Raring to go, our vehicle dropped us off in Dana Biosphere Reserve and we began our hike.

What awaited us was a vast playground of rocks and wadis - apart from the odd shepherd and his flock, we didn’t encounter any other people…bliss.

Dana is Jordan’s largest nature reserve and is a joy for trail walkers- the phrase of the day was certainly “wow, look at that rock!” The impressive sandstone cliffs tower over the land, reaching as high as 1700m.

This is a place where mountain meets desert meets valley and the colours were just starting to pop as the vegetation grew green- a few week’s time our guide told us, and the whole valley would be covered in wildflowers.

We walked for 15km, weaving through the cliffs and finally dropping down into Wadi Al- Nakheel- a beautiful dry riverbed valley. We camped a little further up, near Al Mansura.