By Graham Howe
December 28, 2007

Roman ruins, Jarash

We set south for Jordan, leaving via Hadrian's Arch. Inspired by the Roman chariot race at Jarash, our speeding driver is soon stopped and fined by the traffic police.

A furious dispute follows. Chatting on his cellphone, consulting our itinerary and the map, twiddling radio stations while driving over a mountain pass, is all in a day's work. Our driver proclaims proudly: "I drive tourists for years. I never make accident - in'sh Allah. I have 10 eyes in my head. I see everything."

The King's Highway swings south to Madaba in the hotly contested Biblical land of Moab which changed hands between the Israelites, King Mesha and the Romans.

The town of Madaba is famous for its giant mosaic map of the Holy Land, set in the Greek Orthodox Church of St George.

Pilgrims come from all over the world to see the 6th century map which depicts "the territories of the tribes of Israel" and all the major Christian shrines and churches, from Bethlehem and Jaffa to Jerusalem to Jericho.

Your religious identity is more important than your country of origin in this town of churches and mosques. "Are you Christian or Jewish?" asks a polite Mohammed Saqar, a Palestinian confectioner who sells us a kilo of wonderful sticky honey, almond, cheese and pistachio pastries from his alluring corner sweet-shop in Madaba.

The green west and east banks of the Jordan River are contested terrain. We ascend the steep road to Moses Memorial Church on Mt Nebo, a place of pilgrimage perched high above the Dead Sea and the Jordan Rift Valley.

The Old Testament records that Moses was shown the Promised Land from these heights. "And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo that is Pisgah, over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan." (Deuteronomy 34:1). How I wish I'd paid more attention in religious studies at school all those years ago.

Broken Roman milestones from the Via Nova Traiana lie scattered on the hillside. We look down at a fertile landscape dotted with tall cedars, lemon and olive groves and villages. We gaze at bucolic scenes of goats, sheep and shepherds depicted in the magnificent mosaics inside the church. The west bank lies at our feet - in the distance, the towns of Jericho, Hebron, Nablus and Ramallah.

Egera, a pilgrim who visited in 4AD wrote: "From here you can see most of Palestine. We were also shown the place where Lot's wife had her memorial. The pillar (of salt) itself has been submerged in the Dead Sea." And when Peter the Iberian visited Mt Nebo in the 5th century, he wrote: "It is a place of cure for both the soul and for the body, a place of refuge for all those who come here from all places."

Centuries later, Pope John Paul II made a pilgrimage to Mt Nebo.

Leaving Madaba, the King's Highway passes a field of megalithic dolmen tombs, Ma'in (Ba'al Ma'on in the Bible), Herod's Palace, Moabite towers, Umayyad palaces, Nabatean temples and frontier fortresses. Driving along the high-lying trans-Jordanian plateau, our driver commands: "Shut your eyes for a few seconds." We blink nervously as we appear to drive off the edge of a precipice on a hairpin bend which plunges into the spectacular gorge of Wadi Mujib.

Wadi Mujib Gorge - Jordan's "Grand Canyon"

"Welcome to Jordan's Grand Canyon!" shouts Tayseer with delight on our rollercoaster ride into the abyss.

Driving along the wall of a new dam on the valley floor, we pass Muhattet al-Haj (station of the pilgrimage), an old Roman fort which once guarded the old bridge. Eusebias the scribe wrote in 300AD: "To this day is known a very treacherous place with ravines in which garrisons of soldiers keep guard everywhere due to the terrifying nature of the region." Today it is a place of peace. On the south side, we stop to admire the black iris, the national flower of Jordan. A Bedouin shepherd crouches in the shade of a tree, boiling tea over a fire, keeping an eye on his flock.

We came to Karak, the walled fortress city of Moab, a strategic crossroads on the King's Highway for millennia. The crusader castle with its forbidding parapets and glacis, built on a high, rocky ridge, controlled the lucrative trade and pilgrim route.

The infamous crusader Reynald de Chatillon (aka the Elephant of Christ) used to fling prisoners from the castle walls with their heads encased in wooden boxes to prevent them from losing consciousness until they met a bloody end on the rocks below. He, in turn, was executed by Saladin, who besieged the castle of Karak for eight months.

