With Bazurka 5 days hiking from Dana to Petra

In early October I had the absolute pleasure of hiking with Bazurka (a gorgeous donkey lady), her “owner” (if a donkey can ever be “owned”?) – our local Bedouin guide, Ayman, the guide from Experience Jordan plus 4 other fellow hikers from Dana to Petra. The hike took us through spectacular country side and along narrow mountainous paths. At times, the hiking was hard work, but there was always Bazurka as a back-up for tired hikers. Luckily none of us really needed to rely on her services. Our camping was fully supported – which meant we only need to carry our day packs (Bazurka carried additional water – just in case) and a local Bedouin group took care of the rest: set up camp (including a wash tent plus toilet), cooked every night a delicious dinner, lit a nice fire and magically moved everything the next day to a new camp site. I warmly remember the excitement (or was it just relief?) when after a long days hiking I could see our new campsite from far. Not sure what made me more excited – the prospect of a cup of tea and some nice sweets or knowing that my feet will get a well deserved rest.
The final day started with a spectacular hike into Petra “through the back door” close to the Monastery and then we spent a full day exploring Petra with the help of a local, archeologically trained guide.
I can fully recommend this trek as it was well planed, organised and supported. But even more importantly I felt I was hiking with with a group of old friends although I was actually traveling solo!