There is a wonderful place to explore in Jordan in the region of Wadi Feynan. 

Getting there: Wadi Feynan is located about 200 miles southwest of Amman and represents one of the regional centers of the ancient metallurgy in the Middle East. The industrial-scale copper production started in the Early Bronze Age and continued during the Roman-Byzantine Period while the final exploitation of copper occurred in Mamluk Period.

The copper was transported to other parts of the region but this trade isn’t what we’ll talk about. It’s what you are going to do there.

Feynan Ecolodge is one of the most basic and eco-friendly places in Jordan. It is also considered a top 50 eco hotel in the world. There’s no electricity in the hotel except for the kitchen, bathroom and showers. You won’t find plastic bottles, meat and alcohol – though you can bring your own.

The hotel is built in the middle of nowhere between the Dana Reserve on the mountain plateau and the valley where only four-wheel vehicles have access. The nearest road is miles away and the area is tough but good for a rugged hike and stargazing in the evening.

At night, the hotel is lit by candles produced by the local Bedouin community.

Rooms are nice but minimalistic while hefty price tag could be a big turn off for people used to luxurious accommodation or those who would rather choose one of many Bedouin camps in Wadi Musa and Wadi Rum. However, most visitors won’t stay more than a few days due to complete isolation from civilization. On the other hand, tourists who enjoy solitude can get the full board of breakfast, lunch and dinner. For most visitors, breakfast and dinner are included in the offer.

In the wintertime, the lodge can be freezing due to the lack of electricity so the hosts provide very thick blankets and hot water bottles. During the summer, the main issue is the scorching heat as temperatures range between 38 and 45 Celsius for most of the days between June and September.

The best period for hiking is fall and spring.

When it was established in 2005 by Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, the Feynan Ecolodge was to offer travelers, particularly hikers and young people, the opportunity to learn more about untouched wilderness, the ancient history of Wadi Feynan and local communities.

Built as traditional waystations that are scattered throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, the Feynan Ecolodge uses solar panels while the inner courtyard is designed for stargazing or meteor showers.

In the Dana Biosphere Reserve

At the lodge, hot drinks and non-alcoholic beverages are served while guests can bring their own alcoholic drinks but are advised to use them discreetly because Jordan is primarily Muslim and alcohol is not permitted. Read more here about Muslims and alcohol.

Solar –generated electricity is used to light the bathrooms, kitchen, mobile phones and laptops. One can’t find an electric outlet in the rooms, but cameras, laptops and mobiles can be recharged at the front desk.

The lodge is smoke-free but travelers can go outside the lodge and smoke in a smoke-designated area. Because of the solar system, each room has enough hot water for the whole year.

The main outdoor activities are a sunrise hike, a sunset hike, the Feynan area plants, hiking between ruins of ancient civilizations and exploring famous mines. So hiking. Or doing nothing. Or exploring the area ion mountain bikes as well as interaction with local communities. Normally, hikes last between two and four hours and guests are escorted by a guide.

Spending a day with a local shepherd or cooking Arabic coffee, the weaving of a goat hair tent,preparing eye makeup called kohl and making arbood bread are interactive activities that would help a tourist understand the heritage of locals in Wadi Feynan. Highly recommended.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bcl4XwEH1hi/

One of shortcomings of the lodge are flies especially in the summer and the lack of access for visitors with disabilities. The terrain around the hotel is very rough and the hotel has no elevator to the first floor.

To summarize, the ecolodge is an excellent place for travelers interested in meditation, extreme sports and physical isolation from modern civilization. Disadvantages are unreasonably high prices for a spartan accommodation, exposure to the elements –  hot summers and freezing winters – and a staff that barely speaks English.

If you are looking for wild travels in the Middle East or North Africa, try this eco hotel in Morocco. 

The post This Wadi Feynan eco hotel in Jordan is ideal for desert escapism appeared first on Green Prophet.

