Itinerary

1. Day 1: Arrival and Transfer

   • Qaia airport to Amman Dana eco-lodge.

2. Day 2: Dana Biosphere Reserve

   • After breakfast, we will visit the 6,000-year-old town of Dana, located on the edge of the Dana Biosphere Reserve.
     Here, we meet our guide and staff and start the hike. The Dana nature reserve is home to everything from ibex to mountain gazelles, foxes, wolves and badgers. A single tree here and there provides shade in the strange landscape, not least the steep gorge we must pass through. Help is available in some steep passages.
   • We walk for about six hours. The route offers a few hundred meters of ascent and the next 800 meters of descent. From there, we follow the open valley to WadiFeyan, with a view of the Dana Mountains behind us. It's a slightly long first day but unbelievably beautiful. 

   Overnight in Feyan (also called Wadi Feinan) in a camp surrounded by the Dana Mountains.

   Meal: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

3. Day 3: Sharah Mountains and Desert Landscapes

   • We are going through dry plains and canyon landscapes with a look at the Sharah Mountains today. There may be remnants of Nabataean and Byzantine ruins on the day's 6-7 hour-long trek. It goes pretty much equally up and down, 350 meters up and 400 meters down. 
   • During the day, the landscapes change from classic "hamada"—dry, rocky desert landscapes—to valleys, the so-called "wadis." To the west lies the vast Wadi Arabian Desert.

   Overnight at the camp on the border of the Wadi Barwaarea.

   Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

4. Day 4: Ras Fied Valley and Bedouin Trading Paths

   • We leave the rocky desert behind us and walk on the old trading path of the Bedouins in the lush Ras Fiedvalley. 
   • We go quite a lot upwards for approximately three hours, away from the hamada landscapes in the mountains, where we can look back towards the desert landscapes of Wadi Araba. We go pretty strenuously up towards a small pass.
   • From here, we go down towards the river valley by easier hiking to the river bed and the Ras Fied camp. It is a total of about 980 meters up and 350 meters down, a 6-7-hour hike to Ras el Fied.

   Overnight in Ras Fied.

   Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

5. Day 5: Edom Ruins and Petra Area

   • From Ras Feid, it continues along the river bed. From here, it ascends into a beautiful rocky landscape with small ridges, dry wadis, and the Bedouin path systems.
   • The day offers, at times, challenging but wonderful hiking. It is one of the most beautiful days of the trip, with the ruins of Iron Age villages from the time of the Kingdom of Edom. 
   • We hike 6-8 hours to the beautiful sandstone-colored mountains of the Petra area. Camp at ShkaretMsei'd.

   Overnight at camp in Shkaret Msei'd.

   Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

6. Day 6: Approach to Petra

   • As we approach Petra and Little Petra, we enter the more popular routes. 
   • From Shkaret Msei'd, the landscape changes once again quite markedly, from rocky landscapes to more classic, open sandstone "cushions" and plateaus.
   • During the day's hike, we walk along the sand and rounded mountains. 
   • Along the way, there is Nabataean influence, and the first carvings begin to appear in the form of steps, etc. 
   • We come through beautiful mini canyons and slowly arrive at Little Petra and the solid, lovely Bedouin camp in Ammarim, which has all kinds of facilities, however on a shared basis.
   • It's a big and beautiful day—about 450 meters of ascent and descent, 4-5 hours—and the last day of hiking on the Petra trek. It's a short drive to Petra itself and the hotel.

   Overnight in Petra

   Meals: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

7. Day 7: Exploring Petra and Dead Sea

   • What a day awaits! First, we say goodbye to our trekking team, and then we have to experience Petra. 
   • We walk through the incredible and "forbidden" gorge leading into the temple area. In 1809, the Swiss explorer Johan Ludwig Burckhardt travelled around the current Jordan desert and entered the dark, narrow gorge. 
   • After a long hike, a hidden valley suddenly revealed itself, and above it stood the 40-meter-high, impressive and majestic mausoleum chiselled into the fine, beautiful pink sandstone.
   • Petra is magical, incredibly beautiful and just as incredibly well-attended as the Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat and Machu Picchu. It is the lost nomadic people's capital, the capital of the Nabataeans and a very, very big and beautiful experience.
   • After a short half-day at Petra, we drive north towards the Dead Sea and a Hotel near the beach. Here is an opportunity for a late afternoon bath in the extremely salty water, where you do not sink in—read the newspaper in the water, relax in the strong sun (in good weather), or enjoy a good hotel after the hike to Petra. The Dead Sea - or the Dead Sea is the world's lowest lake at an altitude of 420 meters below sea level with a salinity of up to 32%, which makes it a very special experience - you can not sink to the bottom of the water, and the feeling of floating like a cork is really fun. Due to the height (or lack thereof), unlike so many of our other travels, it is more oxygen-saturated than anywhere else on Earth)

   Meal: Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

8. Day 8: Departure

   • Drive to the airport for check-in and return home.