There’s a German phrase, fernweh, which, in keeping with the web, actually interprets to “farsickness,” however it’s used to explain the sensation of being homesick for a spot you will have by no means been. For me, there are a number of locations I can consider that I yearn for – though I’ve by no means been. One such place was someplace that I by no means thought I’d ever really go: Petra.
If you’re an Indiana Jones-obsesee, equivalent to me, chances are you’ll already pay attention to Petra. It was featured prominently on the finish of Indiana Jones and the Final Campaign. Within the film, the characters discover the ruins of the Treasury constructing to search out the holy grail. Sean Connery’s character calls it “the cup of Christ.” That is regarded as the cup from which Jesus Christ drank through the Final Supper, which was then used to gather Jesus’s blood on the crucifixion. After the cup is discovered and the dangerous man is defeated, Jones and his crew are discovered outdoors with horses and on their manner residence. The Treasury is proven behind them.
So, once we competed in BirdLife Israel’s Champions of the Flyway (COTF) in 2023, I knew I needed to take my likelihood to go to Jordan and Petra. The COTF is predicated in Eilat, Israel, the southernmost fringe of Israel alongside the Crimson Sea, a really slim half through which Jordan and Egypt are only some miles aside. A number of tour operators supply day or in a single day journeys to Petra and Wadi Rum.
The COTF competitors and celebration got here and went, after which the morning to discover Jordan was upon us. Our tour information met the eight of us, together with myself, my husband, and a few our teammates, on the resort and shortly famous that we have been weighed down with binoculars and cameras. She informed us we might not be permitted to carry this stuff into the nation – discuss a intestine punch for a bunch of birders! We begrudgingly dragged our gear again to our resort rooms and returned with our necessities.
A fast bus trip introduced us to the border crossing close to the Worldwide Birding & Analysis Centre, a implausible birding web site in Eilat. Our information directed us via the border and informed us we might meet our Jordanian information on the opposite aspect. After going via the multi-staged crossing, we reached the opposite aspect. We noticed the prolonged line of Jordanians ready to cross into Eilat, possible heading to work for the day within the hustling-and-bustling vacationer vacation spot.
We discovered our information and hopped on a bus, prepared for the lengthy trip to Petra however feeling bare with out our binoculars. I used to be panicking and dealing via in my head how we might maximize the day with out our gear – all these birds simply too distant, the images we might not be capable to take.
The drive from Eilat is about 2 hours lengthy via a mixture of rocky, rugged landscapes and small communities in flat, arid areas. It was an uneventful drive-in with glimpses at red-winged Tristram’s Starlings and Frequent Buzzards. A quick rest room and comfort retailer cease atop a mountain overlooking Israel, awarding us a lifer Hooded Wheatear, a placing black-and-white chicken with a white crown and stomach and black in any other case, enjoying peek-a-boo with us round a mud pile.
Earlier than heading down into Wadi Musa, the city nearest Petra, we noticed ubiquitous Crested Larks and one other lifer – Fan-tailed Ravens, that are exhausting to overlook. Upon arrival on the archeological web site, our information briefed us on the route down via the gorge after which, because it narrows into the Siq, a few 2.5-mile-long hike.
We began down with the various different vacationers. A lot to the annoyance of our information, we have been lagging behind and never exploring on his well-set timeline. I savored each inch of the location; others within the occasion listened to the information’s rationalization, and the remaining did what they may to see birds. A couple of small facades, which have been small burial niches, have been carved into the rock.
We rounded a curve after which confronted the doorway to the Siq, a deep cut up within the sandstone rocks that narrows to 10 ft in some locations. Partway in, we seen a number of birds enjoying round on the rocky outcroppings close to the highest, which turned out to be Sinai Rosefinches, aptly named as they’re small, rosy-colored finches. Decrease down, wherever water collected and daylight reached down, have been wildflowers and European Greenfinches profiting from the water. Eurasian Crag-Martins and Rock Martins might be seen within the slim little bit of the sky.
We lastly reached the Treasury, the star of Indiana Jones, and a sea of individuals dropped their jaws on the unbelievable creation that has stood the check of time. Our information herded us alongside the remainder of the location, which had so many wonderful issues to see—it does deserve greater than in the future to go to.
After a buffet lunch at a restaurant on a cliffside with views of Petra within the distance, we jumped again on the bus and headed to our different cease, Wadi Rum. Additionally a well-known filming location and UNESCO World Heritage Website, Wadi Rum is a river valley reduce into the panorama of sandstone and granite rocks. We jumped into the again of pick-up vans and have been taken to some stops close by to see the views from a dune, a Bedouin campsite, petroglyphs, and the Seven Pillars of Knowledge. It was late afternoon, so few birds have been seen beside Tristram’s Starlings and Eurasian Crag-Martins.
It was a magical day exploring some really unbelievable historic websites. It was positively a problem to not have our optics, as we want we may have had nearer appears to be like on the lifer birds and a few distant websites. As these places are desert areas, birds are sparser however nonetheless definitely worth the effort! Be sure that to examine the laws earlier than you go! Hopefully you aren’t deterred by the challenges to birding, as a result of it’s a web site I’d not have missed for the world!