The relations between the Herodian Kingdom and the Nabatean Kingdom were very complex and involved political, economic and marriage ties. Through the institution of marriage with local dynasties, Herodians consolidated power in the southern Levant and later became Rome’s client state.

Intermarriage between religious groups was not uncommon, people were open-minded, until they were not. Here’s a little history of the way things were in the Levant, where major world religions brewed and fed each other:

The most prominent ruler of the dynasty, Herod the Great who ruled from 74/73 BCE to 4 CE, was a controversial figure according to historical sources, and one of main villains of The New Testament.

However, despite the popular tradition his rule was characterized by colossal buildings in Judea, including a renovation of the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, construction of the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the fortress Masada on the eastern edge of the Judean Desert, the maritime port Caesarea Maritima, and monumental palaces like Herodium, 10 miles south of Jerusalem, and Machaerus, 18 miles southeast from the mouth of the Jordan River.

Although his father Antipater I Idumaean (100 BCE to 43 BCE) was an Edomite and his mother Cypros I, a Nabataean, Herod was raised as a Jew. How about that?

An ancient matchmaker

Herod used marriage to bring together different ethnic groups within his realm and making political alliances with other rulers in the same area. In the First Century BCE many members of the Judean elites were Hellenized, which was also the case with Herodians. The process of Hellenization enabled these elites to consolidate and expand their rule in the southern Levant.

The founder of the dynasty, Antipater I already designed a marriage strategy to boost his influence in the region and took a Nabataean noblewoman Cypros I as a wife. She was related to the Nabataean King Aretas III, also known as Philhellen which means Friend of the Greeks.

Kings as babysitters

Relations between them became so cordial that Antipater I would entrust the Nabataean king to take care of his sons while he was participating in the military campaigns against Hasmonean Aristobulus II (66 BC-63 BC).

According to Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian (37 CE to 100 CE), Antipater I used the Nabataean backing to contact Pompey and Roman generals in the east. Then Antipater I forged an alliance with Caesar, and for his ongoing support of Rome he was awarded with the prize of not having to pay taxes. 

His ascendants automatically became the Roman citizens, therefore his marriage to Cyprus I is only one aspect of a much broader policy that sees Antipater I taking advantage of multiple social, religious and ethnic identities.

However, political relations were not always idyllic: when Cesar was assassinated in Rome in 44 CE the East entered a period of chaos and the Nabataeans mistakenly sided with the Parthians. After the Romans defeated the Parthians, the Nabataean Kingdom was obliged to pay tribute to Romans.

The Roman state used Herod I to punish the Nabataeans when they failed to pay the tribute on time and in 36 BCE Herod I expanded his realm at the expense of the Nabataean Kingdom taking its northern swaths. Wadi Mujib, the biblical Arnon Stream, was a border between Nabataean and Herodian states and, according to a Greek archaeologist Konstantinos Politis, the late researcher Taysir Atiat found a Nabataean temple and a watch tower on the mouth of Wadi Mujib.

Within a Herodian Kingdom there was a port on the eastern side of the Dead Sea called Ain –ez Zara, with rooms for shops as it was part of the incense trade route. Further up an ancient road connects Ain ez-Zara with Machareus fortress, a border stronghold and a palace of King Herod the Great. It was a part of the defensive line with a small settlement under the palace, which was a place where St. John the Baptist was beheaded around 29 CE.

A breakup that leads to war

Herod Antipas (20 BCE to 39 CE) was one of sons of Herod the Great and ruled the Galilee and Perea, where in the former province established a city of Tiberius named after his patron Emperor Tiberius. Continuing practice of his predecessors, he married Phasaelis, a daughter of the Nabataean King Aretas IV. The breakup of that marriage was a pretext for the war between Aretas IV and Herod Antipas as the former invaded Perea and defeated Antipas.

According to Josephus, Jews attributed the defeat of Herod Antipas in 36 CE to the beheading of John the Baptist.

