by Hamza Jilani
Already an adventure nut and climber, I felt myself magnetically drawn to the vertical sport of abseiling after meeting Rakan and Tala. This trip to Zarqa Ma’in’s upper canyonwas a first for me, and was laden with quite a few unexpected surprises. The first thing I noticed was that the girls on the trip outnumbered the guys by a ratio of 2:1. Blame PlayStation!After an hour’s ride down twisting roads in the hills, we were briefed about the day ahead of us by the instructors (Rakan and Tala) and began making our way into the wadi. You wouldn’t believe how many times the landscape can change in just a couple of kilometers! A typically dry canyon with an array of colorful mountains at first site, we soon found ourselves making our way through thick bush lining a pristine river, greeting mountain nomads, and then swimming across pools of cool water. All of these stunning sights were merely a prelude to the main attraction of the trip – the training followed by the first of two gorgeous waterfalls to be abseiled.