Lot's Wife, Dead Sea
Salt encrusted rocks, Dead Sea
Dana Village
Renovations, Dana Village
View from Dana Village
Clouds behind mountains above Dana Village
Mountains between Dana & Feynan Ecolodge
Our transport to Feynan Ecolodge
Our group of nine plus luggage was bundled into the mini-bus and we said farewell to the Marriott’s luxury and headed southwards along the eastern side of the Dead Sea. We had a couple of stops along the way to observe areas just above the shoreline where the crystals of salt were piled high and sparkled in the morning sunshine. We also viewed the remains of a 5th century port on the embankment above the Dead Sea. Little is known about the history of this port but archaeological diggings are occurring now in order to find out more.
We also stopped at a point where above the road on a prominent cliff-top was a tall needle like geological feature of ‘salt-rock’ which has Biblical significance as it’s the ‘original’ Lot’s Wife.
There are numerous deep gulches or ravines that have been carved through the surrounding hill sides bringing water down to the Dead Sea although at this time of the year the rivers and streams have mostly dried up or the water retained for irrigation by many small dams within the ravines.
A fairly narrow band of land on the Jordan side of the Dead Sea is heavily utilised by agriculture with the dominant crops being tomatoes, potatoes, bananas and corn.
The border between Israel and Jordan runs down the middle of the Dead Sea until the southern most point where it crosses to the eastern side so we were now travelling within a few hundred metres of the border. Check points and guards were apparent but we weren’t stopped.
In this southern region agriculture gives way to a number of industrial plants where potash extraction and cement production are the main industries.
We then ventured off the north south road and commenced to climb up a winding road that would eventually bring us to Dana 30km away. The scenery was barren and steep with barely a tree to be seen and yet the stark features of this lunar landscape had an appeal due to the multiple rock colours and the way the light changed from bleached mountain peaks to deep and dark valleys.
Dana sits at the head of a magnificent broad valley (wadi) and was once the site of ancient copper mines. It is a 15th century village and made up of a collection of stone cottages on the edge of a precipice surrounded by orchards. Many of the original stone buildings are being progressively restored with the intention of making Dana a tourist centre specialising in handicrafts and organic foodstuffs.
After lunch at Dana we retraced our steps and returned to lower regions once again close to the Dead Sea. We were headed for our overnight location of Finan, also spelt Feynan etc. To our distress, the roads were strewn left and right with rubbish, especially black plastic shopping bags and empty drink bottles. Sadly Jordan has a terrible problem with litter which seems to be discarded everywhere without concern.
On arrival at the so-called ‘reception’ for the Feynan Eco Lodge we waited and waited and eventually along came two very old dual-cab utilities and our luggage was loaded into the back and nine of us crammed into the two vehicles; what a squash!
We then drove in semi darkness along a rough track for about 8km and arrived at an ‘oasis’ which will be our home for the next two days.
The eco-lodge is clean and the rooms very comfortable with our own bathroom and warm water. The lodge has solar powered heating and cooking facilities and candles are used to light the rooms.
We enjoyed a very pleasant vegetarian evening meal followed by a talk from one of the lodge managers giving details of the plans for trekking tomorrow.
The weather looks to be very dry and the evening temperature is quite balmy.
Tomorrow we explore this Roman/Byzantine region!