Davida Golden review 5 Nov 2008
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Very many memorable parts - Swimming in the Dead Sea, relaxing on the red Sea in Aqaba and seeing Petra, I will never ever forget.
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be very careful about the itinerary - if you are into archaeology 2 sites a day is the maximum and at least 2 days for Petra and little Petra.
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
The environment is under threat in Jordan because of water shortages and also pollution. The government and the people we met are very aware of this. I think that tourism is very important to Jordan, and they certainly appreciated our queries and the fact that we took the time and had the interest to visit. I am not sure how sustainable building large hotels on the shore of the Dead Sea is however, though I really enjoyed the time I spent there
4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Excellent in general. The first guide we had (Ibrahim) was really great. He adjusted the itinerary as the planned one was simply undoable, and he had immense knowledge about the sites. Unfortunately he was not available to be with us for the while trip as he had other bookings. One of our group is doing Islamic studies and also learning Arabic. Ibrahim left a book for her at one of the hotels we were staying at later in the tour. The second guide we had was far less knowledgeable, but was still of course able to bring us to the various sites.
Margery Nzerem review 11 Nov 2006
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Being driven through Wadi Rum by a wonderful guide, seeing the amazing rock formations and experiencing the emptyness of it all. Taking a side trip to a Bedouin friend of our guide, and spending an hour or more reclining on cushions drinking herb tea. Then spending the night in a tent at a desert camp - the camping itself was not that exciting, but spending a few hours before bedtime reclining on cushions and drinking tea (again!) under the stars talking to people from Jordan, Palestine, Algeria, Egypt was memorable. (honestly - we did do more than just recline on cushions - hiking at Dana, for a start)
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be prepared to be hassled for tips - one hotel even complained we hadn't left enough!
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
Yes
4. Any other comments?
*** Very enjoyable (but to be fair the competition was fierce, as we have been to the Galapagos, Ethiopia, Namibia)
Simon Irons review 29 May 2005
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
There were 2 things which made our holiday. Firstly, our personal guide, Mahmoud, was brilliant. Being a native Bedouin of Petra, he knew everything about the history but we also learned about the culture, the politics, the education systems, the religions etc. of the whole Middle East. I feel like I know much more now about this region than I did before hand. Secondly, Petra was absolutely breathtaking. We spent 3 days there and even though you are expecting it to be the highlight of your trip, it still manages to amaze you!
2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Be really careful what and where you eat! My girlfriend was ill for over a week and it was not pleasant!
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
In that they managed to prise all of our JD's out of our pockets with some pretty outrageous tourist prices for not always that great quality! Overall, I would say yes in terms of the sightseeing but we stayed in 5 star international chain hotels (apart from the night in Dana) so I am not sure this benefited the local people as much? It would be nice to find some locally run, intimate, Jordanian hotels which had some of the comforts like air con, clean bathrooms, great food, nice locales etc. This was more what I would have expected from the tour operator?
Read the operator's response here:
It is such a shame that illness blighted the trip. Whilst it is always possible of course, I'm glad to say that this is not a common occurrence in Jordan.
We always aim to use local hotels and services. In many countries we have the choice of small places full of charm. Sadly, in Jordan this is a difficult place to find such hotels, though we very much wish it was otherwise. If good small places existed, we would certainly use them. However, the hotels we use, though often pretty 'international standard' in terms of what they offer and how they feel, are in fact locally owned. Were more quirky places are available, we always suggest these if they are within the budget. In this couple's itinerary, Dana was the only small, quirky place we could recommend. In terms of helping local people, certainly the stay at Dana did help, then also our partners in Jordan play a large part in helping local communities in various ways, which we help with (for example, sending out vitamins and minerals to certain tribes people who are deficient in these due to their diet, and which causes various problems, particularly with children).
We're delighted that such as good time was had overall. Jordan is a wonderful country with great people, and travellers almost inevitably come back loving their experiences here.
Anne Macgeorge review 14 Mar 2005
3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?
It's very difficult to answer that, really. The Jordanians desperately need tourists: every blip in the peace process anywhere in the middle east hits their trade, on which they're grievously dependent. Ever since 9/11, they've been struggling to recover the lost traffic. Certainly virtually all the money we spent went into the pockets of Jordanians, and in that respect they will have benefited. There was much local resentment against tour groups who insist on bringing their own guides, etc. And unless you use horses and camels instead of trucks and cars (and allow three or four times as long!), you can't do much less to harm the environment than our holiday did. It was - and we were - certainly environmentally sensitive wherever we went, to the best of our ability, though we didn't pick up every wretched plastic bottle which desecrated Petra!
It was a five-star experience for both of us, no doubt of it: no disappointments, and a programme which gave us everything we were looking and hoping for. It wasn't 'simply the best holiday I've ever been on', because it would be virtually impossible to eclipse our four weeks in India in 1985: a 15-day walk from Kashmir through Zanskar to Ladakh, with Delhi/Agra/Fatehpur Sikri tacked on beforehand, three days in Leh after the walk and five glorious days on the houseboats in Srinagar at the end. But that is no reason for downrating Jordan to four stars (though your verbal description fits). What we did seemed to us so much richer an experience, so much more rewarding, than we could have got from a standard package of 'highlights' - we really did have our cake and ate it with gusto.
