Private Tour
Expedition to JAWA and Umm El-Jimal
Overview
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Mobile ticket
This is not a typical sightseeing tour—it’s a true off-road expedition into one of Jordan’s least explored regions. Designed for adventure seekers and history enthusiasts, the experience takes you far beyond the usual tourist routes into the remote basalt desert, where some of the country’s oldest and most mysterious archaeological sites remain largely untouched.
You will visit extraordinary locations such as Jawa, one of the earliest planned settlements in the region with one of the world’s oldest known water management systems, and the vast black-stone city of Umm El-Jimal, where you can walk freely through remarkably preserved ruins spanning multiple civilisations.
Combined with private 4×4 transport, a flexible pace, and the comfort of a fully personalised experience, this journey offers a rare opportunity to explore Jordan’s hidden past in a way that feels authentic, adventurous, and truly unforgettable.
Additional Info
Travelers should have at least a moderate level of physical fitness
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
What To Expect
Your journey begins with pickup from your hotel or residence in Amman, followed by a brief introduction and expedition overview. If you wish, we can make a short stop at Starbucks to pick up your favourite coffee before heading into the desert. We then travel north in a comfortable 4×4 vehicle equipped with Wi-Fi and phone chargers. Sit back and enjoy your coffee and selected snacks as we leave the city behind and enter Jordan’s remote landscapes. Complimentary bottled water and soft drinks are provided throughout the journey. The drive to our first stop takes approximately 2 hours (150 km).
Our first stop is Qasr Deir Al-Kahaf, a remote Roman-era outpost dating to the 4th century AD. Often referred to as the “Monastery of the Caves,” this atmospheric site once served as a frontier station overlooking the surrounding desert. Although only parts of the structure remain, the location itself—isolated and windswept—offers a powerful introduction to the region’s ancient past and sets the tone for the expedition ahead.
What‘s Included
Bottled water, soft drinks, snacks
Entrance fees
Coffee/tea (on request)
WiFi, Phone charger
Private luxury transfer
Professional on-site (local) guide, if avaliable. The price for their services usually $5 - $15
Personal expenses
Lunch
Pickup points
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Options
Expedition to JAWA and Umm El-Jimal
Pickup included
Reviews
1 review
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
This is the one.
Shannon D,Aug 22, 2022
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Alex is the best. He knows his stuff, is always on time, goes beyond the call of duty to take care of his clients. You forgot water? Alex has you covered. You need a bit of sugar to boost your energy? Alex is way ahead of you. You already bought a Jordan Pass? Alex will reimburse every entry fee he doesn't need to pay for you. The itinerary is very well designed and Alex is happy to take into consideration any physical limitations you may have, even if it is just because you hiked a little too hard the day before =) . What can I say about the sites we saw on this tour? Umm el-Jimal is unbelievably, hauntingly beautiful. My Jordan tour book says that the place can be a little bleak at first owing to every building being made of basalt blocks, but that it grows on you after a little bit of time exploring. I found that to be a completely perfect description of it. There are thousands of intriguing, even charming little aspects of the place as you walk, climb, even crawl around the buildings. These were homes and places of worship and businesses left almost entirely untouched for the past nearly fifteen hundred years. And the site is vast. My son and I immediately decided we would need at least two days to really explore the site on our next visit. Having said that, if you are not quite as super geeky about this as we are, you will also be able to see the main attractions here in the time allotted in the tour. There are a couple of other nice sites Alex stops at along the way, but the other main course is Jawa. What a place. Only fairly recently has it started to be recognized for the significance it holds. It's the oldest proto-urban site in Jordan with the oldest masonry gravity dam known in the ENTIRE WORLD. When you first get there it might not look like much is left to explore, and it has succumbed significantly to entropy in the past 5,500 years, but there is still a lot to see here. The site is littered with surface artifacts to see and marvel at. The dams are amazing in their ingenuity at a time before they even had bronze. Alex told us that we were only the second people to book this tour in the past year. That's unimaginable to me. These sites were some of the most beautiful and most emotionally powerful I saw on our whole visit to Jordan. If you are looking for a tour that takes you incredible places most, even other tour guides we spoke to, have never even heard of, this is the one.
Operated by Ancient Jordan