By: Ammar Khammash
2-7-2002 |
Dana in Snow
A village between oak and Juniper
Or
A village on the edge |
Dana is an attraction beyond classification. It is a destination with
different facets. Good for a journey of contemplation as well as for
camping with friends or family.
To get there, the desert highway provides an immediate sense of
escaping from Amman, a relaxing drive without much turns and where the
flat desert land with its open horizons gives the driver leaving the
city the feeling of sailing at sea. At the town of Hussainyeh, make an
exit to the right; you should be driving west on a good road that
starts climbing gently upward till it reaches a T-junction near the
Rashadyeh Cement Factory. At this point you can go right (north) to
the Dana wildlife Reserve where you can camp, of left (south) to Dana
via the village of Qadisyeh.
Just as you leave the T-junction heading south towards Dana, and after
less than 1 kilometer, you can turn right (west) on a narrow dirt road
next to some cement houses and find yourself on Jordan’s most dramatic
edge. The landscape at this point reveals its sharpest drop,
unexpected as the red soiled flat Wheatland abruptly stops supported
by a cliff of vertical basalt pillars. From above the basalt Dana
appears like aerial photograph dropped next to your feet. You are
standing in a dreamscape.
Snow usually covers this cliff and descends to the mountainside just
above the Village of Dana. |
The village sits on a line that marks the boundaries of many other
features than the end winter snow. Below Dana is the landscape of
sandstone and Juniper trees, and above it is the land of limestone and
oak. The snow-blessed land being above the village is not a
coincident. There are dozens of villages similar to Dana all situated
on the same Juniper-snow line all the way from Tafileh to Ras Al Naqab.
Villages of Shobak (Shammaakh and Jhayyer) are very similar to Dana in
this respect. They are situated on the line of springs fed by winter
snow percolating through the limestone and gushing out as springs,
ice-cold, all year round. Dana like other traditional villages was
smartly built below the spring; below the reservoir thus keeping the
snowy land above as a clean water tank above the house.
Wadi Dana provides Jordan’s most complete spectrum of habitats,
spanning a vertical distance of 1700 meters; from plus 1600m. to minus
100m. form sea level. At the same time, while up in the snow you can
look down to Wadi Araba that might be, on the same day, uncomfortably
hot. On this rich spectrum of heights and temperatures, plants and
animals adapted themselves to benefit from the full vertical
variations. Like the strings of a harp, from the shortest to the
longest, nature plays in subtle diversity and harmony, a tune of
uninterrupted creations. |
It is a pleasant surprise to look at images of snow in this summer
season. We quickly forget that parts of Jordan get covered with clean
white snow, sometimes for weeks. An out of season reminder is
appropriately refreshing.
A visit to Dana can be combined with Shobak castle or Petra. But for a
most enjoyable visit, Dana should be done alone with an overnight
either in the camp or in the Lodge next to Dana Village. There is also
the possibility to stay at the village hotel run by the local
community.
To make sure you get your trip best arranged, you should contact the
Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) Tel: 5337931-2. It
is important to remember that Dana is a Wildlife Reserve, which means
that the comfort of wild plants and animals can best be achieved by
minimizing visitors impact on their habitat; here their comfort may
take precedence over yours. |
