The road from Madaba to Dana Reserve
Sunset at Wild Dana Ecolodge
Today is a day of driving. We leave Madaba around 9 am and start our way to Karak to visit the famous fortress. The road isn't very scenic for most of it until we reach Dhiban on road 35.
We arrive at the edge of this huge canyon with the Mujib dam down below. The view is spectacular.
The road twists and turns down, then up. Half way up, we decide to stop at a view point next to Sammy's café and tea corner. While we enjoy the view, Sammy comes to greet us and gives us some interesting facts about the dam, the cultures growing down in the valley and invites us for tea. While we know this is most possibly going to be an overpriced break, the man speaks great English and seems genuinely happy to see us. He says that since the war in Gaza started, tourism has plummeted in Jordan. We are the first international tourists he has seen today and for a while. Usually, he says, the little parking is full of cars.
Behind his little shack is a simple terrace with some comfortable couches to enjoy a perfect view of the dam below. Our host serves us tea, biscuits and we end up chitchatting for a good 30min with him. This ends up being a very pleasant break with a good encounter. He shared that his family in Wadi rum said that there were only 7 tourists there yesterday. He urges us to share to as many as possible that Jordan is safe to travel. And we agree, it absolutely is.
We end up paying a little more that it should cost but we enjoyed our time with him and are happy for this good experience. Plus it was about half way to our destination and we have plenty of time today.
The rest of the road is back into a more urban landscape. I thought that we would spot the Karak fortress from far, like Ajloun, but it's wide and large ( the second biggest in the Levant apparently) and not tall.
Karak is a very interesting site because part of the fortress is still complete, with high vaulted ceilings and rooms. However it totally lacks explanations. The museum inside was also closed. We wandered the walls and the parapet enjoying the view and the maze of tunnels and half crumbled rooms. Perhaps, we should have paid for a guide for this visit. All the other sites had a lot of explanations everywhere.
Ends up that we only needed about 1h to visit it all. We parked next to a restaurant, Mu'ab restaurant, if you eat there, parking is free. And we had spotted it because the parking has CCTV ( the video screens are inside the restaurant ). It's not the best meal, but the price is fair and quantities were good. So I wouldn't consider it a tourist trap.
Time to continue our route to Dana Reserve. We have booked two nights there at the wild dana Ecolodge. The road offers some nice canyon views as you get off road 35.
Our host comes to pick us up at the meeting point where we have to park our car. As soon as we leave the road, wow. The view of Dana village and the massive canyon behind is gorgeous!
The village is considered a heritage village, and has all these smaller stone houses with flat roofs. Our host mentions that it's built on top of an old Roman fortress. Sheep and goats can be seen and heard, olive trees are all around on the steeper slopes.
The ecolodge has the best view. It's exactly at the end of the canyon axis. We are the only ones staying today, and our room has a small balcony with the perfect panorama. It's a simple place with a few rooms and some Bedouin tents and a large common area with a terrace, all oriented to enjoy the canyon view.
The owner of the lodge spent some times with us chilling under the terrace with tea and we talk about life in Jordan, the lodge and travels. It's a excellent way to finish the afternoon with good company.
We spend some time resting in our room and I stay outside on the balcony. The atmosphere is full of cattle bells sounds in the background, small bird chirping and beautiful nature. I am happy for this great find of an accommodation.
For diner, it's the owner's wife who does the cooking and he brings it from the village to the lodge. It's a feast! And everything is delicious. A special mention for the vine leaves, the rice inside had been cooked in lamb juice and it was just excellent !
