Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
WESTERN HIGHLIGHTS
Descend to the depths for a bob in the
Dead Sea
(
Click here
)
, at the lowest point
on earth, before scaling the heights with a cocktail at a lavish spa resort
Relax mind and body at a famous
Dead Sea spa
(
Click here
)
, applying mud used
for cosmetic purposes since the time of Herod
Place the Dead Sea in historical and geographical context at the informative
Dead Sea Panoramic Complex
(
Click here
)
Wallow in hot springs at
Hammamat Ma'in
(
Click here
)
, one of the region's
thermal oases
Drive from highground to low-ground towards the
Dead Sea Highway
(
Click
Splash through the canyon pools of
Mujib Biosphere Reserve
(
Click here
)
,
keeping an eye open for ibex
Taste a freshly plucked tomato before exploring the rainbow hills of
Wadi Ara-
ba
(
Click here
)
History
It's easy to sense the antiquity of a region that has supported human endeavour for thou-
sands of years. All along the highway, fresh water springs bring a hopeful abundance of
life (as at Wadi Mujib) in vivid contrast to the surrounding barren escarpment. In season,
the parched soil is threaded with crates of blood red tomatoes and glossy-coated eggplants
(aubergines), proving the unexpected fecundity of a region that looks to all intents and
purposes like a desert.
Belying its name, even the Dead Sea has contributed to the pattern of human civilisa-
tion. Known to the ancients as the Sea of Asphalt, it produced bitumen harvested by the
Nabataeans and sold to neighbours for embalming processes in a nascent oil industry.
Travel along the Dead Sea Highway today, with its proximity to the Israel and Palestini-
an Territories, and you quickly feel how oil, albeit of a different kind, defines the territory
still. Police checks, border posts, cautious eyes across the Rift Valley - this is disputed
soil, a land cleaved in two, geologically, historically and politically. You may try to float
in peace in a Dead Sea spa but you can't help but be aware that the calm has been bought
at a high price. For more about the history of the Dead Sea area,
Click here
.
