Leave No Trace لا تترك اثر!

“The notion that [outdoor] recreation has no environmental impacts is no longer tenable.”—Curtis H. Flather and H. Ken Cordell,Wildlife and Recreationists

Great tit tired of seeing our acts :)

People enjoy the outdoors in myriad ways. We explore on foot, 4X4, and mountain bicycles. There are more of us pushing our sports to greater extremes and into more remote parts of the natural world every day. Our experiences are personally satisfying, but they can be costly to the places we visit and the animals we observe. (LNT Desert and Canyon booklet)

يستمتع الناس بالمناطق البرية بالعديد من الطرق، فنحن نستكشف هذه المناطق سيرا على الاقدام، 4X4، او بالدراجات الجبلية. المزيد منا يقومون بتخطي الحدود و الوصول لمناطق لطالما كانت بعيدة المنال. تجربتنا في هذه المناطق عادة ما تتركنا مستمتعين و راضين عن إنجازاتها، ولكن ماذا عن اثر هذه التجربة على ألاماكن التي نزورها؟ و الحياة البرية التي نراها.

I believe it is time for a new adventure!

It has been almost two years since I came back from Africa. The first year went well, but the second year unfortunately didn’t go as planned, this doesn’t mean it was bad, but it needed a stop and a look to change the plans for a better one.

I believe traveling is another addiction I am getting dragged in (considering the first to be Adventure and Outdoors), and so I believe it is time to hit the road again.

Wilderness First Aid - Hike Safe!

In outdoors you should always be ready for the unexpected. In an extreme environment with many parameters out of control, accidents may happen. And then you will need to be prepared as a trip leader to provide the help and care for people who become ill or injured far from definitive medical care, and only using the limited resources Available.

The minute the guide accepts a participant to be in his group, he takes all the responsibility for bringing him back safe. In general, few simple acts of first Aid can make a difference between life and death, the lack of understanding these acts can put everyone in the outdoor group in danger.

Birding and Bird Guiding in Jordan

We’re down the end of the winter season. For birds the spring migration has begun and that means it’s peak season for bird-watching.

Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity in their natural environment either by naked eyes or with the help of a visual enhancement device –binoculars-, or even by listening to the birds’ calls and songs.

Hoopoe - Upopa epopos. Photo by: Osama Tamimi

Birding has become a truly international pastime, inspiring an increasing number of enthusiasts to travel the world in pursuit of rare and exotic species, often in fragile ecosystems.

Jordan is an exceptional place for birdwatching. Its geographical position means that it is a hub for migratory species from Europe, Africa and Asia. The birdlife of all three continents pass through Jordan twice a year on their passage between seasonal habitats and sometimes it is possible to see specimens from each at the same time.

During the period 28^th February to 7^th March Baraka have conducted the first phase of the first Jordanian Certified Bird Guiding Program that aims to train and certify specialized bird-watching guides capable of leading dedicated international birding groups accordance with international best practices. This is in a step toward developing the birding and nature tourism in the country.

The First Specialized Training in Nature Guiding

A photo of the participants in the Nature Guides Training course

The RSCN held the first specialized training for their Nature Guides last Sunday (5-1-2014) as part of the building capacity for their employees in order to provide the guests with the best experience possible.

The training was delivered by Four FGASA (Filed Guide Association of South Africa) Guides (Osama Cori, Osama Al-Smadi, Abdulla Abo-Rumman, and Nadia Al-Aloul) who have spent a year studying Nature Guiding In Eco-Training Academy, South Africa.

This Course was a first of its kind in the region, covering an introduction to the intended skills needed for a guide to build the best experience for his guests, and covering the basic knowledge that the guide need to possess to be able to interpret the environment to his guests. The training where build through over 6 months during which the four guides were working on developing a training curricula similar to the South African one but well fitted to the needs of the region.