Jerusalem’s Festigalgal bicycle riding festival winds up next week with emphasis on using bicycles more for in-city transportation. The annual festival has in the past included such dignitaries as the city’s mayor, Nir Barkat, as a participant in the month long event’s finale “Ride a Bike to Work” day which this year will be held on Sunday, October 27.

“The event has become increasingly popular in this city; and we are happy to be a co-sponsor of the event,” says Pnina Kaplan, who works for the Jerusalem branch of the Nature Protection Society, a co-sponsor of the event.

Last year around 400 people registered for the event, held on March 30, 2012.

“As it turned out, more than 4,000 showed up on their bikes to participate; and we hope to have more turn out this year,” says Yonatan Plitman, one of the event’s organizers. He added that the event is used as a way to reach out to the community in order to encourage more people to consider using bikes as an alternative way to get around the city.

To encourage people to register, the first 300 people to register for next Sundays bike riding day will be given a free T-shirt commemorating the event. The Festigalgal event itself has included special events like parades in parts of Jerusalem, including the Nehorai neighborhood, near  the city’s Valley of the Cross.

“All kinds of people become involved in the event, especially those like high tech people and students. The events also get people  involved who are living the neighborhoods where they take place; and a lot of people work at the festival as volunteers,” says Plitman.

He tells me that the Jerusalem municipality could do a lot more to improve the infrastructure in the city and “connect” to bike riders; including providing more bike paths and by allowing bike riders to take their bikes on public transport vehicle, like buses and the light rail train system, during non-peak usage hours.

“Tel Aviv (a city where many people ride bicycles) also has an infrastructure problem when it comes to bike riding,” says Plitman.

Many cities abroad, including the American city of San Francisco,  appear to do a lot more to encourage people to ride their bikes to work or for pleasure. Plitman thinks that it will be a while before bike riding in Jerusalem becomes as popular as it is in European cities like Amsterdam, however.

Those wishing to register for this years Ride a Bike to Work day can still so; and perhaps receive a free event T-shirt as well, via the following link.

More articles about bike riding and related issues:

Jerusalem Mayor to Join Bike to Work Day Next Week

Join Jerusalem”s Critical Mass Biking Event This Friday

Palestine’s First Bike Lane in Jericho Brings Oldest City Up to Speed

Photo Credit 2012 Festigalgal: Yaniv Yur/Greenmap.org

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Mass transit is not an option outside Amman city limits.  Navigating a rental car through craggy mountains and city roads would test Evel Knievel. My visitors speak no Arabic, further limiting free travel. And most are past their hitchhiking and hostel “sell-by” date. So we devise a speed-date for traveling friends, with us at the wheel, through the Dead Sea, Wadi Rum, and Petra: a Jordanian trifecta.  We know the hotel deals, the routes with the vistas, and cool places to grab a coffee or a local meal.  Satisfaction delivered every time.  Too many times.

Easter break loomed and Hotel Balbo was empty; what to do that’s new? I itch for something different. Wild Jordan tops the list of travel alternatives.  We head over to see what appeals.

Wild Jordan (WJ) is the business arm of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN), tasked with developing socioeconomic programs in Jordan’s varied nature reserves. They’ve got eco-tourism facilities in four protected areas: Dana Biosphere, Azraq Wetland, Mujib Nature Reserve, and Ajloun Forest. Each reserve offers widely different landscapes, from mountains to forests to desert wetlands.  Tourism is controlled;  visitors access only a fraction of total reserve areas.  While the restrictions aren’t really noticeable, this practice keeps protected areas undisturbed. Wildlife and ecosystems can flourish.

Their headquarters is an attractive outpost perched clifftop overlooking downtown Amman.  The “green” building holds an eco-shop and café and with excellent Citadel views.  Eco-tours are presented in a low-key way.  Homemade photo albums showing each site rest on a funky reception counter; poured concrete on a bed of crushed aluminum cans.

A friendly woman in a hot pink hijab answers our questions, and we make our selection, hand over some dinar. She prints out directions to the meeting point, an itinerary, and a tip sheet of what to bring.

We pick Azraq, a bike tour through a wetland oasis in the Eastern Desert famous for migrating birds.  The bike ride pulls us in (hey, I bowled once just so I could wear the colorful rental shoes).