A few generations earlier, the romantic relation took place between Salome, the sister of Herod I, and the Nabataean vizier Syllaeus, who came to Jerusalem in 20 BCE to negotiate a loan of 60 talents on the behalf of the Nabataean King Obodas III.

Afraid of the pagans at Petra

Despite the objections from Herod the Great, his sister continued to date the ambitious Nabataean deputy.  Herod I had tense relations with Obodas III and paranoid, as he was, Herod I thought that Syllaeus would depose him and become the ruler of Judea. Several months later, when Syllaeus returned to Jerusalem to propose to Salome, Herod I added the condition that he had to become a Jew and undergo circumcision.

Fearing the reaction and potential stoning by his fellow pagans in Petra, Syllaeus backed off returning to the Nabataean capital empty handed, without love.

The identity of the Herodians was fluid and dynamic, transforming from one ethnicity, culture and religion to another. The choice of the spouse or partner depended on the constellation of power and relations with the Nabataean kings who were also politically submissive to the Romans.

When Jews rebelled in 70 CE, the Nabataeans joined the Roman army who crashed the uprising. However, the Nabataeans’ relative independence didn’t last for too long and Emperor Trajan annexed their kingdom in 106 CErenaming it in the province Arabia Petrea.

The post If you think the Middle East is dramatic now, 2000 years ago it was a telenovela appeared first on Green Prophet.

The first people to green the desert? Nabateans who built Petra were like the Mayans of the Middle East. The ancient people were developed in agriculture, spirituality and architecture. Archaeologists dig into how they dealt with drought in Jordan, one of the driest countries on earth. 

Water harvesting, flood control and water storage were essential for the survival of the Nabataeans in the arid area of Petra, which is modern day Jordan. One of the driest countries on the planet, the early settlers there had to invent novel ideas to survive. They brought in engineers from afar, Rome probably, and built aqueducts and a water storage system that might be even able to produce drinkable water by today’s standards. 

The book, The Petra Siq: Nabataean Hydrology Uncovered, published in 2003 by a Swiss architect and archaeologist Ueli Bellwald dealt with the very complex hydrological (water collection) system of the Nabataean capital, instead of the well-known temples and necropolis. Water collection was an every day and activity and we are grateful that researchers look into the past so we can understand how to survive tomorrow. Green Prophet interviews Bellward to learn more. 

The location of Petra was significant and it provided indispensable water supply and flash flood retention systems, explains Bellwald who spent decades studying and writing about the hydraulic network of the Nabataeans.

Without the flash flood system, they wouldn’t last a year

According to Bellwald, who has also lived at Petra itself, the city was built inside a widening of the Wadi Musa, a natural runoff water drainage channel for a surface of 87 square kilometers; he added that without the construction of the highly sophisticated flash flood retention system Petra would not have survived a single winter rainy season.

Due to a geographical and a geological location of Petra there were no springs inside the city area which made thing more difficult for its inhabitants. Because of the geological conditions, all main springs in the area are located on the terraces of actual Wadi Musa, at a height of about 1,300 meters above the sea level, Bellwald explains, noting that the drinking water had to be led down to the city by long aqueducts.

The areas of the tombs and sanctuaries around the city served for collecting and storing water in large cisterns, and that water was used for agricultural purposes, he underlines.

The Nabataeans constructed a complex network of aqueducts and cisterns that is not in use now.

Stay in Petra, in an underground cave with this Bedouin

“If you take the number of drinking water reservoirs fed by the aqueducts and the number of cisterns for the storage of collected runoff water known up to today, you get a total number of more than 200 storage facilities with a capacity of about 40 million liters of water,” Bellwald underlined.

It is obvious that at the beginnings, when the city was established, there was no sufficient local expertise that would meet the requirements of the hydraulic systems to be built.

