Wadi Himara / Beauty Under Threat
By Rakan Mehyar
In July last year, along with a Jordanian adventure tour guide we went to visit Wadi Himara (Valley of the Donkey in Arabic). We had heard that a highway bridge had been built over the valley; so we decided to go check it out and assess the damage to the valley if any… then try to raise the issue through our network of friends and contacts in the environmental activist community.
Wadi Himara is located between Ma’in and the Dead Sea. It is a 15 km trek going down from 400 meters above sea level to 340 meters below sea level.
I’ve hiked some valleys in that region before, but this was my first to Wadi Himara (quite off the beaten track) and quite honestly I was amazed… I guess the photos speak louder than any words.
This bridge they built (funded by the Japanese Government) is part of a road that goes all the way down to the Dead Sea. In my opinion this road is useless; there are at least two or three other roads not far away; on top of that this road has been closed since then and has never been used.
The problem is that these valleys are one of a kind in the world for one obvious reason; they go down to the lowest point on earth and there is only one “lowest point on earth” so the biodiversity in such valleys is also one of a kind. On top of that, the local water supply is under threat and after the construction of the bridge almost half of the water that comes out from a local spring has been cut off, which is a great danger to the fragile ecosystem present in such a valley.
Very nice scenery and very informative post. I look forward to going on one of your hikes.
keep it up.
i know another place north of amman i guess was, it was so raw and nature but now goverment is takin all the water of it and destroying the whole place
How much do we value our nature/environment is always a question.. Governments ususally have an essential role. But what to do when a government is solely occupied with attracting more and more investments into the cournty with no sustainable planning? Should we we just blame Capitalism?