The day of the trip arrives.

We drive to RSCN headquarters in Jubeiha.  It’s 8 am.  People arrive and mill about the courtyard: a pair of American teachers from an Amman international school; three giggly Jordanian women; four serious Spaniards and a Columbian engineer on a break from his studies in Saudi Arabia.  Five more arrive as the minibus revs its engine.

At 9 am we’re off.  A few of the late arrivals turn out to be Wild Jordan staff; a high energy young woman is our guide.  They walk us through the itinerary, tell jokes, and as the desert unfolds on the drive south east, we fall into dreamy quietude.  We arrive at 11 am at Azraq eco-lodge, a converted 1940’s British field hospital, an unusual base for exploration.

A low complex of concrete buildings frames a central patio. A few dozen mountain bikes lean against the walls.  We test drive them, adjust our helmets, and tuck water in our back packs.  Here we go.

Fifteen minutes later we wheel up to a small nature center.  The Azraq Wetlands Reserve. It’s super sunny and hot.  I’ve already knocked off my water.

We meet Ahmed, our local guide and Azraq native.  He leads us through an exhibit of the wetlands’ ecological history.  Azraq mean “blue” in Arabic, a cruel reminder of the watershed that used cover this terrain. We read about long-vanished species of animals and plants.  Learn how the once vibrant wetlands were tapped dry by thirsty Amman politicos.  It’s “Chinatown”, Middle East style. Stroll outside along a lovely wooden path. Sidestep girl scouts and lone photographers.

Ahmed points to a dusty patch of grass, tells how he learned to swim in this spot that once held 10 meter deep pools.  Says his kids have to learn to swim at an indoor pool 100km away.

We sit in wonderfully cool shade, peer at waterfowl from a viewing hut. Ahmed jumps in his van and we’re back on our bikes; it’s noon.  He’ll follow us all day – bringing up the rear, dispensing cold water and giving short informational speeches at every stop along the route.

That first leg was brutal.  I had an epic head cold, and pedaling through soft sands (formerly wetland) wasn’t easy.  We cross the sandpits of Al Qa’a, formerly mudflats, and climb a rock outcropping where the guide tells how ancient peoples used to trap wolves, using the then-lush swamp to keep the predators from killing their livestock.  An old Brit in the group asks why they didn’t just steal the wolves’ bikes.  A big laugh as the bad joke gets translated around.  I chew sinus meds and marvel at everyone smoking.

Our guide stops us about every half hour at another point of interest.  There’s an old Druze village, and the ruins of Qasr-al-Shaér.  We bike in a wide arc around the former wetlands. Cross a motorway where overhead signs offer routes to Iraq or Syria.  Thought bubble over my head reads, “You’re not in Kansas anymore.”

After 2 PM we arrive at Azraq Castle where we de-bike again for water refills and a self-guided tour. Within an hour we’re in a local house for lunch.  Did food ever taste so good?  Mountains of savory rice with tender grilled chicken, tomato and cucumber salads topped with chilled yogurt and coriander.  Vats of chilled water, Frisbee sized flatbread.

Sated, we roll outdoors; slap on our sandy sneakers, and sit beneath a grapevine drinking sugary minted tea.  More cigarettes: how do they do it?

We re-introduce sore butts to bike saddles, and tackle the last leg back to the lodge.  By 5 PM we’re on the air-conditioned minibus, where the staff grab the microphone and sing us back to Amman.

Just like the flyer said, the trip took about 5 hours and we covered over 22 km.

Wild Jordan’s eco-tourism operations are making significant contributions to the development of Jordan’s tourism industry. Each year 50,000 tourists visit RSCN sites.  Revenues contribute over 45% of annual conservation costs and supported hundreds of local community jobs.

Craving adventure but dreading the planning?  Want to experience nature and history, touch a local community, see its traditions, and share its food?

Give your wallet a vacation too.  The Azraq experience cost less than $40, all inclusive. About what I’d drop on lunch at one of the five-star joints along the Dead Sea.

If you’re headed this way, do check out Wild Jordan.  They do all the work, and you’ll have a priceless experience that keeps on giving.

Image of Waterfowl by Wild Jordan, all others by Laurie Balbo

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