Just like today they brought in engineers

“I myself discovered a lot of features which did not fulfill their duties and were heavily damaged during their first strain and had to be rebuilt afterwards,” Bellwald noted, adding that very close similarities with other hydraulic installations in Rome and mainly in the Ionian cities, like Pergamon, lead him to the conclusion that the Nabataean authorities employed engineers from abroad and then adopted and further developed the basic expertise.

“For instance the remains of the very first spring water aqueduct which I excavated in the Petra Siq and another section which Graf, Schmid and Bedal [archaeologists specialized in the Nabateans and Petra] excavated in 2004/05 near the Temenos Gate, built in the middle of the 1st century BC, follows closely the model of Aqua Marcia in Rome, whereas the Khubtha North Aqueduct, the actually visible Siq Aqueduct and the Ain Braq Aqueduct follow models from Pergamon, mainly the Kaikos Aqueduct,” Bellwald elaborated.

However, we still don’t know names and biographies of the Nabataean engineers who realized these projects in the ancient times and their life remains a mystery to us.

What is more important for us today is how to utilize their expertise in a region that is overburdened with high natality and lack of water resources. In that regard Bellwald maintains that the Nabataean runoff water collection systems could still nowadays serve as a model for water collection and storage in arid regions.

“There is no agriculture without water, either from natural precipitation like barley fields in Thugra, or from irrigation,” stressed Bellwald, adding that irrigation may tremendously change the appearance of a landscape and may have great, positive impact on the climate.

A center for wine and olive oil

Moreover, in ancient times Petra was a center for wine and olive oil production and wine and olive presses scattered in Petra and its hinterland are the evidence of ancient agriculture.

What the scholar explored were runoff water retention dams with an extended catchment basin and maintenance stairs leading from the wadi (valley) bottom to the top of the dam.

“Experimental archaeological trials I made in the Thugra area showed that with the Nabataean runoff water collection systems you may even get drinkable water,” Bellwald concluded.

The post Learning the art of ancient irrigation the Nabatean way appeared first on Green Prophet.

The transition between paganism and three major monotheistic religions in the southern Levant is one of themes that intrigues Professor Robert Schick from the University of Mainz in Germany. Pagans were very connected to the cycles of the earth, and like all ancient people reckoned with nature to understand why they exist and how to survive. 

An American historian and archaeologist, Schick has worked in Jordan since 1980 and has participated in various scholarly projects. His major focus is the Byzantine and Islamic periods, which includes research at sites on both the East and the West Bank.

The closer look should be taken at religious affiliation of the population in southern Jordan, namely from Wadi Mujib to Aqaba (ancient Ayla) in the Byzantine and Islamic periods after the end of the Nabataen (they pushed back the desert with water know how) and Roman age when pagans switched to Christianity in 4th Century AD.

“By the mid 5th century AD the pagan population disappeared and after the Muslim conquest in the mid-7th Century AD we have a growth of Muslim community and shrinking of the Christian population, and, consequently, in the 10th century AD Muslims already became the majority,” explained Professor Schick at a lecture in Amman in December, 2019.  The lecture “Religious Change in Southern Jordan” held at the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman allowed the scholar to share his research from the eastern part of the Byzantine province of the Palaestina Tertia, which included the Sinai Peninsula on the west and southern Jordan on the east.

The last major pagan temple built by the Roman empire was located in the city of Raba, he explained, and it was erected between 284 and 305 AD, during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, the so-called Tetrarchy, while the first mention of the Christian community in southern Jordan is recorded during the final persecution of them between 303 and 311. This is when Roman authorities sent local Christians to copper mines in Faynan where many perished due to very harsh working conditions. (See Timna copper mines).

There are also accounts of Christian persecutions in Petra and ancient Zoara modern day Ghor Safi], Schick noted.

In the meantime, the first bishop was attested in Ayla in 325 AD, and it marks the start of a Church hierarchy, the scholar elaborated.

