AZRAQ RESERVES, JORDAN

NEW STEPS Travel & Tourism

Licensed by the Ministry of Tourism

Phone: + 961 4 713 467
                       Phone: + 961 4 716 649                        Phone: + 961 4 716 467

E-mail: [email protected]

 

Azraq Reserve

اللغة العربية     Version fran�aise

SPECIAL RATES  Book now,  pay on check out   DISCOUNT UP TO 70%      

Room Type

 Special Rates

Azraq Lodge

 

Standard Single Room

140 $

Standard Double Room

140 $

Standard Triple Room

170 $

Extra Bed

180 $

CONDITIONS

HOW TO MAKE A RESERVATION AT THE BEST RATES:

To make a reservation, please send full names of passengers, nationality, your telephone number, check in date, arrival time, check out date, room type by e-mail to:

[email protected]

Your request will be processed very shortly: from 1 to 8 hours if your request reaches us at night!

For phone booking or last minute booking, please call:

00961 4 713 467 or  00961 4 716 467 or 00961 4 716 649

DESCRIPTION

The Reserve of Azraq was established in 1978. It is located in the eastern desert and covers 12 square kilometers

To get there isn't easy. You just about have to have a car, at the time of writing this, no public transport goes anywhere near Azraq. There used to be a bus from Zarqa north of Amman, but my information is that this service no longer exists. If you head east out of Amman with a rental car you pass the other best known "Desert Castles" of Qasr Hraneh and Qasr Amra on the road going through Muwaggar and arrive at Azraq at the junction with the main Baghdad Highway. The Nature Reserve is close to Azraq al Janubi, and perhaps 3kms from the Castle of Azraq.

The oasis of Azraq is probably the best known of the older reserves. The word Azraq means "blue" in Arabic and before water pumping began in the 1980s the oasis provided "a sparkling blue jewel" in the desert. Underground water flowing down from Jebel Druze in Syria surfaced here and the slightly older guide books speak of it as a marsh that sheltered up to half a million migrating birds at any one time. In recent years this changed drastically as the towns of Irbid and later Amman drew heavily on the water here and by 1994 the marsh was all but destroyed. However more recently still an alternative source of water has been found in the aquifer of Dissieh and water is gradually being pumped back into the marsh.

A six million dollar restoration scheme was funded and implemented with help from the United Nations Development Programmed (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility, a member of the World Bank Group and over 160 species of birds have already returned to the wetland. Last year it was estimated that 347,000 birds were to be found in the marsh. The area now offers homes to water buffaloes, blue-necked ostriches, Nubian ibexes, and countless varieties of dragonflies.

Board walks and bird hides have been built to enable visitors to see and enjoy this green area in the heart of the desert.

There is a centre for visitors offering tourist information. There is also a rare archaeological site nearby : a dam dating from the Umayyad period. The lodge located outside the reserves near South Azraq contains a common room with a fireplace, and 5 private two -room bungalows. For booking and for all other information on Azraq and Shaumari reserves you should get in touch with the Azraq Lodge: Tel/Fax. +962.5.383.5017

The entrance fee for Azraq Reserve is 2JD or 3JD if you also want to visit Shaumari.

The RSCN organises tours as follows of Azraq and Shaumari Reserves, the price is 1JD per person if there are 10 people in the group, or 10JD for the group (to Be shared between the visitors) for a group of less than 10 people. I quote from their brochure :

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