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Published: July 27th 2011
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Tad and I went to the most surprising place I could imagine in Jordan. Jordan as a whole, and the Ghor in particular is
incredibly arid. There is very little water visible anywhere. But there are magical pockets distributed in and amongst the rocky hills. Tad and I went to one of these magical valleys and it was so cool.
We had been told by one of the workers at the NGO that Tad works for that we should check out Wadi Weida, but before I arrived Tad hadn't been able to make it Wadi Weida. We got a ride in a taxi up to the entrance of the Wadi. As you walk in it feels exactly like Myst. There are water level controls that look like they are from Jurassic Park and there is water flowing through these random troughs, all controlled with sluice gates and similar devices. You walk on top of the water troughs, and to your left is a several hundred foot drop to the valley floor (not advised). At one point there is a set of stairs with no holds, requiring good balance to avoid a 10 foot drop into a water trough
or a 400 foot fall into the valley.
As you continue into the Wadi, the most amazing thing is that the area becomes almost tropical. It is plenty hot but the water gives rise to plants that are not found on the arid plains. It is hard to believe that less than a kilometer away is arid landscape. Everything is so lush.
We continued walking up the Wadi and saw some rather odd things. For one, there was a chicken with its throat cut. It wasn't clear how it ended up there - wolf? people? There have been wolves in the area, and a wolf killed a baby in neighboring village (20 km away) about a month ago. Then we saw kids in a swimming hole (see photo), and just beyond that a group of three guys sitting smoking argileh and one had a shotgun (for wolves I hope). Two of the guys were very friendly, but Mr. Shotgun wasn't particularly amicable.
As we continued up the Wadi, we got to a waterfall that we couldn't just jump or climb up easily. It was a few meters high, but Tad went on ahead to scout, and found
that there was a hole under the waterfall, but it was quite wet. So Tad climbed up through the hole, and using a jerry-rigged strapping method we were able to haul the camera and other valuables up to the top of the falls. I then followed behind, and we were up on the top of the falls. It was a bit slippery on the way up, but was remarkably easy climbing considering the amount of water flowing.
We continued a bit further up the Wadi and turned around at just about the right time for light considerations. We then made the descent back to the waterfall, climbed down safely, and made our way back to the inlet, just as the sun was setting (see the last photo). We had already planned to walk back at night so I had brought the headlamp and Tad had his light and we had plenty of water. Something to be said for planning ahead.
We got back and cooked up some food, and called it a night after an exhausting and great afternoon.
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Becky
non-member comment
Wow!
These are really beautiful photos - I'm glad you can share this time together!