A 1.5 hours drive from Amman we started our walk in Mathlutha, between Dhiban and Wadi Mujib towards Wadi Hidan. It was a pretty dry walk with very few vegetation but interesting views from the cliffs of the wadis.
On the way near to Madaba we picked up our local guide Abu Seif, who not only showed us the way but explained about the shepherds, the trade route between Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan along the way. We also were promised lunch later at his house. Probably the most important motivation to keep us going.
The first part of the trip was along the cliffs with a view on Wadi Mujib. The landscape is rough, grey, yellow and the views were foggy at least in the morning. Later, however, it cleared a bit up. The group was small, which I liked, so there is not too many waiting although breaks were anticipated as it was quite warm. The further we walked the warmer it got.
After about 1.5 -2 hours we reached our first stop for a tea break. We took the time to eat some snacks, drink tea and get to know our fellow hikers. It is always interesting to meet different people from other countries. I thought I was the only non-Arabic speaking person as I heard everybody speaking Arabic but it turned out that three or four other participants were very competent in Arabic as they lived in Iraq, KSA or Egypt before although they were from the UK and the US. Also, the Arabic participants were not all from Jordan but some of them half Syrian or Iraqi for example. After the break, we started our descent towards Wadi Hidan, pretty much for the rest of the walk.
The descent was quite steep and exhausting as you had to watch your step all the time because of the rocky environment. It required some skills to not fall, but luckily nobody got hurt. The further we went down the warmer it got as we descended a couple of hundred meters. Looking up towards where we started the descent revealed how far we actually went down.
The last meters we walked in a dry river bed until we finally reached some water, although not really worth mentioning. Everybody was tired, heated up from the sun and was looking forward to the lunch provided by the family of our local guide Abu Seif. It was truly a highlight and I was happy it was not Mansaf or just Hummus, Foul and Falafel. We were served some Maqlubah, Kofta with carrots and potatoes and a mixed platter of Veggies. The food was very tasty and even better than what is served in some restaurants in Amman.
I would like to thank Experience Jordan for inviting me on this trip. Their communication, organization, and timing were great and the choice for their local guide with his explanations and the lunch added great value to the trip.
See on Wikilocs where we walked. I tracked the GPS coordinates with my camera. There is a glitch at some point, so it shows some extra way that we didn’t walk.
If you like this, make sure to explore more on the Jordan Trail.
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