The Hunt for the Black Iris

1 April -- South to Wadi ibn Hamad

I was invited recently by a friend-of-a-friend to join a coalition of long-time and recent expats on a day trip from Friday protests and Amman. One member of the group, a water engineer by day (this region is short of water not water consultants) and an artist by night, was keen to see the Jordanian National Flower, the black iris, in bloom as he is a painter of all things Mid-Eastern. We need only to take a connected road off the King's Highway to catch sight of these deep purple wonders. They were beautiful but my flower vocabulary is as extensive as my Arabic one so I mainly paparazzi'ed the many clusters found along the long-stretch of road to fit-in with the more excited members of the group. I have heard they are rare and conditions have to be just right to see them so I'm glad I was able to share in the luck and insider's knowledge.

A hive (?) of black irises

This trip was my first out of Amman and I welcomed the open-fresh air and the ability to walk without meeting high, abruptly ending sidewalks. The landscape varies (I suppose though variation is a Spring luxury, see: Future Posts) from patches of green to dusty red and brown; from narrow wadis to table-top mountains.

Yessir, Yessir Three Bags Full: On the way to the King's Highway

The King's Highway meets the Wadi Mujib Outlook. As a Floridian any amount of depth and scale fascinates me. Florida is the pre-pubescent girl of the world, not a valley or peak in site. Unfortunately, the desert sands were agitated overnight so it limited what should have been a more expansive view.

The Wadi Mujib Outlook

Near the Wadi Mujib is Wadi ibn Hamad, a wet wadi (this is the actual term. I will pause so you can get the giggles out). Here a river runs through two cliffs and we were knee-high in warm spring water. It's a lesser-known Wadi and indeed the only tourists were Jordanians (just follow the line of plastic bottles!).

Between a rock and...ok too obvious

The beauty of the Wadi is hard to convey in words partly because my awe at its shale white cliffs, palm tree canopies and waterfalls was twirled around a complex of many other emotions that I am only now deciphering as I'm writing. I suppose much of it is pure happiness. I am thankful to be out of my 9-5 which was oh-so incongruous to my ball-grabbing 20s spirit. I am not even sure if this research position I have in Amman will lead to bigger and better things but I couldn't resist trying on the Arab-world for size. It is the region I claim to specialise in after all.

Here is to a hurrah but not my last!