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Best Countries - Jordan |
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About
Jordan
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Bible
stories, lost cities,
Lawrence of Arabia - Jordan
has romantic associations
up to its eyeballs. It's
a country that ought to
be awash with tourists,
but the Middle East's
bad reputation has kept
them away in droves. Don't
be fooled: Jordan is,
on the whole, peaceful.
More than that, it's one
of the most welcoming,
hospitable countries in
the world, and doesn't
even have that unsettlingly
male-oriented feel so
prevalent elsewhere in
the region.
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Where
else could you leave your belongings
on the street for hours at a
time, safe in the knowledge
they'll be there when you get
back? Where else do total strangers
invite you into their homes
despite the fact they don't
own a carpet shop?
Jordan isn't just a friendly
cup of tea with the locals,
though. It's also home to two
of the most spectacular sights
in the Middle East. Petra, the
ancient city of the Nabateans,
may be overrun with snap-happy
day-trippers, but that doesn't
change the fact that it's one
of the world's most atmospheric
ruins.
For a slightly more contemplative
experience, the startling desert
scenery of Wadi Rum enraptured
Lawrence of Arabia and has caused
more than one traveller to don
a kaffiyeh and gaze defiantly
into the middle distance.
Although generally considered
safe and secure, visitors to
Jordan should keep abreast of
world events that might have
repercussions in Jordan, and
avoid political gatherings and
demonstrations wherever possible.
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When
to Go
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The
best time to visit Jordan
is in spring or autumn,
when you can dodge the
baking sun of summer and
the freezing winds of
winter. Although winter
can be bitterly cold in
most of the country, the
Red Sea area and Aqaba
are still very pleasant.
If you're planning to
travel through the rest
of the Middle East, try
heading north into Turkey
around spring, or south
into Egypt by autumn. |
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Environment
Jordan is bounded to the
north by Syria, to the north-east
by Iraq, to the east and south
by Saudi Arabia and to the
west by Israel. Jordan has
three distinct geographic
zones: the fertile Jordan
Valley which runs down the
western side of the country;
the East Bank plateau, where
most of the main towns are;
and the East Bank, a desert
which stretches east into
Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Jordan is a smallish country
with a strange shape. An apocryphal
story holds that the lumpy
eastern border was created
by Winston Churchill after
a very liquid lunch.
The pine forests of the north
give way to the cultivated
slopes of the Jordan Valley,
covered in cedar, olive and
eucalypt. Further south, towards
the Dead Sea, vegetation can't
survive and the landscape
is dominated by mud and salt
flats.
The desert regions of the
country support the usual
desert fauna - camels, desert
fox, sand rats, hares and
jerboas - while the hills
to the north-east of the Dead
Sea are home to boars, badgers
and goats.
Jordan is particularly noted
for its aquatic life, and
the Gulf of Aqaba has a huge
variety of tropical fish and
coral. The country's biggest
sanctuary is the Shaumari
Wildlife Reserve in the east,
where gazelle and oryx, once
common throughout Jordan,
have been reintroduced.
Climate varies dramatically
from one end of the country
to the other. The Jordan Valley
can be incredibly hot in summer
(usually around 40°C),
while Amman and Petra occasionally
get snow in winter.
The Plateau area is usually
warm and dry, fluctuating
between the low 20s and high
30s, while the desert suffers
extremes of temperature -
baking dry heat interspersed
with freezing winds from Central
Asia.
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