Eco Tourism at the Al Numeira Environmental Association

The Al Numeira Environmental Association is delighted to announce the beginning of a new Eco Tourism project, organising local tours for nature lovers from around the world. Our goal is to promote environmental education and local eco tourism in the region of South Ghour, which has, until now, received little attention from the central authorities. For this reason, the Association has resolved to take responsibility for the region’s natural resources and to use them safely and sustainably for the benefit of the local community. The Association strives to introduce visitors to the region’s natural sites, including the surrounding wadis and the Dead Sea. In this way, the Association draws attention to the most pressing environmental issues in the region and suggests sustainable solutions for them. Through their Eco Tourism, the Association also contributes to the economic development of the local community through organising visits to families who provide traditional food made from local produce. To date, we are proud to have organised two trips during February, and to have welcomed around thirty people to the region. The trips included visits to sink holes, which have appeared beside the Dead Sea due to the shrinking water level. The visitors learned about the danger that these holes pose to the surrounding communities. In addition, they were told about agricultural methods used in the Jordan Valley through meeting a farmer from the area and attending a tour of the Association’s center where they saw, first hand, the programs that the Association is working on, including the gray water system and rainwater harvesting as well as the center’s sustainable garden and ecological lodgings. We also visited one of the village families who provided us with food produced from the centre’s sustainable garden and a traditional night on the family’s roof with shisha, fire and folk music, allowing the visitors a glimpse of the habits and traditions of the village community. After spending a night in the Association’s environmental mud huts, we set off the next morning to Numeira Valley to enjoy tthe breathtaking natural scenery of the valley’s unique pathway which closely resembles the Siq of Petra.