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FEATURES | AMMAN<br />
Right, the Dana Valley<br />
nature reserve. Previous<br />
page, the Siq canyon at<br />
the ancient city of Petra<br />
WHEN YOU THINK of eco-tourism you<br />
might dream of an Algarve eco-village,<br />
trekking in the Alps, or whale watching in<br />
Scotland. You probably wouldn’t think of<br />
a holiday in one of the world’s most waterpoor<br />
nations, where around 90% of the land<br />
is classifi ed as arid desert. But then I’ve been<br />
visiting Jordan for more than 15 years, and<br />
it still manages to surprise me.<br />
50 | TRAVELLER | MARCH 11<br />
The Middle East is coming late to the<br />
eco-tourism party. While showy Gulf<br />
destinations trumpet the latest mega<br />
scheme, little Jordan has been quietly<br />
getting on with developing environmentally<br />
friendly, sustainable tourism from the<br />
grass roots up. At the vanguard has<br />
been the country’s Royal Society for the<br />
Conservation of Nature, or RSCN.<br />
Founded in 1966 to regulate hunting, the<br />
RSCN campaigned throughout the 1970s<br />
and 1980s on behalf of the Arabian oryx,<br />
an endangered desert antelope brought to<br />
the edge of extinction by hunting. In the<br />
process it slowly transformed itself into an<br />
organisation of dedicated conservationists.<br />
Today the RSCN forms one of the<br />
region’s most determined and effective
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