It was when I saw the picture of Petra for first time; I found myself In-Love with Jordan  and decided to visit whenever I get chance. I got one by end of 2015 during long National Holidays in UAE. Here I will give you quick glimpses of my 5 days travel to Jordan that covered the most common attractions like Amman, Jerash, Dead Sea, Petra and Wadi Rum.

Jordan is a small country but with immense historical places as it was the buffer zone between Syria and Egypt. If you see the geographical position of Jordan, you will realize its importance in the past as well as in present. It has borders with KSA, Egypt, Israel, Syria and Iraq. Unfortunately that has become the reason why tourism has gone down drastically since the destabilization of the region.

OK, I started planning my trip much in advance, visited most of the sites offering different packages, explored people’s experiences on youtube and finally came up with an itinerary that best suited my budget and duration. However if you have luxury of time you can plan for whole week but there is a significant chance that you will get bored with too much history.

I have done correspondence with many tour operators and below are the ones I found suitable from itinerary and financial perspectives:

1. Jordan Trips – Mr. Moath (info@jordan-trips.com) +962790691544 (also available on whatsapp)
2. Sherazade Travel Jordan – Mr. Khaldoun Issa (issa@sherazade-travel.com) +962799850097

Also Jordan Pass is a good initiative by the ministry of tourism to save you visa fee (if you are eligible for on arrival visa) and offers free entry to almost 40 tourist attractions across Jordan. Check @ info@jordanpass.jo

You can also arrange private car if you want to plan your own itinerary. Check at Local Trips or localtrips.net@gmail.com.

Cost: The average tour of 5 days for a single person would cost approx. 1200 USD. However if you can arrange up to 4 people it would be very good as it will save significant money as you can use the same transportation.

Visa: Jordan embassy at Abu Dhabi – UAE charged me total AED 420. AED 120 for initial clearance that took 2 weeks and then visa fee of AED 300 that will take a day. If you are eligible for on arrival visa (check with local embassy and do not believe on anyone to avoid inconvenience).

Weather: Check out for weather updates as winters are usually cold and days are shorter than usual. I believe the Spring or late Summer is the best time to avoid extreme weather conditions and utilize time at its best.

Phone: As soon as you arrive and come out of the Airport, you can buy a local SIM from Zain counter at the left side. It will offer 1 GB of internet and unlimited local calls on Zain network (No call balance). This was suggested to me by Mr. Khaldoun. He also mentioned that I am his first Pakistani client 🙂

People: People of Jordan are lovely.  Very friendly and cheerful

Safety/Security: Though you will come across many check posts due to the overall region’s condition, but no safety issues at all as of now (Dec. 2015).

 

My Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival at Amman and visited Roman Theater and Amman Citadel

Day 2: Jerash Archeological Site and Dead Sea

Day 3: Petra Check this virtual tour of Petra. I am sure you will love it

Day 4: Wadi Rum and return back to Amman

Day 5: Departure

 

Roman Theater

 

Amman Citadel

 

 

Jerash

 

Dead Sea

 

Petra

 

Wadi Rum

 

Local Food

 

 

 

 

 

It was the morning of 31st December 2011 at Amboseli National Park when Ayesha (my Daughter) and I went on for the last day of our safari trip to Kenya. It surely was one of the most memorable trips of my life, and this particular event added some adventure to it.

 

An elephant herd was crossing the safari path that is a very common attraction for tourists. What usually safari drivers do, whenever they saw an event happening anywhere in the game park, they started communicating it to other vehicles patrolling the area and that’s how they gather to enjoy the show. In this particular event, we were the very first to realize that a big herd is about to cross the road and hence our vehicle (Hiace Van) was in front of the one side and on the other side we had another big queue leaving a sufficient path in between for the elephant to cross.

 

If you are a follower of National Geographic, Animal Planet, or BBC HD documentaries on Wild Africa, you probably know that elephant herd is led by a dominant matriarchal female that dictates their movements and shows off if necessary. During interaction with other species (like Human) the leader ensures safety of the herd and can go wild, and same was happened to us.

While the crossing was in progress, the leader occupied the road and was standing in the middle of the path, while showing her aggressiveness to the spectators at both ends.

Suddenly she got annoyed for some reason and started running towards our vehicle. It was indeed a shocking moment for someone not expecting it at all. I immediately stopped taking snaps and hide myself under and Ayesha who was capturing it through movie camera followed me. Our driver (Mr. Peter) who was a very cool fellow but in normal circumstances also got worried and as reaction started the engine to make a move in worst case.

However we were lucky enough as the noise of the engine somehow convinced the angry lady to step back and followed the herd that was safely away by that time.

 

Though the attacks of wild animals are rare in the well-developed Kenyan sanctuaries by it could happen. We saw many vehicles that were open from all sides while tourists were shooting Lions pride nearby that could lead to an unpleasant incident. So, my advice is to please consider your safety and never be so excited and complacent while on the safari.

 

Thanks.