4 Day Bedouin Culture

Tour: Option # 2

Dana Nature Reserve – Gragreh – Wadi Feinan – Edomite Kingdom – Siq Al Barid (Little Petra) - Petra - Wadi Musa - King Hussein University

Day 1

Queen Alia International Airport or Borders- Dana Nature Reserve

Welcome to Jordan!

You will be assisted upon arrival at the airport or the borders then transfer to Dana Nature Reserve, for dinner and stay overnight.

Day 2

Dana Nature Reserve – Gragreh – Wadi Feinan – Edomite Kingdom – Siq Al Barid (Little Petra)

After breakfast at the hotel, we will spend a full day hiking from the hotel all the way to Gragreh passing Wadi Feinan at the end of Dana Valley.

 We will have the opportunity to meet with local Bedouin families and talk with them about their life and customs.

Then we will go to Wadi Feinan to visit the copper mines of the Ancient Edomite Kingdom.

The Edomite Kingdom consisted of a Semitic speaking tribal group inhabiting the Negev Desert and the Wadi Araba Valley of what is now southern Dead Sea and surrounding Jordan.

Archaeological excavations in southern Jordan have uncovered dozens of sites dated to the 7th and 6th centuries BC and attributed to the Edomites.

Modern Buseirah is generally identified with biblical Bozrah, the Edomite capital. However, most of the Edomite Kingdom sites are small villages, farms, or semi nomadic sites.

Some of these still have remains that were used for mining copper during the Roman Empire.

The main stretch of villages that they traveled is from the Dana Nature Reserve to Petra.

This is a great hiking route for adventure seekers with spectacular landscapes. 

Edomites are usually associated with their unique pottery, that was traditionally carried down through the Nabataean Empire, a ware found and manufactured both in southern Jordan and the Negev Desert.

Then we will visit the gardens, where the Bedouin work, and cultivate different kinds of fruits and vegetables; after that will visit families in their houses to learn from them and their culture.

Then we will ask questions about the changes of their life and how they adjust to being more modern than before. We will have some Bedouin Tea during the visit.

Near the end of the day, there will be a bus to transfer us to Siq Al Barid (Little Petra) , a suburb of the main ancient city which provides an atmospheric summary of Nabataean architecture.

This is where we will camp in this area at night with dinner cooked in a traditional Bedouin style and they will show you the way of making the (Gures), on old typical meal made of bread over the fire.

The area was once a caravanserai stop for the capital and comes complete with its own mini-Siq, a 350 meter fissure in the rock crammed with tombs, triclinums, water channels, and cisterns.

It is still easy to imagine the sounds and smells of the old days when traders, caravan masters and drovers lived and traded here. We drive a short distance on to Al Beidha, or 'the white one' on account of the color of its rock.

Al Beidha contains the remains of a Neolithic site, dating back to 7,500 BC which makes it one of the earliest known co-operative villages on earth. Mediterranean trees such as Oak, Juniper, Carob, and Pistachio thrive in this small sandy valley.

Then we will go camping in Al Beidha where we arrange the traditional, freshly prepared, Jordanian dinner provided by our genial Bedouin hosts and spending a very nice night there.

 Local Bedouin tribes have now inhabited this area for a number of generations.

Then you are invited to share mint tea or cardamon coffee sitting by the fire under a starry desert sky, will have an experience not to be forgotten.

Day 2

Al Beidha - Petra - Wadi Musa

After having the breakfast we will take the group from Al Beidha to hike up the back road of Petra to begin our tour.

We begin from an alternative hiking route to see the Monastery in Petra (one of the greatest temples inside Petra), spend some time resting and seeing the great natural views of Wadi Araba and Wadi Namala.

Today we will take a full-day tour of Petra , the rose-red city half as old as time which is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Petra is a city which was carved out of the Sharah Mountains by the Nabataeans.

There are hundreds of elaborate rock-cut tombs with intricate carvings as well as obelisks, temples, sacrificial altars, colonnaded streets, and high above, overlooking the valley, is the impressive (Al Deir ) Monastery, reached up a flight of 800 stone stairs.

They were an industrious Arab people who settled here more than 2,000 years ago, turning it into an important junction for the silk, spice, and other trade routes that linked China, India, and southern Arabia with Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Rome.

Petra fell into obscurity for hundreds of years, its location and very existence kept a closely guarded secret by the local Bedouin, before being re-discovered by the Swiss explorer Burkhardt in 1812.

We will enter the city through the Siq, a narrow gorge over a kilometer in length, flanked on either side by soaring, 80 meter high cliffs to be confronted by Al Khazneh (The Treasury), Petra's most elaborate monument. Local legend has it that the rock-cut Treasury once held the gifts of Queen Sheba to Solomon.

As you enter the Petra valley you will be overwhelmed by the natural beauty of the place and its outstanding architectural achievements. Then continue to experience the rest of city hiking and come back from the main exit gate of the city, after the tour Petra.

Then we will meet with the Local Bedouins in Petra , and learn about their traditions. After the tour in Petra , we will then spend some time in the evening with local families in Wadi Musa.

This will give you a great experience to talk with them about many things, such as learning about customs, traditional way of life, thoughts, and talk with them about Petra, and their opinions how they benefit from tourism.

This night you will have dinner and stay overnight with the same family in order to learn about Jordan food as well.

Day 4

Petra - King Hussein University – Queen Alia International Airport or Borders or Wadi Rum

After breakfast with the family and you will watch how is life preparing each morning for all the members in the family.

We will try to get to know how the community prepares themselves for their work either as a business man, government career, etc. and knowing the habits of the traditional life in this area.

Then we will be transporting you to Al-Hussien Bin Talal University to meet Sami Al Hasant who will tell us about the history of Jordan and tourism.

We will also learn some more information about the Nabataeans and the history of Jordan.

Then we will spend around three hours in the University with meeting with students and talk with them.

After this great experience in Petra your group will go to Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) or borders with a farewell for your departure.

Otherwise we will take you to the bus station for your transfer to Wadi Rum for the rest of the tour of Jordan.