Escape from the city

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Escape from the city

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AMMAN - Jordan is a country where the speed of development leaves many
citizens behind to utilize ancient techniques of survival. On a recent
visit to the Scandinavian Forest just north of Amman, a herder and his
herd were the sources of a perfect escape from the bustling and hectic
city life.

Amman is the capital city of Jordan with around 3 million people and
the heart of a country whose population has exploded each time a new
refugee population was created by war and violence in the Middle East.
In 1948 and 1967 Palestinians forced out of their homes found retreat
in Jordan, and then in 2003 almost a million refugees came pouring out
of Iraq and into safety in Jordan.

Amman shows sign of this sudden and massive growth through its poorly
planned neighborhoods, lack of green space and narrow streets congested
with cars that are far too big for the streets.

Only 30 years ago, Amman was a small village. Today, Amman is a
bustling city and a regional hub for much of the war activity in Iraq.
The US embassy has grown exponentially since the 2003 invasion as well
as the numbers of ex-patriots of all nationalities working in Amman.

While the city is growing and each day resembling more and more a
modern city with sky scrapers and other amenities the bourgeois crowd
demand, one mustn’t forget that Jordan is an ecologically diverse with
much to offer for weekend or afternoon escapes to beautiful mountains
or narrow and breath-taking valleys.

On a beautiful spring afternoon in April, I spent my time on the grassy
and beautiful hilltop called the Scandinavian Forest. The Scandinavian
Forest is located west of the Amman-Jerash highway and about a 20
minutes drive from the capital. The hilltop is opposite the Bakaa
Refugee Camp created in 1948 with refugees from Palestine. In 1989,
King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden, who was on official visit to Jordan
inaugurated the forest as an effort to conserve the beautiful and
unique ecology of Jordan.

The Kingdom, founded in 1921 is wonderful place to view spring flowers
that bloom in full in the warm spring sun. This particular afternoon,
it was beautifully green and the flowers were blooming.

On our hike we saw lots of bugs and other creatures boys are typically
interested in. We spotted this little guy, most commonly known as the
praying mantis, or praying mantid of the order Mantodea. The word
mantis comes from the Greek word mantis for prophet or fortuneteller.
Most commonly misspelled as preying mantis.

We bumped into a heard of sheep that were grazing on the fresh spring
grasses. Coming from the Midwest of the US, I found the goats to have a
very strange looking face. I was told that the goats were “Shami” or
“Levant” in English.

I was able to locate a breed called Levant Red or Shami breed. They had
a large bulge from their nose and really long, floppy ears. I wasn’t
able to positively identify the breed as I couldn’t find a picture to
see it is this breed. It was listed as a declining breed of sheep.

The herders lined the sheep and tied them up with a rope around their
necks to keep them in line so they could be milked. The man who owned
the herd lived in Amman in a “rock house” and we ended up having tea
with him and discussing the differences in life from city life to
living off the land.

He much preferred the simple life off the land, but according to him,
realized the need to educate his children. This fact was evident as two
of his sons are lawyers and another son is studying to become a lawyer.

The herder who lived with the sheep was actually Syrian and was paid
130 JD a month to live and take care of the sheep. They collected the
milk in big pots, twice a day and drive it into Amman to make cheese
out of it. The owner said they can get anywhere between 30-35 kilos per
day. He can sell the milk for .5JD a kilo.

The perfect escape, we enjoyed our tea on the wooded hilltop in
Northern Jordan as the sun set over the horizon. It was a beautiful way
to end a beautiful day.