A couple of weekends ago we spent the night in a town named Azraq. Azraq means "blue" in Arabic and has a nature reserve that use to be a sparkling blue oasis. It was shelter to half a million species of birds and full of animals such as the water buffalo. By 1994 the marsh was almost all but drained by Amman and Irbid. Gradually water is being pumped back in and there are around 347,000 birds visiting now and they even transplanted water buffalo back into the marsh. We got about 20 feet away from a family of them.....
Brian was doing a photo shoot at the lodge nearby. It was a hospital back in the day and an architect he is doing a story on restored the place and added a separate structure for guests to stay (the bottom picture is of the new addition). They had several craft workshops where local women made a variety of traditional products and crafts. I added a picture of one of my favorite, which was an intricately painted Ostrich egg. The lodge was about 2 hours from Amman in the middle of the desert. We stopped at a castle on the way back but were not very impressed. It was a nice trip, especially because it was free, but I can safely say I see no need to go back there again.
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