Written By: Tala Bassam Momani
I’ve always been passionate about showing people around Jordan’s nature spots and leading them to countless little-unknown gorges and valleys. Wadi Ibn Hammad is one of my favourite destinations and it was there that I discovered how important it is to be dressed appropriately!
That day I was guiding a group of 60 students from Friends of the Earth Middle East into the Wadi. Ibn Hammad is a perfect valley for environmental education where students can see a good example for the spring water recourses that feeds the Dead Sea. It is a narrow rocky gorge with a knee-depth stream running down its centre with plenty of hanging gardens and spectacular stalactite rock formations.
Leading the group into the gorge I noticed a smaller group had stopped behind us. I walked back to see what the problem was; a couple of students had decided that they will not continue walking because they don’t want to leave the girl who had come barefoot and was finding it too painful to carry on walking over the many little rocks and pebbles that lined the bottom of the gorge. Eager for the girl to see the rest of the beautiful wadi I foolishly offered her my own sandals so that she could continue and I will proceed to lead the way barefoot.
It wasn’t long before I realised why she wasn’t able to continue barefoot; it was excruciatingly painful walking over dozens of sharp rocks which were hidden from view by the water. I decided it would be impossible for me to continue, but I also knew that it would be agonising to have to walk all the way back in this manner and the girl I’d lent my sandals to was so far ahead she was out of sight. This is when my MacGyver instincts kicked in!
The only time in my life when I have been grateful for the litter that unfortunately dots so many of Jordan’s nature spots, I picked out a polystyrene box, two plastic bags and a few handfuls of algae to fashion myself a pair of sandals! I slipped one foot into the box and tied it with a plastic bag and filled the other bag with the algae and wore it as a shoe. Walking back top to the wadi’s entrance with one foot squishing about in algae and the other strapped to a too-high polystyrene box I felt ridiculous but pain-free! I made quite a spectacle heading back and caused quite a few giggles but I got back with my little piggies safe and sound!
