Jordan: Sunday and Monday, September 12 and 13: Wadi Numeira, Zara Cliff Walk, Mai'in Hotsprings Waterfalls

After leaving Wadi Mujib we drove south to Wadi Numeira Siq Trail . It was truly beautiful--high canyon walls on either side with a hanging rock at the beginning of the trail, but we did not feel safe and it was covered with trash.  Much as I dislike commercialized places, this could use a little more commercialization.

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Beduoin camp outside Wadi Numeira

Next we stopped at the Dead Sea Museum. We toured the museum, ate lunch overlooking the Dead Sea and hiked the Zara Cliff Walk.

It takes a PhD to interpret this sign: When your children decide to go down the cliff, acquire a board for them and strap it on their back. Then they can decide whether to go down on their back or on hands and knees. 

We reached our final stop, the Ma'in Hotsprings Hotel, at three PM. It was a pretty fancy hotel. I'm generally not a 5 stars hotel person, but this one came with privileges to visit the hot springs that would have been much more difficult otherwise. It was pretty nice. Even the bathroom had a balcony, although I'm not really sure why anyone would want a balcony off the bathroom. The balcony off the other room was more useful since it had a table and chairs. And although the shower had hot water with sufficient water pressure which often doesn't happen with the cheaper hotels, we didn't really care since we spent most of our visit in hot water and even cold trickly water would have been fine.

View from our balcony: That's the Dead Sea in the valley

After we checked in we went swimming, first in the cold pool which wasn't exactly cold, only not hot. Next was the hot pool. There was a huge waterfall of very hot water coming down the mountain. They had diverted part of the water to their own waterfall coming down into a pool. Given that it was about 100 degrees outside, and the water was considerably hotter, we could only take small doses of it at a time. As the weather cooked slightly, the water did too, and we could stay in longer. Standing under the waterfall provided a strong massage. These were mineral springs, and we were told that for health we should stay in the water for a total of 2 to 4 hours. Between the afternoon and the next morning we achieved this. It's harder than you would think given how hot the water was.

The hotel waterfall next to its source, a larger waterfall--this is a few hundred feet west of the public waterfall.

The regular hotsprings are reserved for hotel guests in the morning. Not only is the temperature more felicitous, but they are not gender differentiated. This particular waterfall was from Roman times. Supposedly even Herod came here.

Behind the waterfall was a cave created by the Romans . the water inside was so hot that it created a sauna.

The sauna caves created by the Romans

Inside the Sauna from Roman Times

The Public Waterfall

The Public Waterfall

In the morning we hiked to the top of the waterfall, a steep hike followed by scrambling over rocks and through brush. There was a rough trail, really a surprise to have such a fun walk at a fancy hotel. Usually hikes in these kinds of places are more regulated.