One of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the Lost City of Petra hides coyly behind Southern Jordan’s pink sandstone cliffs. The rock-cut ruins of the lost Nabatean Kingdom feature Corinthian pillars, Hellenistic urns, and, in the case of the Treasury, classical relief sculptures fit for a king. The contrast between the jagged desert cliffs and the grand edifices that adorn them is as jarring as a crop circle perfectly etched into a field of corn.
And Petra’s origins are only somewhat less mysterious than a UFO incident. In a deep valley of the Petra Basin, that’s barely discernable from the nearest highway, the most accessible route to Petra’s wonders is a mile-long chasm called the Siq. Navigating each blind turn of the narrow passage, I stopped wondering how this place could have been lost for a millennium.
Petra’s towering edifices were conjured from dust not once but twice. First in biblical times when the structures were hand-carved from the walls of the desert basin, and again in 1812. Thought to have been nothing more than a myth, they were rediscovered after lying empty for 11 centuries.
A once-bustling trading hub with a king and thousands of inhabitants, Petra was built around the first century B.C., though no one knows the exact dates of construction. The city is thought to have been “lost” thanks to Roman annexation around 100 A.D. and gradual abandonment after an earthquake struck around 300 A.D.
Bedouins, the nomadic tribespeople of the area, are thought to have known the location of Petra during its lost years but may have hidden it in an effort to protect treasures thought to be hidden in the kingdom’s most ornate tomb now dubbed The Treasury, for that reason.
An enigma even today, the city itself is still being uncovered: Experts say the ancient ruins that attract thousands of travellers per day only make up 15 percent of the capital of Nabatea. The rest likely remains underground, silted over by centuries of desert sand.
So it might not surprise you that visiting Petra, one of the most complex and awe-inspiring wonders of the world, is no small feat. Here’s what to know before you go, and what I learned from spending two days in Petra with an expert guide.
If you stop reading right now, the one thing you should know about Petra is that it’s a little-regulated tourist site and complex World Wonder that is almost impossible to see correctly without an expert local guide. Petra has travel scams and dangers to look out for, but also plenty of hidden historical gems and incredible views to uncover and you’re extremely unlikely to find them or to experience them the right way if you’re visiting Petra on your own.
Local guides like Intrepid travels are experts on the ancient Lost City of Petra, and some of Petra’s best hikes come pre-planned into the travel company’s eight-day Trek Jordan itinerary. If you’re looking for a smaller commitment, Intrepid also offers a three-day Petra trip with a stop at the Dead Sea, or the Petra Authority has licensed guides on site who can take you on a last-minute tour if you ask at the entrance.
Visiting Petra is an exhilarating, tiring experience, so it might be tempting to accept one of the numerous offers you’ll field for a horse ride down the Siq or up to a precarious viewpoint. However, you should think twice before you accept the ride, which is included in your ticket price mainly because the treatment and use of work animals at Petra is a hotly debated topic.
It’s clear that many of the work animals used at Petra are unhealthy and overworked. As long as visitors keep accepting rides on them, though, they remain a valuable means for the locals who own and employ the horses and donkeys to make a living. It’s largely up to visitors to ease the use of work animals at Petra by ebbing the demand for them until the local government steps in.
“We are working on policies regarding all working animals in Petra including the siq,” Farajat, of the Petra Authority, tells me. “We possibly will introduce club cars instead of the horse carriages inside the and will define trails for camels and donkeys inside the park.”
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