only given an understanding of 
the place it has prepared us for the punishing contours and fierce 
temperatures there. 
UK-based operator AwimAway (020 7430 1766, www.awimaway.com) offers 
activity and experiential holidays to Jordan, customised to suit your 
desires and your budget. 
Harish Kohli
http://www.awimaway.com