Dana Biosphere Reserve, Petra

As part of Dana’s revitalisation in 1993 World Bank and The United Nations provided partial funding to create the Dana Biosphere Reserve and added a small research facility to study the ecology of the area.

The Biosphere Reserve covers 115mi² (300km²) of mountain ridges, plateaus and desert plains along the Great Rift Valley, encompassing four different bio-geographical zones. The geology of the reserve changes from limestone to sandstone to granite. 

Over 800 species of plants have been recorded with including three new species. More than 200 birds and nearly 40 species of mammals have been catalogued in the reserve of which species such as the Syrian Serin (small bird), Lesser Kestrel (small falcon) and Nubian ibex are endangered and threatened by hunting.

The Reserve runs the full length of Wadi Dana all the way to Feynan Ecolodge. Besides its towering cliffs, the rocky area is covered with small trees and shrubs. The geology of the wadi is primarily sandstone. 

Making my way through the wadi along the dry river bed I was continuously awed at the landscape, at how the vegetation adapted to such an arid environment, the surrounding scrubland, the occasional desert flowers and the constant pink, rugged cliffs on each side.