Jordan Retreat: Petra

Marhaba! Welcome to Jordan. Today you’ll meet your local host and your fellow travellers for the next four days. Your journey begins with an approximately three-hour drive to Dana Nature Reserve, where you’ll take part in a guided hike along the Copper Mines trail. Here you’ll learn about how vast deposits of copper were discovered, mined and processed for the Roman Empire. Explore long-forgotten mine shafts and visit nearby sites that are still visibly impacted by the ancient smelting process. Next, you’ll head to a nearby farm and enjoy lunch with a goat shepherd, where you’ll have the chance to learn a bit more about today’s local culture in the area. Later in the afternoon, continue your drive to the city of Petra, where you’ll have free time to explore and try some local delicacies for dinner, before retiring to your deluxe campsite for the evening.

This morning you’ll take a short drive to Ghbour Whedat, where you will begin your morning hike to Little Petra. This trek makes up a part of the famous Dana to Petra trek, which is rated in the World’s 15 Best Hikes by National Geographic. You’ll pass Nabatean ruins, wine and olive presses and aqueducts, before reaching the back entrance to Little Petra where you can rest and enjoy a picnic lunch. After lunch, continue hiking through Little Petra, which was used to house traders travelling along the ancient Silk Road. Here you’ll see rock carved facades, houses and other ancient buildings carved into the sandstone canyon. You’ll finish the hike at a Bedouin camp, which provides the local Ammarin tribe with a sustainable income from tourism and is vital for the preservation of Bedouin culture and the natural environment. Take part in some everyday activities like bread baking or a coffee ritual, while listening to traditional instruments, such as Rababa and Shabbabeh, before heading back to your camp for the evening.

After breakfast, leave your camp and head to the archaeological site of Petra. As you reach the end of the narrow, kilometre-long entrance, you’ll catch your first glimpse of the iconic Treasury facade, made famous in the west by the Indiana Jones films. The ancient site of Petra is massive and contains hundreds of elaborated rock-cut tombs, Roman-style theatres, temples, sacrificial altars and colonnaded streets, reached by many different trails. Today you’ll take the Um Al Biyara trail which takes three to four hours in total. The trail is steep in parts, but the staircase to the top is well maintained. Make sure you take regular breaks to soak up the ever-changing perspective on the city that is revealed as you ascend. Once you’ve completed the hike, leave Petra and head to nearby Umm Sayhom village, where you’ll visit a local family who used to live in Petra before it became a UNESCO heritage site in the mid-1980s. Enjoy a local dinner and hear the stories about their life in Petra and how things have changed since they moved to Umm Sayhoom, before returning to your camp for the night.

Today, you’ll leave Petra and make your way back to Amman via the Dead Sea. It will take approximately three and a half hours to drive to the Dead Sea, where you’ll then have time to either relax with a natural mud mask or try floating in the extremely salty waters. Once you’re feeling rejuvenated, continue driving to Amman, where you’ll say goodbye to your host and group.