Rape in Petra

Do not have dinner in the caves in Little Petra at night!

Lisa Johansen
Post Count: 1

Msg: #1 338 days ago, August 21st 2007

This is an important warning, please read it if you consider going to Petra!

After a trip to Egypt, my boyfriend and I decided to travel to Jordan to see Petra. Since we arrived in the afternoon, it was too late to see the big Petra. Therefore, the receptionist at our hotel advised us to see little Petra, Siq al-Barid, instead.

When we got there, we decided to get a guide since we didn't know anything about the place. The guide was really nice and helpful the whole time, in fact, more helpful than what would be normal. After a short while, he asked us if we wanted to come back in the evening to have Bedouin-style dinner in the caves. When we told him that we were not sure if we wanted to accept his offer, he asked us if we were going to see Petra. We told him that we were going to see it the next day, and he then came up with another offer: He could get us into Petra using a secret way, a hidden/secret stairway by the Monastery. Then we would have dinner in Little Petra in the evening. He wanted to give us all this for free. When he understood that we found it a bit too good to be true, he added that we could pay 10 JD each for the dinner. He asked us about this maybe 10 times during the hour we were in Little Petra, and when my boyfriend went climbing some rocks, he tried to make me promise that we would be there to go with him the next morning.

After we came back to the hotel, we asked the receptionist what she thought about the secret way into Petra, and dinner in the caves in Little Petra in the evening. The information we got really made our stomachs turn: Last week, a Spanish couple had gotten the same offer, and accepted it. When they had dinner, they got drugged, and the girl was raped by ten guys.

Do not have dinner in Little Petra at night, or even better: do not be in the area at all at night! If you have seen, or are planning to see, "big" Petra, you should consider not seeing Little Petra at all.

Kind regards,
Mikaela

canaris

magda
Post Count: 13

Msg: #2 220 days ago, December 17th 2007

Thanks a lot for this advice! We were planning to go and see Petra next year and this is really a very helpful advice.
This one made us be more careful and suspicious when comes to "good" offers.

deleted_59192

deleted
Post Count: 10

Msg: #3 174 days ago, February 1st 2008

Well,
I'm a bit late but just saw this... Jeez, whether you get this offer in Petra or anywhere else. Who actually accepts these? Meeting strangers in a cave far away from civilisation at night?!!! ... That has nothing to do with being in Petra. I was there last year and can't say that I had any problems whatsoever.

@Mikaela87: Your advice is probably well-meant but you should choose your words more carefully because people will get the impression it's dangerous to go there but it's not! The people there are dependent on tourism and your contribution casts a damning light on all the people there.

@Canaris: I wish you a wonderful stay there! It's wonderful and I can't imagine you will have any troubles as long as you have common sense.

Mell

Mel Fla
Post Count: 2699

Msg: #4 164 days ago, February 11th 2008

Ugh, that is awful Mikaela!!!!!!!!! :(
I dont think there are any careful words u could choose about such a serious issue as rape. None of us want such a horrible thing to happen to us. Safety first, always!!
I think if the people of Little Petra want to insure that their tourism continues they should insist that their tourist police there are very vigilent.

Mel

[Edited: 08:41 - Mell ]

Aronowitz

David Aronowitz
Post Count: 1

Msg: #5 158 days ago, February 17th 2008

I think this story is bogus, here is why - while in honeymoon, we went from Israel to Petra nothing of such thing, infact we read this story, we were very cautious.

There is no name of the hotel, no name of the receptionist, we in Israel would have heard this story and it would have been picked by the news media.

I do not know, what is the objective of this story, my .02 is a scare tactic, if you do a google search of such story you come empty handed.

Madham

m. Adham
Post Count: 4

Msg: #6 104 days ago, April 11th 2008

Hi!
Another advise
young attractive women DONT wear anything sexy while in Jordan.
and about the subject always let your hotel know where are you going NEVER trust a stranger specially those guides as any offer for free it is TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE nothing for free in Jordan.
If you go to remote places make sure you go in groups always carry a cell phone and the police number in Jordan is 191. the police is there to protect you remeber that. even a hassel on the street call the police and they will deal with it.
and as Aronowitz said the story eather is blowen up or just a fiction travel story but in any case you should be aware.
I found this site might help on gathering information:
www.eAmman.com

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