Back on the King's Highway, we cross wadi after wadi, magnificent dry river valleys running from the Jordanian plateau down into the desert. We pass modern Bedouin encampments with their huge canvas tents, pick-up trucks, satellite dishes and huge flocks of goat and sheep in green pastures. In the old days, the women weaved the bayt shar (houses of hair) from goat fleeces. Tayseer asks: "You know how much stuff they keep in their tents? Wide-screen televisions, DVD players, microwaves."

Bedouin horsemen at Petra

After a long drive, we reach Wadi Musa, gateway to the ancient pink city of Petra - voted one of the new seven wonders of the world in mid-2007. Walking along the long and narrow magical siq (gorge) is like passing through Alice's looking-glass into wonderland.

We wander spellbound in the vast mountain stronghold of the Nabatean kings who grew fabulously wealthy on the frankincense and myrrh trade.

From dawn to dusk, myriad canyons and caverns change colour with the light of day. The layers of weathered stone are a palette of rosy salmon, mustard and ochre.

The King's Highway has led us to a once-lost city of magnificent treasuries, royal tombs and temples hewn out of the multicoloured rock two thousand years ago. We ascend 850 stone steps up a rough stairway through a narrow gorge to the Deir, a hermitage carved out of the rock-face with a magnificent façade twice the width of Westminster Abbey. Coming to the high place of Petra, we gaze out over the green trans-Jordanian plateau that lies at our feet far below.

Travelling deeper and deeper into the past, we are swept along on Jordan's great tide of history towards the red sea at Aqaba.

The Monastery, Petra

Graham Howe was a guest of American Express, Egypt Air and Egypt & Beyond. 

Contact Cecelia Amory at Egypt & Beyond, a specialist in Johannesburg who arranges tours of Jordan. Tel: 011 678 6165, email: cecelia@championtours.co.za.

Fact File: If You Go

Visas

EU and South African passport holders need a visa to visit Jordan. Apply through your travel agent, a visa service or directly to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Jordan in Pretoria.

Getting There

Air Egypt flies between Johannesburg and Cairo with frequent onward connections to Amman, Jordan. Flying time: Jhb/Cairo: Eight hours. Cairo/Amman: ninety minutes. Most major European airlines operate direct flights to Amman.

Time difference

Jordan is one or two hours ahead of South Africa, depending on daylight savings.

Currency

One Jordanian dinar = R10. One Jordanian dinar = 1000 fils. ATMs in all towns.

Getting around

Taxis and buses operate between Queen Alia Airport, Amman and the downtown area. All major car rental companies operate in Jordan, an ideal self-drive destination with modern freeways, roads and two main north-south highways. Take international driver's license. Road signage in Arabic and English - drive on the right side.

Language

Arabic is the national language. English is widely spoken at hotels and tourist sites.

Best time to go

Ideal: Sept-Oct in Autumn or March-May in Spring. Also during cool winter months, Nov-Feb. Summer season from June-Aug can be very hot. Winter rains, Nov-Feb.

Accommodation

Most major hotel groups operate hotels in Amman and major tourist sites at Petra and the Dead Sea. Hotels range from five-star hotels and spa resorts to one to four star hotels, resthouses, inns and campsites. Excellent Arabic and international cuisine.

Drinks

Best stick to bottled water. Jordanian beer and wines are excellent; imported wine and spirits are expensive. Duty-free allowance of one litre of spirits or two litres of wine.

Tipping

A tip (10-15% of the bill) is expected for any service in Jordan.

Animal Welfare Tips

On visiting Petra, tourists should avoid hiring transport by horse, donkey or carriage through the stony, uneven Siq (gorge) and on the ascent to the Deir (Hermitage). (In any event, the Siq and Deir are best walked on foot to see the sights). These beasts of burden are cruelly abused with crude whips made of electric cable, overloaded, underfed and not given enough water or rest. Report any animal abuse to The Brooke Clinic for Horses in Petra – info@thebrookejordan.org or 962 321 56 379.

Getting Info

See www.visitjordan.com, email: info@visitjordan.com. Contact the Jordanian Tourism Board, Century Park Hotel Complex, Amman, Jordan. Tel: 962 6 567 8444. Also see www.wadirum.jo.

Contact Cecelia Amory at Egypt & Beyond, a specialist tour operator in Johannesburg who arranges tours of Egypt and Jordan. Tel: 011 678 6165, email: cecelia@championtours.co.za.

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