On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
TKH
In Part 1 I had shown the ancient map of the holy land in the form of a mosaic on the floor of a Greek-Orthodox church. On panel showed Kyriopolis, Al Karak in modern times. After crossing the three wadis I reached Al Karaok and stayed in the old town near the castle.
This castle was constructed beginning in the 1100 years, but the town had been settled more than a thousand years before that, in fact all the way back to the Iron Age. The crusaders built the castle on a rocky plateau protected on three sides by valleys. They called it Petra Deserti (Stone of the Desert). Alas, you can have physical protection by natural features, but if the enemy besieges your castle and you can’t resupply, you will fail. That’s what happened some 50 years after the build was complete. The castle was afterwards used by Muslim rulers into Ottoman times.
From Al Karak I briefly returned to Amman, bought some supplies and pre-deployed them in the South of the country where population density and hence store density was expected to be lower. I am glad I did! I don’t know whether I would have made it otherwise.
From Al Karak I hiked on to the Dana Eco Reserve and from there to the World Heritage site at Petra.
The stable for the horses of the crusaders. Supposedly a couple of hundred lived there at the peak of their rule.
Remains of the chapel
They had a mill to grind grain with, likely, donkeys driving a vertical axis which would drive this mill stone.
View of the glacis below the castle’s walls
Another view of the fortifications
Having left Al Karak heading South I came across the ruins of a small Christian settlement on top of a ridge, there were maybe 20 houses and the ruins of this church.
The big problem if you live in a fortification on top of a ridge is of course how to get water, all the more so in a dry place like Jordan. Shown here is a cistern that collected rain water run-off during the rainy season and stored it for use during the year.
As I always think when I come back from one of my desert trips: tap water is just a miracle!
This is at the top of the canyon that is the Eco Reserve. It is a knee-busting descent of 2500 ft along the abandoned (and busted) 4×4 road you see part of in the image. Then it is a 10 mile hike out to the Feynan valley. Feynan was an important site during the copper and bronze age with mining and melting operations. A lot of metal technology was invented there. The Jordan Museum in Amman has an excellent exhibition on that era.
These days Feynan valley is an agricultural area with some animal husbandry, i.e. sheep and goat herding.
Dana valley at some point during the year must have a lot of water flowing through it as the drainage basin is simply huge. Down in the drainage you can see trees that are still green in November, near the end of the dry season.
Ronno2018
An incredible trip! Thanks for sharing!
Betty
Rarely viewed part of the world with important history. Thanks for sharing the area with us. It’s hard to imagine agriculture being successful in such a climate.
Lapassionara
Thank you for sharing. And about clean tap water, it is truly a blessing. I’ve been reading histories about cities in the 19th century with their waves of cholera epidemics. Modern sanitation has saved numerous lives. That we take it for granted is sad.
oldster
Amazing landscape, amazing photos. Thanks for sharing.
Trivia Man
Incredible, thanks for sharing
Torrey
Thank you for the pictures and the commentary. This is, as has been noted, a place most of us probably won’t get to see in person, and the pictures and descriptions/history are amazing.
stinger
Love all that stonework! And the sun gilding a crest in the first Eco Reserve photo. As someone else has said, this is a region I will never see for myself, so many many thanks!
pieceofpeace
Yes, thanks very much for this glimpse of this area. Fascinating and can’t imagine the challenges of obtaining sufficient water for people, for animals, when barely a thought is given when turning a faucet.
BigJimSlade
I’m curious how you pre-deployed supplies – just left them somewhere in the middle of nowhere (and have the coordinates, of course) where you knew you would later be?
TKH
@BigJimSlade: For the first time when pre-deploying I just asked at local businesses, two Bedouin camps outside of Petra and Wadi Rum, respectively, and both were willing to help. I also stayed at each as I passed through the area.
In Utah and Arizona I just hide buckets with lids to keep critters out (learned that the hard way).
I could not find suitable buckets in Jordan. Not that they don’t exist, but between how retail works there, the hair-raising traffic in Amman, my lack of Arabic, my inability to read Arabic, I just could not get it done.
Traveller
Just wonderful again…the steep sides protecting the castle walls you would think would be sufficient to hold the fortifications…but, as you note, without water and food, or its supply, a siege will defeat any defenders. See Caesar at Alesia…thank you for allowing us to see a little through your eyes.