I decided to book a tour to Jordan rather than travel independently to make it easier to get around the country. My desire to go to Jordan centered around two things– touring Petra and seeing the desert close up– everything else that was included on the trip was a bonus.  Thus when the women’s adventure travel company I had been wanting to try offered a trip to Jordan, I signed up.  Finally the day came to get on the airplane and I began the long journey to Amman, landing at midnight.  I managed to grab a few hours of sleep before meeting up with the rest of the group the following morning to start our tour, which encompassed Amman, Madeba and environs, Petra, Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea.  The geographical diversity of the trip meant a lot of time on the bus moving from one place to another, but it provided me with an excellent opportunity to observe a broad swath of the country.

Another example of one of the many valleys. We did a 10 mile hike in one that looked just like this.

My resulting impressions can be summed as follows: Rocks. Incredibly tough terrain.  Well-used landscape. Amazing amount of history.  More rocks.

Western Jordan is part of the great Rift Valley that starts in Southern Africa and extends north to the Mediterranean, defining the intersection between the African and Arabian tectonic plates.  The Dead Sea, at approximately 1400 feet below sea level, lies smack at the center of the rift.  The climb out of the valley as you move from the Dead Sea to the eastern part of Jordan is quite steep, with deep crags and jutting cliffs scattered everywhere.   The roads in and out of the valley (and we were on several different ones) twisted and turned steeply and it was hard for me to imagine how anyone on horse, camel or donkey could have navigated this terrain centuries ago.

The landscape in the west, transitioning out of the Rift Valley was incredibly challenging.

At the top of the plateau, anywhere from 2000-3000 feet above sea level depending where we were, the geography transitioned  to flat rolling hills and was noticeably more habitable.  It was in this area, at least in the northern part of the country, that I saw evidence of agriculture.  As we drove south, the landscape became much more desert-like.  Even in the agricultural areas, however, the soil was rocky and dry, and not obviously friendly for growing.  I was constantly startled to see green patches of cultivated farming, possible because of irrigation techniques, that appeared in the midst of the constantly brown terrain. Watching the landscape go by I could not help but get a very strong impression of soil wrung out and milked for everything it was worth– I could feel the weight of history.  It looked like a hard place to eke out an existence for those who live off of the land.

It always looked so strange to see patches of green amongst the pervasive sand and barren brown background.

Green areas were beautiful, however, especially in the transition area from the top of the plateau down into the valley.  It seemed that every nook and cranny, every piece of land that was slightly flat, or perhaps a better way to describe it is “less-steep”, had plants and trees sprouting from it.  The climates in Jordan, depending on the altitude and location, varied from Mediterranean to desert, and the contrast between the various places we went was noticeable.

The Dead Sea stretched along, and defined the western boundary of Jordan.  We drove along the famous body of water several times and our trip ended with a relaxing stay at a resort on the north shore.  The salty sea has been slowly shrinking over the last couple of decades having lost about 40% of its surface area.  The loss is due to a combination of climate change driven evaporation, and human industrial processes located on the southern shore where Jordan extracts potash from the waters. Most of the shoreline is rocky and it was fascinating to see the white crystal salt deposits encrusting the rocks.  Luckily at the resort the small pebbled beach allowed easy access to the water without getting cut on the sharp crystals.  And yes, I did take a quick dip into the water to verify that indeed, it is possible to bob up and down like a cork in the dense salty water.  I would advise against letting the water get into your mouth or eyes, though– it definitely burns!

Traveling along the shore of the Dead Sea it was easy to see the salt deposits on the rocks.