Earthquakes and epidemics of plagues were the turning points for many civilizations of the ancient world and the same can be said for the catastrophic earthquake of 363 AD that hardly hit southern Jordan.

Many pagan temples were destroyed and left in the ruinous state until in the 6th century AD when the Christians inserted churches into some of already destroyed pagan temples.

“That was a period when paganism began to fade away and Christianity became the state religion so the pagans were persecuted by the empire,” the scholar said, adding that pagans of Petra did not rebuild these temples and after the earthquake no public manifestations of paganism was recorded in the city.

The destruction done by Mar Sauma

The minority of pagans lived in the area in early 5th century AD when a famous monk Mar Sauma appeared on the horizon.

Sauma travelled through the eastern Mediterranean with the band of monks who destroyed pagan temples and synagogues in Jordan and Palestine (modern day Israel). When they arrived to Petra the population wisely did not allow them to enter the city in order to avoid the trouble.

According to the hagiographic tradition Sauma prayed to God when he and his disciples saw closed city gates and the storm broke out destroying a part of the city wall. After Petra pagans saw the outcome of his prayers they massively converted to Christianity, including pagan priests.

Of course, these are events that can’t be scientifically verified and belong to every religious narrative, however, by the end of 5th century AD everyone in Petra is Christian and the churches are excessively built in 6th century, Schick said.

Drawings and inscriptions from Wadi Rum dating from 4th to 6th centuries have no Christian symbols, except the one out of thousands of them with the cross and Jesus written in Hismaic, Schick stressed.

“It occurs to me that the reason is that nomads continued to be pagans,” he underlined.

After the Muslim conquests, the pagan nomads are directly converted to Islam in the 7th century and later, Schick said, adding that in 634-636 Udruh and Ayla were the earliest Muslim settlements in southern Jordan.

Humayma (280 km south of Amman) is important as Abassid family lived there and from that site, which was previously occupied by the Nabataeans and had a huge Roman fortress, Abbasides plotted to overthrow the Ummayad dynasty in 749/50.

“Also the first two Abassis khalifs were born there,” Schick underlined.

“There were five Christian churches but they didn’t survive as temples, instead they were turned into houses for servants, which indicated that Christians did not live in that area anymore,” Schick emphasised.

On the other hand, the monastery near Lot’s cave (ancient Zoara, modern Ghor Safi) functioned until the beginning of the 9th century as a Christian shrine before it was abandoned, the scholar explained, while the tomb of Aaron is another site in Petra and this pilgrimage monastery was in use in 9th century” but not rebuilt.

“The 9^th century is the end of Christian thriving in southern Jordan,” Schick noted, adding that Crusaders met local Orthodox Christians in Petra, Karak and Shobak.

During Mamluk period Christian communities in Karak and Shobak existed and prosper as merchants, Schick said, concluding that Ottoman census from first decades of their rule confirms the number of households.

In Karak Christians remained majority in the early Ottoman period, while in Shobak they already became minority, Schick underscored.

The post How the pagans touched the East and West Banks and influenced your religion appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s just one of several new initiatives to reinvigorate Jordan’s flagging travel industry. The kingdom’s 15 dinar ($21) departure tax will also be waived for all flights from Aqaba and Amman, on condition that visitors buy a ticket to touristic site and spend a minimum of three consecutive nights in Jordan. (Details about how this exemption works are unclear – this tax is now factored into overall airplane ticket fees). The Jordan Tourism Board expects these changes to be in place by September.

Royal Jordanian, the national airline carrier, has announced discounts for flights bought as part of a package, and hotels in Amman, Aqaba, and along the Dead Sea are offering promotional room rates to attract guests.

The decision will benefit people travelling via tour operators who spend a minimum of two consecutive nights in country. Travelers must still get an airport entry visa, but it will be free. The deal for independent travelers is not yet clear, but they must prove a longer stay in country (three consecutive nights) and show receipts for a “unified tourist site ticket”.

