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Wadi Musa - Petra (Jordan)
Wadi Mousa is the name of the village closest to Petra, and is the destination of buses going there. It is the official address of hotels and so forth. Originally, this was the name of the valley, rather than the village, which was named Elgee. (Those who have wondered about the origin of the name of the Elgee Hotel need wonder no longer). As the village spread from its original site, the name of the valley gradually came to be applied to the whole conglomeration of houses. These houses were grouped around a spring, which has gone underground in modern times. This was also a settlement which goes back at least to Nabatean and Roman times. Recently (in 1995, as far as I can remember), when the Alanbat Two Hotel was being built in the very centre of the present day Wadi Mousa, the destruction of the old houses uncovered a great arch. The Ministry of Antiquities was duly informed and excavations showed the remains of an impressive palace, probably that of a Nabatean noble. There was a decorated colonnade, a number of frescoes and what were described as the finest mosaics of the period to have been found in Jordan. The arch itself was believed to be part of the cistern that served the Roman bath system which was also found on the site - oddly enough almost exactly above the present day Salome Turkish Bath. It was a pity that the arch was recently demolished. The palace was beautifully sited, to get the finest view of the Petra mountains, the same view that inhabitants of Wadi Mousa covet and try to give themselves today. The frescoes and mosaics were eventually taken to Amman "for restoration". It wasn't feasible to leave the palace on its original site - right in the middle of the village - but the locals were promised that it would be reconstructed later, either near to the Petra Visitors' Centre, or down in Petra itself beside the Museum. I understand that many of them are now being displayed in the Museum, but I was unable to get down there in my last visit to Jordan. The Roman Baths were apparently judged to be of little importance and were covered up again. However, the owners of the Turkish Bath were fascinated to hear of the underground spring and the origin of their problems with periodic floods, the water apparently coming from nowhere. "The Valley of Moses" is also supposed to be the place where in early Biblical times, Moses struck the rock "to bring forth water". There are certainly enough springs around to provide the twelve tribes of Israel with water - there is one in nearly every fold of the hills in the valley. In the summer they are reduced to arid stream beds and it is difficult for the casual visitor or the tourist to realise just how quickly they can become torrents after rain. It is rather frightening to see the water come boiling over the edge of a two or three meter deep ditch, often after only twenty minutes of rain.
This happened in April 2001, and several bridges and a good deal of road was completely washed away when two successive waves (each of them about 4 or 5 meters high) came down from El Hai in the mountains. Since then, considerable work has been done in the valleys, and a number of coffer dams have been built up in the hills to contain as much of this flood water as possible. It is rather odd to see them in dry country but nobody who has seen one of these waves of water finds it funny. The disturbing thing is that there is no warning whatsoever of these flash floods, perhaps light drizzle at Petra, perhaps no rain at all. When you are visiting Petra in a temperature of over 30°C, it is difficult to realise that Wadi Mousa is regularly cut off from the outside world by snow in the winter! the road to get there goes up to something like 1200 meters above sea level, which is higher than Salzburg! Not so very long ago, the water tank lorry had to be called in to haul the Jett bus out of a snowdrift. The same year, after the road was blocked for three successive days, the tourists were finally evacuated from the village by helicopter. The tourists complained bitterly, everybody wanted to take photographs of Petra in the snow. They were partially soothed by the realisation that Petra was closed and would remain so for a while, and by the helicopters taking a wide turn over the site for a "photo opportunity" on their way out. Source: Ruth's Jordan - http://www.jordanjubilee.com/meetfolk/wadimusa.htm |
When you are at the Visitors' Centre, look up at the hills around. You will realise that the site of Petra is right at the bottom of a great basin, and that all the water that falls on the surrounding hills runs down through the valley and to the Siq. This can be an awful lot of water. It cascades down to the half dozen stream beds that run through the Valley, gathering more water from the roads and tracks and is all funnelled down to the same place. Occasionally there is no rain at all in Wadi Mousa itself when this happens, the water comes from rain falling in the heights around, sometimes twenty or even thirty kilometers away.