I woke up early the next morning, grabbed the breakfast that the hotel had thoughtfully left on my doorstep, and loaded up my little silver camel and set off south, down the King's Highway. There are three options for travelling to the south of Jordan: the Dead Sea Highway, which beelines south, along the Dead Sea and the Israeli border all the way down to Aqaba. The second, and most travelled route is the Desert Highway, which is the major north-south route through the country. And the third option is the King's Highway. This route dates from prehistoric times, the Jordanian section is just a part of a longer route that stretched from Egypt to Damascus and the Euphrates River. Moses was famously refused passage along this route (Numbers, 20:17-21) The Nabateans used it as a trade route for frankincense and spices. Roman legions marched along it. The road was used by both Christian Pilgrims and Muslim Hajj. Crusaders used it to control their Lordship of Oultrejourdain. So it was with lots of interest and not much originality that I set off down this meandering and often poorly marked road.


No one tells you about the Wadi Mujib. A vast, 1200 meter deep canyon that opens up just south of Dhiban. It has been dubbed Jordan's Grand Canyon.










Olive orchards among the taupe.