There is a growing
demand for tours where you spend sometime touring and
sometime in, and serving or working with the local
community. Ask for details. A Baidha
Voluntourism Week is but one opportunity.
Baidha Voluntourism -
7
nights
About 600 members
of the Amareen Bedouin tribe live in a small
government-built village called Baidha Housing, which sits
about 12 km north of Wadi Musa on the edge of the Petra
National Park. Because this tribe traditionally herded in
areas outside the bounds of Petra, relatively few members of
the tribe have become involved in the financially rewarding
benefits of tourism in the way that other local residents of
Um Sehun village and Wadi Musa have done. Members of the
Amareen tribe, many of whom lived in the black hand-woven
Bedouin tents until little more than a decade ago, lack the
resources and the expertise to make some of the basic
repairs and improvements that would greatly enhance the
quality of their lives.
Day 1
Meet/ assist at the Amman airport. Transfer
to Petra for overnight.
Day 2
Petra Tour.
You have a full day to spend exploring the remarkable Petra
site. Voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, it's
a dazzling and extensive array of carved facades, partially
excavated civic building, roadways and water channels. The
Petra National Park covers a bit more than 40 square miles,
with antiquities reaching far beyond the designated park
preserves. You will have a full day touring the highlights
of the site including a daylight trip through the Siq and
visits to the Khazneh, Street of Facades, Theater,
Colonnaded Street, Great Temple, Byzantine Cathedral and an
afternoon climb to ad-Deir, Petra’s largest carved facade.
Overnight Petra.
Day 3
First
Volunteering Day.
After having the breakfast at the hotel, drive 15 minutes to
the north-west of Petra, to a near village called Baidha.
Baidha is a small village and its residents are Bedouins who
were formerly nomadic herders. They have since settled into
government-built housing, although some of the villagers
move into their traditional Bedouin tents seasonally to
follow the pastures.
The first thing you are going to do this day is to meet the
local Bedouins you will work with; your orientation will
include the culture, religion, customs and traditions that
the Bedouins have. We want you to feel comfortable in
working in this new environment, with all respect to the
people and their culture.
We will send you a list of the current available projects
about 6 weeks prior to arrival, indicating a 1-10 degree of
physical challenge and any special skills that are required
for the project, and then ask you to rank your preferences
for the project you will spend three days working on.
(See examples of the
volunteering projects).
You will have some time with the locals you are going to
be working with. They will probably kick things off by
offering you the first of hundreds of glasses of the special
tea which is a staple of life in the village, and you will
have the chance to start getting acquainted. You’ll look
over the work site, rough out the plan for the week and each
day you will share lunch with your local co-workers.
After you finish your first volunteering day on the project
you selected, you will go back to the hotel for free evening
and overnight.
Day 4
Second
Volunteering Day.
Breakfast at the hotel, drive to Baidha for continue working
on your project. Back to your hotel in Petra for a rest
before spending the evening at The Petra Kitchen. Here,
under the direction of a local chef and assisted by local
women who are expert in the traditional dishes you'll
prepare an evening meal. The dinner will include soup, cold
and hot mezza and salads, and a main course--all typical
local cuisine Jordanian dishes. After dinner you’ll receive
printed recipes for everything prepared, so you can go home
and invite your friends and family to a tasty Jordanian
dinner. Overnight Petra.
Day 5
Third
Volunteering Day. After breakfast, drive to Baidha
for the last day of working on your project. In the
afternoon you’ll be able to show off your finished task, and
check out what your fellow travelers have been up to. Stay
in the village for a grand feast to celebrate the completion
of a job well done and make your good-byes to your Bedouin
co-workers. Overnight Petra.
Day 6
Petra—Shobak—Dhana—Karak—Dead Sea Today you will
follow the Kings Highway, the north–south trade road through
the old Kingdoms of Edom and Moab and the route the
Nabateans used to transport all their luxury goods from
Petra north to Damascus. Your first stop will be at Shobak
Crusader Castle; the castle was built in
1115, and was strategically located on a hill on the plain
of Edom, along the pilgrimage and caravan routes from Syria
to Arabia. This ancient road will take you to your
second destination, which is Dhana Nature Reserve, exploring
Dhana Old Village where you will be able to imagine how the
local people lived there as well as to over view the
mountains of Dhana and Wadi Araba as well. Keep following
this route to Karaka Crusader Castle for a visit. Transfer
to Dead Sea for overnight.
Day 7
Dead
Sea—Mt. Nebo—Madaba—Dead Sea
Free morning to relax and swim at the healthy mineral water
of Dead Sea. Drive up to visit Mt. Nebo, from which Moses
viewed the Promised Land, take in the view of the Jordan
Valley, Dead Sea, Jericho and (if it's clear) the distant
spires and domes of the Mount of Olives, and visit the
contemporary church with its display of mosaics from the
succession of pilgrimage churches on this venerated spot.
Continue to Madaba, home to the world’s largest collection
of ancient mosaics, to visit the St. George Church with its
famous 6th Century map of the Holy Land, as well as the many
restored Byzantine and Herodian mosaics in the Madaba
Archaeological Park, Apostles' Church and Madaba Museum.
Return to Dead Sea for overnight.
Day 8
Dead
Sea—Queen Alia Airport Transfer to the
airport for departure.
Prices $ available on request.
For more information
please
e-mailus or phone: 1-888-575-6941
(toll-free in the
US) or
+1-973-763-6035 (worldwide)
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Magic. All rights reserved. No
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