Achlan we Sachlan in Jordan

At the end of Pessach (in April) we travelled to Jordan for 4 days and were impressed by the beauty of nature and the friendliness and hospitality of the people. On this short trip, our first visit to Jordan, we visited Wadi Rum, Petra and the Dana Nature Reserve.

We had to postpone our trip by 2 days due to heavy thunderstorms in the desert and already on the bus ride from Tel Aviv to Eilat we saw how even roads in the Negev was flooded. From the bus stop before Eilat we walked to the Arava border crossing where we had to pay an exit fee on the Israeli side before walking through a big gate welcoming us to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. There we presented our Jordan pass that includes entrance to many sites incl. Petra and replaces the visa fee if you stay at least 3 nights in Jordan - highly recommended!
It is a friendly border between two neighbour states with a peace agreement, but still it is a real border that made me once more appreciate the border-free travelling in Europe.

On the Jordanian side we were picked up by a driver organised by Bedouin Roads, our destination in Wadi Rum. On the way we already saw camels :

In the next posts I will tell more about the camel ride and hikes in Wadi Rum, the Nabatean town of Petra and the hike in the Dana Reserve - with pictures.