Jordan’s tourism industry has been pummeled by world perception of terrorism and war. Security concerns arising from conflict in neighboring Syria, Iraq, Israel and Gaza spill across the Levant, painting the entire region with the same jittery brush. The murder of the Jordanian pilot Muath Al-Kassasbeh by ISIS jihadists – while not on Jordanian soil – also did little to assuage travel fears. Both the US State Department and British Foreign Office appraise Jordan as safe for tourism, advising only against travel to the Syrian border. Common sense advice like “don’t play with fire”.

Educated consumers could engage in basic due diligence and verify that Aqaba isn’t Aleppo and Gadara (modern Um Qays) isn’t Gaza.  But given limited time and money for holiday-making, many are apparently opting to spend their vacation in places devoid of hyped safety threats – think Cyprus or Lanzarote – deferring visits to Jordan’s holy sites, nature reserves and eco-adventures until its neighbors settle down.

The Jordanian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities reported that the numbers of foreign overnight and same-day visitors to Jordan dropped from 8.2 million in 2010 (before the Arab Spring) to 5.3 million last year.  Visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage Site at Petra have halved since 2010. The impact is felt across the kingdom’s economy.

Nayef Al-Fayez, Jordan’s minister of tourism and antiquities, said that the measures aimed to “encourage travelers to add Jordan to their next itinerary” and would help to promote the country as an accessible, safe, and inviting destination.”

Will this pull more visitors into the kingdom?  Those that do come are mostly motivated by the natural and cultural beauty. Many more travel here for the same reasons that keep recreational tourists away (aid agencies, NGO workers, media, diplomatic corps).  There is also a rigorous influx of medical tourists, and of course refugees.

I’m starting my fifth year in Jordan.  It’s beautiful.  It’s safe.  Come visit.

Images of Dead Sea, Jerash, Wadi Rum, Petra, and Aqaba’s Red Sea coral from Shutterstock.

The post If Jordan waives visa fees, will tourists come? appeared first on Green Prophet.

It takes a certain kind of traveler to use Couchsurfing in the first place. Can you imagine high-flying Emiratis or Saudis rocking up on a stranger’s doorstep with a bag full of groceries? And then, would they be willing to give up the comfort of their elaborate villas for a couch? Now that more of us have tried the capitalist version of Couchsurfing, AirBNB, it may be possible.

Stranger things have happened and stereotypes are for the simpleminded, but even we were surprised by CNN’s report that one of couchsurfing’s most coveted couches is a cave in Petra, Jordan.

Looking more like Bob Marley than a Bedouin, Ghassab Al-Bedoul first joined CouchSurfing about four years ago. “Since I started, I think I’ve had over 1,200 people come stay at my cave,” Al-Bedoul told CNN.

Although visitors don’t actually get a couch (they get a thin mat instead) and toilets don’t come with the package, just about everyone who has been to the cave in which Al-Bedoul was born and raised has good things to say.

“Four friends and I spent one night at Ghassab’s cave. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I wish we had been able to stay for longer. I would go back in a heart beat!”

While most hosts limit guests to two or three per night, the cave carved into the historic pink walls of Petra accommodates up to 10 people and Al-Bedoul goes the extra mile by often cooking up a wonderful meal.

A man from Estonia rocked up at the cave when Al-Bedoul had to work, but that didn’t stop his family from showing the couch surfer a good time.

“We stayed with Ghassab’s family near Petra, and although he wasn’t present himself because of his work, his family showed us the best hospitality. The taste of fresh home cooked lavash is still in my mouth.”

He has no negative references.

But not all cave dwellers lease happy homes to Couchsurfers. There were plenty of complaints on the net – the site is currently not online. Do some research first if you are venturing out to stay in an underground cave. There are also Bedouin home stays in Israel.

Update 2023: looks like the cave stays are still kicking. Via Jordan Desert Hikes. 

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