Introduction
Dana is a marvelous nature reserve which you should not miss during your trip to Jordan.
The Joker trip includes at least 3 days in this reserve. As with Mujib, it is run by RSCN, so you can make reservations with them at RSCN Ecotourism Office, Ghada Al-Sous, Reservations & Administration Officer, Ecotourism Unit, The Royal Society for the Conversation of Nature, Tel. +962 6 533 46 10, 553 79 32/1, Cell. +962 77 422 119, Fax. +962 6 533 46 10, 534 74 11, email:
tourism@rscn.org.jo, Web:
www.rscn.org.jo.
What to do
First of all, I strongly recommend to spend a night in
Rummana campsite. This campsite is excellent quality with very large tents to sleep and also bedouin style tents to eat. Their common bathroom has showers and toilets, very clean, and separated for men and women. A night there will cost around 12 JD pp. They also have breakfast, lunch and dinner. It's also possible to rent their BBQ facilities.
Early in the morning at 5.30 am, we did a guided walk for 2 hours. We went to a hide from where we could see birds drinking at a spring. We went looking for ibe
xes, but unfortunately we didn't see any.
In the morning we had a rest, tired from all the treks from the days before. In the afternoon, we did the Rummana-Dana walk which takes between 2 and 3 hours. This is a marvelous walk. We saw plenty of flowers (in May), and also 3 blue geckos, 2 chameleons, really great.
In Dana, RSCN has a fantastic rest house, not too cheap, count on 35 JD for a double. Views on Dana valley are great.
From Dana, you can do the walk with RSCN to Feinan. From January 2005 onwards, they'll have a new resthouse there.
We did a walk from Dana to Petra in 3 days:
- First day went to Mansourah by bus, and then we walked through Wadi Ghuweir to Feinan. We slept under the trees.
- Second day was the most difficult. We had to climb from minus 200 to plus 1500 meter, and the heat was oppressing. We slept in a bedouin camp.
- Third day, we went by minibus to Little Petra, and from there we did a guided walk to the Monastery, and then onwards to Petra. If you do this, make sure you have bought your tickets for Petra on beforehand, because you cannot buy these in Little Petra.
Go to Petra
