Jordan
JORDAN
For years, I had wanted to go to Albania, having heard such good things about the trekking there. I came up with the perfect itinerary, only to realise that the weather wouldn’t be quite good enough for climbing mountains just yet. I then settled on Morocco, with Mount Toubkal having been on my list for years too. Little did I know, I’d be facing exactly the same problem there.
And so, I asked my lord and saviour, ChatGPT, for a suitable alternative, and apparently the answer was Jordan. I had heard a few things about the country, mostly that the food was to die for and that a hot guy I knew from school was Jordanian. That’s it – that’s all I knew. I didn’t even know where it was on the map. Surely it was somewhere in the Middle East, but I had no idea where until that point.
Where's Jordan?
As a geopolitical dummy, I had some reading to do, especially since this would be my first time travelling in the region.Â
It turns out that Jordan lies within the Levant, a loosely defined region encompassing much of the eastern Mediterranean and part of West Asia. Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian territories are commonly included, while Cyprus appears in some broader definitions. The wider Levantine corridor also forms an important geographical link between Africa and Eurasia.
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More on Jordan’s geography… The Jordan River flows southwards through the Sea of Galilee and along the Jordan Rift Valley before draining into the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has no natural outlet, meaning that water leaves mainly through evaporation. Its shores form the lowest exposed land on Earth, and its waters are also among the saltiest in the world.
Beyond the rift valley, Jordan boasts mountain ranges, desert plateaus, deep canyons, seasonal wetlands and a short stretch of Red Sea coastline along the Gulf of Aqaba. For a relatively small and predominantly arid country, its range of habitats and ecosystems is seriously impressive. Jordan contains desert, highland, subtropical and freshwater ecosystems, while the Gulf of Aqaba adds an entirely different marine environment to the mix.
The Great Escape
As such, it’s no wonder that I had a field day planning my itinerary for the trip. Trekking through the Dana Biosphere Reserve and diving in the Red Sea would be the main highlights, with a long, long list of other things to see and places to explore in between.
With the sense of failure still looming over my head, it doesn’t take much to imagine how thrilled I was to embark on such an adventure – if only to escape the rut I had dug myself into. In fact, I was so excited that I kinda oversold the whole thing to Rafael – this Brazilian guy I had been on three dates with – so much so that, in the heat of the moment, I kinda accidentally invited him to come along.
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I would’ve definitely freaked, except he accepted the offer immediately and gave me no time to rescind my invitation. For all intents and purposes, he was nothing more than the flavour of the month and, at that point, I didn’t think it could ever turn into anything serious. Instead of panicking, I kept my cool and tried to rationalise the situation.
I realised that it could go one of two ways: either the trip would bring us closer, or it would confirm that we weren’t compatible. Either way, I couldn’t picture us properly falling out, and I knew it would be a blast for both of us, especially since the adventure would involve so many firsts for him. And so, off we went.
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DAY ONE
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DAY TWO
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DAY THREE
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DAY FOUR
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DAY FIVE
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DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY THREE
DAY ONE
DAY TWO
DAY ONE