DISCOVER JORDAN"S ANCIENT MYSTERIES

Saleh smiles out across Jordan's vast Dana Valley, great shoulders of rock thundering towards a dust-swallowed horizon, and sees a story.
"Some people read nature," he says pointing to the torn edge of sky in the distance.
"You can read it from over there, page by page, all the way to the title here where we are standing. And when you finish, you feel very clear."
We are perched high above the valley in the wild, magnificent Dana Nature Reserve, peering west across the dramatic swoop of the landscape towards the distant horizon where Jordan, possibly the world, comes to an end.
If this was a novel, it would be a grand, epic drama covering several generations and a war; something to read in a few weeks and remember for a lifetime.
Jordan's story is certainly complex. Positioned at the crossroads of inter-continental trade routes, it has been an important conquest in the little black book of many an ambitious empire. All the big hitters of the ancient world - Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Persians and finally the British - ruled here at one time or another.
Today, Jordan is an oasis of calm in a region racked by bitter, violent dispute. It is encircled by instability - with Iraq on its north-east border, Israel and the Palestinian territories to the west and Syria in the north.
The extraordinary geography of this country has its own story, which cannot be told without reference to water.
Twenty million years ago, shifting tectonic plates created a vast geological fissure that extends southward from the Jordan Valley through the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea.
Water covering much of the country was swallowed into the fractured earth, exposing this former seabed to the sun.
And while no visitor to Jordan would consider their trip complete without enjoying the aquatic delights of the Dead and Red Seas, the country is also desperately water poor. Its current consumption of about 200,000 litres of water per person per year compares with around 900,000 in Syria and 1.65 million in the United States.
This sobering statistic encouraged me to keep my showers brief at Dana's wonderful Rummana Campsite.
The 76,000-acre reserve is home to about 600 species of plants, 37 species of mammals and 190 species of birds across its three climatic areas, and is the perfect place to discover the wilder side of Jordan.
Arriving after a sumptuous lunch at the Dana Guesthouse, where my senses were caught in a delightful tug-of-war between the mouth-watering array of locally-produced cuisine and jaw-dropping views, I travelled with a small group to the campsite.
The 'Dana Shuttle' is the only vehicle allowed to make the winding journey to the remote plateau with its cluster of sail-white tents surrounded by serene red mountains.
Strict rules laid down by Jordan's Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature ensure the environment is protected - happily they also give Rummana's guests a sense of utter seclusion.
Our host is Saleh, a Bedouin whose eloquence is matched by his evident enchantment with the place where his family has lived for generations.
He takes me on a short hike, rich with observations: the rock to climb for the best views; the onion-like plant favoured by local hedgehogs; a badger sett; the paw print of a lynx in the dust.
A long black snake spotted during the evening meal provides a shiver of excitement, but deters no-one from a long night around the campfire.
"The Bedouin love in the most painful way," says Saleh, as a fat moon climbs across the sky.
"It is like you had a fire inside, and that fire is surrounded by ice."
He tells us he could never tire of living in Dana.
"Its secrets are endless," he says.
My next stop is another of Jordan's mysteries - the ancient city of Petra.
Built by the industrious Nabatean people, this legendary city once dominated the trading routes of ancient Arabia, sheltering caravans laden with Indian spices and African ivory in its streets, deep inside a narrow desert gorge.
Petra's wealth eventually attracted the wrath of Rome, and it was attacked and stripped of its power. Lost to Western history by the 16th century, a Swiss traveller named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt stumbled upon the ruins in 1812.
Walking through corridors of sheer rock - or siq - torn open in a prehistoric earthquake, I am struck with the otherworldliness of the place.
Two millennia of gentle erosion from the desert wind have brushed a startling array of colours into the sandstone, from soft puce to fiery ochre.
Suddenly, I find myself in a huge open courtyard facing the magnificent facade of Petra's Treasury carved into the cliff face. I half expect to see Indiana Jones leap from the entrance.
A steep climb in the murderous heat is rewarded by the ethereal Monastery - and a chilled drink at a mountain-top cafe.
My bed for the night awaits amid the whispering mountains of Wadi Rum, in south-west Jordan.
This is Lawrence of Arabia land: rugged, silent and awe-inspiring.
His own account, Seven Pillars Of Wisdom, went a long way to mythologising TE Lawrence and endowing him with a reputation as the English Bedouin.
Sceptical as I am, it is hard not to be impressed when, after more than an hour bouncing across the desert floor between huge, eerie sandstone and granite mountains, our guide points out the crumbling remains of a stone dwelling. Lawrence lived there for years, apparently.
He described Wadi Rum as "vast, echoing and godlike" and as the sun sets over our little camp, I begin to see what he meant.
Our host Mzied has given visitors a taste of traditional Bedouin camping for decades, and provides a many-course feast including the Jordanian speciality maqluba. His delicious casserole of meat, vegetables and rice is cooked in one pot and flipped onto a dish to serve, hence its name: "upside down".
After a few days' camping in Jordan's wild, arid interior, it is time to get my feet wet.
Heading south, I don a snorkel for an exploration of the Red Sea coral reef and potter happily around this colourful underwater garden for an afternoon, befriending a family of pink squid before coming up for air and a fish lunch.
My final destination is water of a less hospitable kind.
Circled by a glittering necklace of salt crystals, the Dead Sea is a cruel mirage in a country with such water problems. Dense with salt, you cannot drink it or swim in it, and the only creatures able to live in it are two hardy species of bacteria.
But why dwell on life's iniquities when you can concentrate on building a luxury tourist industry?
The new kid on the shoreline is the huge, elegant Kempinski Ishtar. With a chic spa and sumptuous waterfront terraces, this is Jordan at its lavish best.
Dead Sea mud is the real attraction, and my friends and I spend an entertaining hour slathering ourselves with the tar-like substance and baking in the sun, before wading into the water to wash it off.
You really cannot swim in the Dead Sea. Walking in, your legs are pushed from under you and you bob about like a cork.
As evening falls, I watch the sun set from an upstairs terrace, gin and tonic in hand. A tall plume of smoke rises from the far shore. Just a forest fire, I am told, but the proximity of the blaze to the twinkling lights of Jerusalem on the Israeli bank is a reminder of the desperate tensions that have plagued this region.
Conflict may be more than a minor character in Jordan's grand narrative, but its warm, sanguine people and extraordinary landscape are the real story.
TRAVEL FACTS
:: Kelly Macnamara was a guest of the Jordan Tourism Board and flew direct to Amman ex-Heathrow with bmi, which costs from £494 return. Regional connections to London ex-Aberdeen, Heathrow, Glasgow and Manchester from around £80 return.
BMI reservations: 0870 6070 555 and www.flybmi
Tour operator Exodus offers a nine-day Jordan trip to Petra, Wadi Rum, Red Sea and Dead Sea from £599, land-only price.
Exodus reservations: 0845 863 9600 and www.exodus.co.uk
Jordan Tourism Board enquiries: 020 7371 6494 and www.visitjordan.com
You can book most camping spots, including Dana, through The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature website (www.rscn.org.jo).
Contact Mzied for details of Wadi Rum camping (www.mzied.com).
:: For more information about the Kempinksi Ishtar, visit www.kempinski-deadsea.com.