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Belal Helalat
info@jordandeserthikes.com
+962 (0)777 560 186

Canyon Tour: 13 Days / 12 Nights

Day 1: Airport / Madaba
Meeting with your guide or driver at the airport, and assistance for visa formalities. Transfer to your hotel in Madaba. Dinner and overnight.

Day 2: Madaba / Wadi Mukheiris / Madaba
Drive by 4WD, we will travel down to Dead Sea, and will be dropped on the way in front of Movenpick Hotel at the beach of Dead Sea; from there canyoning will start in Wadi Mukheiris: 9km, 9 hours, one way and back, canyon with an impressive 20m waterfall and several pools. Surprising stalactites hide behind veils of droplets and ferns in the canyon’s upper reaches. The trail offers fine look-throughs towards the Dead Sea. Lunch will be provided during the exploration. In the evening, we will be back to the same point where 4WD dropped us, and drive back to your hotel in Madaba. Dinner and overnight.

Day 3: Madaba / Mount Nebo / Wadi Zarqa Ma’in / Dead Sea
After breakfast, drive to visit Mount Nebo, where prophet Moses arrived after forty years of travelling from Egypt. We shall visit the church (if restoration works have ended when you come), and overlook of Jericho, Jerusalem and Dead Sea, and we will drive via Lipp down to Wadi Zarqa Ma’in, in a different canyon with completely different nature: Wadi Zarqa Ma’in is supposed to be the “Valley of God” Nathaniel mentioned in the Bible. Zarqa Ma’in is indeed a magnificent gorge; and some tombs can be seen in it. Then, a steep and difficult path leads to the hot springs of Callirhoe. In this valley, we will have easy walk at the beginning, but then, the last 4 Km promise to be tough. 8 hours will be necessary to complete the hike and reach Ma’in Spa, at Mercury Hotel. At the end of the lower gorge, the 4WD will be waiting us to drive to Dead Sea campsite, dinner and overnight.

Day 4: Dead Sea / Wadi El Hidan

Very early in the morning, drive to beginning of Wadi El Hidan, the most strenuous canyon. We will start from the East side of the trail to end in the West side in Dead Sea. To go abseiling, ropes will be provided by the tour guide, as well as lunch.

The routes starts in a magnificent basalt canyon, on the upper reaches of Wadi El Hidan. Elongate pools are abundant and you often swim more than you walk. As you descend along the canyon, the black basalt gives way to red with palm trees, hot and cold springs, this is where a majestic waterfall awaits you. 

The route is one way, 15km, 8 - 9 hours, two 50m ropes abseiling. In the evening, our 4WD will be waiting at the end of the canyon from west side, and prepare our campsite, dinner and overnight.

Day 5: Dead Sea / Wadi Ibn Hammad / Kerak
Drive by our 4WD up to Wadi Ibn Hammad, and start walking. Almost immediately, you'll walk in the water and into the narrow siq, with plants and palm trees on the wall, some waterfalls here and there. Most of the time you'll walk with water under the knees, at some places the water will come till your waist. This will of course also depend on the time of the year. Also, your local guide will know that you cannot do this walk during or shortly after rain due to the risk of flash floods. After 3 hours, you get out of the siq. In May, you'll see beautiful flowering oleanders. You can stop here for lunch. Then you'll go for another 2,5 to 3 hours walk. Continue to hotel in Kerak, dinner and overnight.

Day 6: Kerak / Wadi Kerak / Mazra’a
After breakfast, drive south to Wadi Kerak which offers you spectacular waterfalls, a colorful sandstone gorge and impressive hanging gardens.The upper waterfall consists of three steps dropping 40m down walls of beige sandstone. The lower waterfall gushes above two great red boulders. Several side streams flow into Wadi Karak, one of these entering as a tall dripping waterfall crowned with palm trees and stalactites.

The route is one way, 500m descent, 9km, 9 hours (1 hour to the first waterfall, 4 hours from the last waterfall to the end of the trail, two 50m abseiling). In the evening, we will arrive to Mazra’a in Aghwar area, we will camp in south of Mazra’a junction.

