Middle East - Anthony Ham [304]
Qasr al-Hallabat & Hammam as-Sarah
Crumbling Qasr al-Hallabat was originally a Roman fort built as a defence against raiding desert tribes. During the 7th century it was converted into a monastery and then the Umayyads fortified it into a country estate. The site consists of the square Umayyad fort and a partially restored mosque.
Some 2km down the road heading east is the Hammam as-Sarah, an Umayyad bathhouse and hunting lodge. It has been well restored and you can see the underground channels for the hot, cool and tepid bathrooms.
From Amman’s Raghadan station, take a minibus to Zarqa (20 minutes), where you can get another to Hallabat (30 minutes) and ask to be dropped off outside either site.
Azraq
05 / pop 8000
The oasis town of Azraq (‘blue’ in Arabic) lies 80km east of Amman. For centuries an important meeting of trade routes, the town is still a junction of truck roads heading northeast to Iraq and southeast to Saudi Arabia. South Azraq was founded early last century by Chechens fleeing Russian persecution, while North Azraq is home to a minority of Druze, who fled French Syria in the 1920s.
* * *
AN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER
A generation ago, Azraq was home to a vast oasis, but by 1991 the water table had dropped to over 10m below the ground and the wetlands had dried up completely. Salt was added to the wound, quite literally, when over-pumping destroyed the natural balance between the freshwater aquifer and the underground brine. As a direct result, salt water seeped into the wetlands, making the now brackish water unpalatable for wildlife and hopeless for drinking and irrigation.
Fortunately, there is hope that this once great oasis can be restored to its former glory. Since 1994, serious funding and a commitment from the UN Development Program (UNDP), the Jordanian government and the RSCN have successfully halted the pumping of water from the wetlands to urban centres. A brand new pipeline between Diseh (near Wadi Rum) and Amman has also helped ease pressure on the wetland springs.
Around 1.5 million cu metres of fresh water is now being pumped back into the wetlands every year by the Jordanian Ministry of Water, an ongoing process aimed at restoring about 10% of the wetlands to their former glory. However, a major hurdle still to overcome is the estimated 500 illegal deep wells that are still operating in the area.
* * *
SIGHTS
Azraq Wetland Reserve
Azraq is home to the Azraq Wetland Reserve ( 3835017; admission JD2; 9am-sunset), which is administered by the RSCN and is good for bird-watching. The Azraq Basin was originally 12,710 sq km (an area larger than Lebanon), but over-pumping of ground water sucked the wetlands dry in the 1970s and 1980s. The RSCN is trying to rehabilitate a small section (12 sq km) of the wetlands. An environmental recovery project of this magnitude is certainly worth your support, and the onsite visitor centre has well documented (if somewhat tragic) exhibits detailing the history of the basin’s demise.
Qasr Al-Azraq
‘It was to be Ali’s first view of Azraq, and we hurried up the stony ridge in high excitement, talking of the wars and songs and passions of the early shepherd kings, with names like music, who had loved this place; and of the Roman legionaries who languished here as garrison in yet earlier times.’
TE Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom
This brooding black basalt castle (admission JD1, ticket also valid for Qusayr Amra & Qasr Kharana; daylight hr) dates back to the Roman emperor Diocletian (300 AD), but owes its current form to the beginning of the 13th century. It was originally three storeys high, but much of it crumbled in an earthquake in 1927. The Umayyads maintained it as a military base, as did the Ayyubids in the 12th and 13th centuries. In the 16th century the Ottoman Turks stationed a garrison here.
After the 16th century, the only other recorded use of the castle was during WWI when Sherif Hussein (father of King Hussein) and TE