Jordan: Hospitality with Bedouins

The regional government had offered the desert nomads to move into permanent houses in specially built villages. Some declined with thanks. They prefer to continue living in tents - and uphold ancient traditions.

How good can wheat bread taste! In the midst of the sandy nowhere, shepherd Arbud pulled out the flatbread with a stick from between the embers and ash. He tapped off the ash, broke the bread into pieces, and distributed it to the guests. The crust isn't a bit charred. The hosts - three young Bedouins living here in the valley in tents - prevented that by using a protective layer of flour.

The loud tapping off of the ash is part of the ritual. 'That's how we invite the hungry from far and wide to eat with us,' Arbud explains. There's also sweet tea with mint in small glasses. The shepherds brewed it over a fire, for which they collected surrounding branches. In the shade of a pistachio tree, the guests rest next to two dozen goats that have just returned from the spring.

For three hours, the small group has been hiking in the Dana Nature Reserve. Because of its elevation differences, it encompasses four climate zones - from Mediterranean vegetation to desert. They haven't encountered anyone but three like-minded people and a shepherd on a donkey. The tea and bread break with the Bedouins was arranged by the hiking guide Ali via cellphone. The 28-year-old is Arbud's cousin. Ali Hasasen recently studied tourism and archeology and lived in a city apartment during that time. Then he returned to the extended family in the rocky valley and has been living in a tent again ever since.

Ali proudly says his father is rich. The 75-year-old tribal elder has 300 goats, two wives who get along well, 'and a whole soccer team of children.' They, like an estimated 5 percent of Jordanian Bedouins, live traditionally in one of the camps scattered across the sparse landscape in the southern half of the Hashemite Kingdom. Ali's wife, a community employee, has moved with him into the communal sleeping tent, whose interior is divided only by plastic flour sacks.

As long as the nights are warm, everyone drags their sleeping mats outside onto the bare ground. 'This is freedom for me, this is how I want to live,' Ali enthuses. Through binoculars, he tracks a falcon circling above the wide valley. He has also pointed out wolves, hyenas, and vultures living in the surrounding mountains. On many medicinal plants, like the white-yellow flowering sea onion, he shares useful information, legends, and fairytales along the way.

Although Ali's family, like most Bedouins, has not accepted the government's offer to move into permanent houses in specially built villages, they are no longer leading a nomadic life. Only a few hundred meters does the tribe move with its goats each year from the summer to the winter camp. Their life revolves as much around the gentle tourism that has established itself in the remote valley as around the herd. The Dana Nature Reserve provides 300 Bedouins with work.

With the help of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, the Feynan Ecolodge with 26 rooms was built a few minutes' walk from the summer tent camp. It is an eco-standard hostel integrated into the sandstone landscape, accessible only on foot or with the local Bedouins' off-road vehicles. Ali and his two years younger brother Suleiman offer hikes and excursions from there - including visits to friendly families or their own, for example for the coffee ceremony.

The proverbial hospitality of the Bedouins is evident when the tribal elder hammers coffee beans in a copper bowl over the open fire. 'Everyone who hears this is invited,' Ali explains while his father is already grinding the cardamom, pouring the mixture over boiling water, and soon distributing small cups with coffee.

The ceremony also involves revenge and reconciliation. Whether a guest takes a fourth cup of coffee after the third can decide between war and peace. The story about two families, who feuded bloodily for decades over a dispute about a woman, is often told: The woman had fled to her parents because her husband treated her poorly. The man wanted to take her back, resulting in the death of her brother, who was avenged, and this continued for 40 years.

While the visitors listen intently, the women veiled with cloths in the Bedouin camp stay in the background, washing dishes under a fabric roof beside the kitchen tent and, unlike the men, prefer not to be photographed. Tourism here in the Dana Nature Reserve is new; visitors are still rare.

Further south in the country, in Wadi Rum, this is different. The name means 'sandy valley.' With its red sand, sandstone mountains glowing orange in the evening light, and crater landscapes of black granite, Wadi Rum is considered one of the most beautiful deserts in the world. The Bedouins there have been organizing meals with local families, camel rides, and jeep tours on a large scale for many years.

A visit to the over 2,000-year-old rock city of Petra, one of the 'seven new wonders of the world,' also provides insights into Bedouin life - up to instructions on how the classic cotton cloth optimally protects the head from the sun. Smoke marks in caves all around indicate that families lived there until a few years ago.

It was only with difficulty that the government succeeded in 1985 to resettle the cave dwellers directly from the World Heritage site Petra to a nearby village. From there, every morning, crowds of Bedouins travel to Petra on donkeys. But the visitors they can entice to a ride through the fascinating gorge have become rarer.

Tourism, says an official of the tourism authority, has dropped by 75 percent compared to 2010. The crises in neighboring countries deter many Europeans, Americans, and Australians. The Bedouins lose out, having previously done good business with the guests.

For those travelers daring to venture to Jordan, the decline in visitor numbers is advantageous. In Petra, they can admire the Treasury, the theater, and other architectural works of the Nabataeans and Romans without crowds. In Wadi Rum, they enjoy 'Zarb' - a dish with lamb, eggplants, and rice - in absolute silence under a clear starry sky, cooked for three hours in a hole in the desert ground. Far away from the rest of the world, they can sleep in Bedouin tents among bizarre rock formations and perhaps dream of Lawrence of Arabia, who once rode through this landscape.

Ali and his brother Suleiman also offer a star-gazing opportunity - from the rooftop terrace of the Feynan Ecolodge through a telescope. 'The stars have shown us the way for thousands of years,' says Ali. Then he lies down on one of the outdoor mattresses and tells stories.