Eat - Pray - Petra

(l to r): Phil - Bill - Bruce

My talk this past week at the Albuquerque Museum of Art & History got me to thinking about last year's work and this forthcoming's potential adventures: For 3-months last year, from early March through early May and late Sept. 30 through the end of October, I was privileged to be part of a three person Park Ranger mentoring team from the US to work with the Park Rangers at Petra Archaeological Park (PAP) in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Jordan is about the size of the State of Indiana: it borders Egypt, Iraq, Israel (labeled as Palestine on most of their maps), Saudi Arabia, and Syria. While “Arab Spring” had sprung around us we were working with Rangers at this World Heritage Site. My colleagues included Bill Wade, who grew up at Mesa Verde National Park where his father was the longtime Chief Ranger, and Bruce McKeeman. Between the three of us we had over a century of national park experience: all of us had worked at both cultural & natural resource areas including some large locations (Yosemite for them, Death Valley & Denali for me).

Our Pre-Trip Objectives and Tasks included:

To work in the field with the rangers and their supervisors to expose them to the way U.S. rangers tackle the issues in their park, exchange experiences, and assist them in improving their performance in the areas of: animal health & treatment, child labor, unauthorized vending, cooperation with the tourist police, and awareness of the protection of park resources.

Bill & Hamza

We were fortunate to have a colleague (Fred) already working with the equine stock. In fact Fred had been to PAP a couple of times and was actively working on-site with their horse owners association and the Brooks Animal Hospital (UK based international program). Fred gave us great pre-trip tips on what to expect food wise: microwave popcorn would be a treat in the 4-bedroom apartment in late afternoons, pinto beans worthwhile packing, and spam to go with eggs. One dietary surprise I wasn’t expecting as the salads: 90% cucumbers & tomatoes. Guess what I usually pick out of my salads and give to Meme (my traveling compadre and spouse of 35+ years)? Another surprise that 1^st morning, was the 4:18AM “First call to prayer” of the day. We’d gotten in from the airport ca. midnight and I was having trouble sleeping, due to an Arabic coffee I had at a road house about 10. About 3AM I dozed-off to be awakened by amplified and dueling calls to prayer: at least a couple of the half dozen mosques sounded just outside the bedroom window, only to find out later that they were several blocks away.

Wadi Musa in 2011

PAP headquarters is in Wadi Mousa (Moses), Jordan. With an exploding construction program the population is now ca. 20,000 with the area being about 30,000. When Moses came through the area with the Israelites, tapped his staff on a rock and behold “there was water” (creating the still flowing Moses Spring), they were but a long continuum of travelers in the area: During the Neolithic 8,000 – 7,000 BCE: hunter gatherers had made transition to village nearby at Baida; followed by the Edomites, a Semitic tribe “ruled” by King David at one point – being semi-nomadic they were primarily southeast of Dead Sea used the many caves found there; trade routes bringing Frankincense, Myrrh, Gold and Spices were developed from Africa, India, & Yemen; in the 6th Century BCE  the Nabataeans, a Semitic group from the Arabian Peninsula area populated the area, followed by a Hellenistic Period (Alexander) in the 4^th Century BCE where they tried to conquer, but Petra remained independent. Nabataeans consolidate power 300-200 BCE. Many Tombs with facades were started, as Petra (then known as Raqmu: Aramaic for “colorful”) became “the ‘in place’ to be buried for Nabataeans.” By the 1^st Century BCE the population of the area was about what is today +/- 30,000. In 106 CE it finally succumbed economically to rule by Rome, and in 131 was renamed by the Emperor Hadrian, during his visit there, as “Petra Hadriana” (modest fellow). Petra survived devastating 4^th Century CE earthquakes, but was never quite-the-same in its importance thereafter: Byzantine (324-625 C.E.), Umayyad (661) thru Ottoman (1917). It was re-discovered by Europe in the early 19^th Century by a Swiss traveler that had converted to Islam.

Visitation in the early 1980’s was minimal (8-24 in a day most times). It was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and by 2005 the count was up to 800 per day. Then PAP got listed as one of the “new” Ancient Wonders of the World and in 3-years it quadrupled with the associated impacts that brought us there. A few words on these pages can not convey the visual power and majesty of the place we call Petra; books have been written and photo-journals published. Even I started this blog: www.travelRANGER87508.blogspot.com (many photos posted and on my Facebook pages too). My best advice is to visit for 3-days (or more): if you’ve been before, you should return; if you haven’t been, you should by all means go.



unauthorized vendor - at Urn tomb



Getting back to why we were there (paid by US Agency for International Development: USAID): Our primary Ranger skills & professionalization focus was to be Emergency Medical Services, Search & Rescue (SAR), and visitor services. We found ourselves involved thoroughly with program assessments that included analysis papers regarding: Professionalizing the Petra Park Ranger, Al Khubtha trail signs, Barrier needed at the Theater, Child vendors, General operations, High Place of Sacrifice trail signs, Lower Basin (Qasr al Bint) signs, Park Ranger uniforms, Petra Park website, Remote area water closets, Vendors (Concessions), Barricades, Emergency equipment caches, Donkey management, Ranger patrols, Water flow issues at trail to High Place of Sacrifice, Sign to Wadi Farasa, Requested comments on Park map and brochure.

from above Al-Kha

Some places we got to work, patrol & ponder that you should be sure and see include:

As-Siq (the 1Km slot canyon that approaches The Treasury), Al-Khazneh (The Treasury), the Nabataean Theatre (built in Roman style), Urn Tomb, Royal/Corinthian Tombs, Tomb of Sextius Florentinus: Roman Governor, the Blue Chapel: Byzantine period, Byzantine Christian mosaics, The Great Temple, Qasr al-Bint, Post Office Tomb, The Fortress, The High Place of Sacrifice, The Lion Fountain/Triclinium, Roman Soldiers Tomb, The Triclinium, Columbarium, Garden Temple Complex, Ad-Deir: The Monastery, Aaron’s/Jaroun’s (Moses’brother) Tomb, high spot above The Treasury, Little Petra, etc., Etc., ETC. There are over 3,000 sites/features (they call them monuments) within the 101 square miles we call PAP. The park elevation varies, but much is 3000- - 3300’ The Nabataeans were master builders of water capture and delivery systems with some channels using gravity feeds and clay piped ditches for miles.

Wadi Rum

In addition, in latter March we were asked to plan & conduct a one-day national seminar on “The Best Practices in Management of Protected Areas” to be held in Amman on 27 April (the day Meme arrived in Jordan, and our wedding anniversary). This type of seminar in the US would be planned and scheduled 6-12 months ahead; it put us into over-drive (and on some of their “broken” roads). We visited most of the present nature reserves (Wadi Rum, Dana, Dibeen, Ajloun, Azraq, Wadi Mujib, Red Sea/Aqaba) and their heritage sites (Amman/Philadelphia Citadel & Theatre, Jerash, John-the-Baptist/Baptism, Karak Crusader Castle, Madaba, Mt. Nebo, etc.). Even though it was slapped together on short notice it was considered very successful with over 100 in attendance from various environmental departments and organizations. A follow-up is being planned (Inshallah… God willing).

We learned a great deal from our sojourns there in 2011, and hope to be of assistance again in 2012: this next time with more in-depth SAR and GIS expertise. This too, of course, is subject to the Inshallah factor… Phil Young (Feb. 2012)