Desert Trekking: Dana to Little Petra

Petra was the goal.  To reach the city carved in sandstone 2,000 years ago, we could follow the modern “trade routes” of the chartered tour bus or trek the ancient routes of the Nabateans and foreign traders of long ago.  The selection of the route was simple.  A sunny desert trek with a Bedouin guide qualified the “Sunshine Nomad” as a truly authentic title—the modern roads were not for us.  Now, after three days of trekking from Dana to Little Petra, the crusted sunscreen around her nose and permanently dusty ankles provide just the evidence needed to verify her identity.  The Sunshine Nomad is officially the real deal.

 The nomadic trek started high in Dana and plunged down into the Dana Biosphere Reserve, which appears to be the offspring of Arizona and Mars.  Beyond that description, we can report we walked down a wadi, up a wadi, around a wadi, through a wadi, over a wadi, and perhaps even under a wadi.  We are not sure. The adventure was unusual.  It took hours and hours of hiking and included a lot of stops for building fires to make tea on the go, and oddly, seeking out shade for Omar, the guide, to roll and smoke cigarettes.  It also included sleeping in a Bedouin homestay where hospitality quickly flipped to awkwardness when the host wanted to sleep off Ramadan side effects in our tent first thing in the morning. Wild camping on a barren point overlooking the desert turned weird when mid-sleep we were hit with literally a mind blowing wind storm that flattened our tents to the point where inhaling nylon fabric became a true hazard. We assumed the role of human paper weights. At one point during the trek, Gary relayed back to us that walking on a road hurt Omar’s feet and taking a short cut over fist-sized rocks straight up a hill was more satisfying to his soles. Gary provided this translation thanks to his ability to speak fluent mime.     

 When in Jordan and arranging a multi-day guided camping trek, it may be important to ask ourselves, “Do we speak Arabic?”  If the answer is “no”, we should first punish ourselves for our lame lack of language ability and next limit our questions for the guide about the route, the food, the culture, and anything else springing to mind.  Omar, usually a goat and sheep herder and sometimes guide, was an extremely peaceful and friendly fellow and easy to be around, but no information was shared linguistically, despite much effort on both parts.  At the end of an exhausting second day charging through shrubs and rocks in what seemed like another “shortcut”, Gary finally broke and asked, “Did you think to ask if the guide speaks any English”?  Ahh, yes, you make an excellent point my friend.  Lessons were learned on this trip. 

In the end, we saw amazing desert landscapes, lived from the land following a friendly Bedouin guide, and experienced a more authentic approach to a location somewhere near Petra.   Of course, the trek didn’t end where we thought it would, but hey, we lived in the spirit of a true nomad. Perhaps, this is also how it went down for the spice traders of long ago. Thankfully, Omar did the best he could with our monolingual crew and led us safely home, just as all good shepherds do.