Jordan adventure vacation

Planet

This Jordan eco-adventure itinerary features many of the small, unique eco-properties of the country. Azraq Lodge is converted from a disused British Military Hospital and all the staff members are from local Bedouin, Chechen, and Druze communities. The kitchen and restaurant are under the management of a local family who provide home-cooked Chechen food.

The itinerary also stays in the award winning Feynan Eco Lodge located in Dana Nature Reserve. The lodge is not connected to the grid and is entirely solar-powered for lighting and heating. All water comes from a local spring and whatever heating is required at certain times of the year is provided by waste from olive pressing or olive pit charcoal which is burned in the two fireplaces at the lodge to provide heat. The lodge has composting facilities where uncooked food excess and waste are transformed into organic fertilizer. The lodge also recycles as much as possible and limits the amount of paper and plastic used on site. Recycling bins are also located in the lodge to encourage guests to support their recycling principles. Water is offered to guests in locally produced clay jars to eliminate the use of disposable plastic water bottles.

We are always talking to our local ground agents about the need to stress to clients the importance of basic responsible principles such as appropriate waste disposal, not to waste water, turning off lights on leaving the room in hotels, not replacing towels and bedding daily etc.

As a company we have introduced responsible practices in our UK office including paper, cardboard, aluminium and plastic recycling. We also support local UK charities including the RNIB and various charities around the world. 50% of our office staff use public transport (bus and train) and cycle to work. Management encourages this with their introduction of the cycle to work scheme which offers subsidised cycle ownership.

People

On our Jordan vacations all services are provided by local Jordanian people which includes your local English-speaking driver, the local guides at various monuments/sites and hotel staff. All staff are paid a fair wage for Jordan and all wages are kept within the local communities thereby supporting local people. Furthermore, by visiting these hotels and sites additional income is brought into many remote regions which do not see the number of visitors that big sites such as Petra and the Dead Sea do. This further helps to develop the local area. Some meals are included on the itinerary and food is sourced locally whether it is served in the hotels or a locally owned and managed restaurant.

Feynan Eco Lodge employs all of its staff from the local communities surrounding the reserve, for example the local Bedouins provide the transfer out of the reserve for which they are paid by the lodge. Feynan purchases most of its food supplies from the nearby village and the bread served is supplied by a local Bedouin woman who bakes it from her family tent. All the candles that light the lodge at night and the leather furniture items around the lodge are purchased from the onsite leather and candle workshops.

The owners and operators of the lodges on this itinerary have also established 16 socioeconomic projects aimed at helping the local communities the lodges are located in. The workshops use the natural assets of protected areas to create sustainable economic and social benefits for the local communities. Many local Jordanian women benefit from these workshops by providing them with jobs and a way to alleviate poverty. Workshops include jewellery making in Dana Nature Reserve, candle making, a leather workshop, ostrich egg carving, the Soap House in Ajloun and the Biscuit House also in Ajloun. All these projects are accessible to visitors thus allowing visitors to learn a little about the skills required to make the items and to purchase them which helps add money to the community.

For every passenger traveling to Jordan our local agents donate 1 Jordanian Dinar to the King Hussein Cancer Foundation. During 2014 these contributions added up to 10,000 Jordanian Dinars and was used by the King Hussein Cancer Foundation to support the prevention and treatment of cancer in Jordan.