Day 7: Mazra’a / Wadi ‘Assal / Hot Springs in Hammam Afra
Before sunrise, we will drive via Numaira to Wadi ‘Assal. ‘Assal means honey in Arabic, and honey this Wadi is. It offers a narrow sandstone gorge with luxuriant vegetation and six falls, demanding abseiling skills. The route is one way, 1100m descent, 15km, 10 hours (1 hour to the first waterfall, 3.5 hours from the last waterfall to the end of the trail, two 30m abseiling). Lunch will be provided by the tour guide. In the evening, the 4WD will be waiting us in Kathrabba village, to drive us to Hammam Afra hot springs. Dinner and overnight camping.

Day 8: Wadi Hasa
Early in the morning, we start canyoning in Wadi Hasa which is a spot for magnificent hanging gardens, narrow gorges and hot springs. Its upper reaches are carved into white limestone, creating a playground of giant boulders. A dramatic change of scenery is displayed along its lower course, where the wadi cuts a spectacular canyon in red sandstone. The drainage basin of Wadi Hasa extended over 3,200 sq. km, far bigger than most of the Wadis in Moab or Edom and second only to Wadi Mujib. Its discharge is about 20 million cubic m per hour. The hottest spring in the area is about 54C°. A rare tropical tree (Dalbergia sisoo) not known elsewhere in Jordan grows in its bed. There is three trails: we will take Wadi Hasa lower canyon. The route is one way : 550m descent (950m descent including the walk along the dirt track), 18 km, minimum 10 hours without visiting the side streams. In the evening, the 4WD will drive us to Dana village, dinner and overnight in a small traditional hotel in Dana.

Day 9: Wadi Dana / Feynan
Breakfast, around 8am, then we will start hiking via Wadi Dana which is a system of valleys and mountains that extends from the upper edge of the Rift Valley down to the desert lowlands of Wadi Araba. Dana is truly a world of natural treasures, where you going to meet some Bedouins and have tea at their tents. We will then keep walking to Wadi Feynan, the beginning of Araba desert where there used to be copper mines. The tour is one way: 18km, 6 hours, easy hiking. In Wadi Feynan, overnight with a Bedouin family, in their tent, after a traditional Bedouin dinner.

Day 10: Feynan / Wadi Ghweir / Hammam Dethneh / Mansoura
Wadi Ghweir descends from the Shawbak Plateau through a spectacular red sandstone siq  whose lower reaches are garnished by hanging gardens. Its water flow changes with the season, but even in the summer, it is a splendid route. At the outlet of the Wadi are the ruins of Feynan, an ancient centre of copper mining and smelting.

The route is one-way. Altitude difference, distance and walking time: 500m descent, 11km, 8 hours. Expect wet shoes. In rain-rich years, it may be necessary to cross two small ponds by swimming. After 1.5 hour, we will arrive Hamman Dethneh, the great oasis with palm trees, we will swim there, and continue via Wadi Nakheel to Mansoura where there is a   garden of old olive trees. We will camp there and overnight.

Day 11: Mansoura / Petra
From Mansoura, we will walk on the top of Mountains of Heisha and Abdalia, you will see a great view of all the canyons and the natural reserve that we have done since the first day in the same time. We will walk for 8 hours to Little Petra, and our 4WD will be waiting us to transfer us to Wadi Mousa, to check in at your hotel. Dinner and overnight.

Day 12: Petra / Amman
Breakfast in hotel, and at 8am, departure for a full day tour of Petra (the rose-red city) including the Siq, the Treasury, the city centre, the Royal tombs, the theatre, the High Place of Sacrifice, Wadi Farasa and the Roman Soldier Tomb. Lunch in Petra, then evening hike back via the Siq to Wadi Mousa for freshen-up followed by transfer to Beidha (Little Petra), continue back to Amman. Overnight at hotel.

Day 13: Departure
Transfer to the airport for departure.

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