Hitch hike Kings Hwy to Mujib/Kerak/Musa

Hitch if you like, but you must be prepared to pay (and often insist on paying a fair rate - at least as much as the bus fare). It's simply not acceptable for a tourist to go freeloading around the country, expecting free lifts. Whether anyone will let you pay is not the issue: you must offer.

Logistically, it's unlikely you'd be able to do it in a day. Local drivers seeing a tourist hitching by the side of the road - especially on busy routes out of Madaba or Karak - are likely to think (with justification) "Why can't he get the bus like everyone else?" They don't necessarily know there isn't a bus all the way through - they'll think you can just hop a series of village-to-village buses (which you can do, bar a couple of stretches). Then they'll think you're either a freeloader or someone suspicious or you've got an ulterior motive.

Wadi Mujib - the highway runs through the gorge - down one side & up the other.

Karak is on the highway - it's a major city. ('Highway' is misleading: it's just a regular country road, broken and potholed in places, sometimes narrow, always rural, often quiet and empty.)

You need to get yourself a map and a good guidebook, my friend, to figure things out a little clearer. These are long distances: it's around 2-3hrs drive direct nonstop Karak-Wadi Musa (there's another giant gorge in the way).

Thanks ruffgyder... yes a map is certainly on the horizon.

I understand completely about paying a fare... I've read Ruth's bit on hitch hiking and appreciate the fact that freeloading is a no go... I would be paying anyway!

My only reason for the thought of hitch hiking is it might be easier to visit some sites a long the way... I'd be happy to catch a bus but as I understand it they don't really stop off and the places I want to go. Or if I got off I'd be stuck?
It's not the money aspect (although a taxi is probably out of my price range).

Anyway, thanks again I might have to have a look at a map and your right some books certainly could help - I'll go from there.

John

I would just like to re-iterate what was said above and add that Madaba,
Karak and Wadi Araba are 3 of the poorest areas in Jordan. Many living under
the absolute poverty level.

An offer of the bus fare would be slightly insulting I think since its about 30p for
any of the trips you might take. A more appropriate gesture since money is not an
aspect would be to offer a couple of dinars depending on how far they take you.
Madaba to Dhiban alone takes around 40 minutes and Dhiban to Wadi Mujib 5
minutes, Wadi Mujib to Karak Castle 35 minutes as its a narrow winding road.
So you can get the jist of the distances and decided what to offer. Regular buses
operate on the Madaba-Dhiban route.

People will be willing to give you a lift in these areas and will refuse when you offer
money. However, insist and if they don't take it place the money on the seat when you get out. This is a bedouin area and they will feel extremely shameful and embarrassed
to take money. However, believe me they really need it and the whole area is suffering
greatly from rising costs and many families face tremendous difficulties.

Madaba to Wadi Musa will set you back a minimum of $100 in a taxi one way - so
if you fork out $40 along the way, and compare it with what you might pay back home
you will find its a bargain, as well as helping the people too.

Another option is to take the mostly daily bus from hotel Mariam at Madaba. They stop at the Lookout of Wadi Mujib and at Karak Castle for about one hour. Not much, but if you're really short in time, that might be an option for you. Arrival at Wadi Musa is as far as I heard around 4 or 5 pm. If you have more time, go as the others told you, it works that way (at least did with me...)

Hate to kill the romantic notion of socializing with a friendly beduin driver who rattles down the road in his 1950s pick-up (with a few goats in the back), then saving him from starvation by stuffing a few dinars into a crack of the seat...

...but quite a few cars along the route will be driven by foreign tourists or (much more likely) middle-class Jordanians! The cars may have in them snobbish VIPs, whole families (no free seat...), businesspeople, or young urban blokes going for a ride. A lot depends on which day of the week you go, and on the time of the year. (Jordanians love to picknick on Fridays, often right by the side of major roads, but of course not in winter.) Some types or road users will be happy to give you a ride, others hopeless. And wether you pay them at the end is really a matter of common sense (offering to all is undoubtedly an appropriate strategy).

Walking up (or even down) Wadi Mujib is not a great idea. The road is long and winding. This is not a narrow canyon or valley, it's really a bit like the Grand Canyon, where getting down or up means covering a distance of many km. Of course you could hike along paths, but that will keep you busy for a whole day.

Never forget to figure the length of daylight into your plans. It gets dark very early in winter!

ruffgyder, this kind of anti-hitchhiking nonsense shows just how far Lonely Planet has fallen from its days as a useful resource for budget travelers. I hitchhike extensively, about 20,000 kilometers a year, in all kinds of countries. While a handful of drivers have asked for money, most of them understand that a person trying to see the world by thumb cannot pay for every ride. If there is room in the car, they don't feel they are losing anything by giving you a lift. Often, they feel that they are gaining something from a chance to talk to a foreigner and hear his perspective. As a native English speaker, I've found that people think being able to learn the language from me during long drives very useful and possibly economically beneficial.

Hitchhiking in Jordan is nothing unusual and certainly doesn't invite scorn from the locals like "Why can't he just get a bus?" This is mainstream publisher guidebook FUD. Russian hitchhiking clubs do runs throughout the Levant on a fairly regular basis, and they universally report locals to be warm and helpful. On a budget of 5€ a day, they certainly can't pay, and locals understand how it goes.

#6 - I'm not anti-hitchhiking at all. I've done it myself, in Jordan and around the world. Just sounds like I'm a tiny eensy weensy bit more culturally (and economically) aware than your good self.

Freeloading off some of the poorest people on the planet in order to bring them the joy of a conversation in English. Real nice.

ruffgyder, "freeloading" suggests that one is depriving someone else of a limited resource. If there is room in the car, and the driver is aware that the hitchhiker cannot pay but stops anyway, the hitchhiker is not depriving him of anything.

No, you don't seem to be aware of much. If you knew what the AVP has been up to in that area, you'd realize how ridiculous your post above was.

Buffy i certainly didn't suggest stuffing a few bucks in anyone's crack - thank you very much! What I suggested was a mere honourable gesture of offering a contribution
towards the petrol.

Chris I see where you are coming from with the "if there's room in the car" etc but this
is more applicable in the developed world where people can afford to carry freeloaders
and enjoy their company or language lessons - but to adapt that theory to an area where people really are poverty stricken and expect them to shoulder the transportation costs of
Russian hitchhiking clubs because they exist on 5 Euro per pay is absurd - really.

Yes Arabs are generous to the point of stupidity sometimes - but does that mean people should take advantage of that ? Should people who live on 5 euros per day really expect people who live on a lot less to subsidise their holiday (yes holiday) something these people have never actually had in their life - as someone mentioned earlier - a picnic along the side of the road is about his limit.

Chris, hitch-hiking in Jordan is certainly NOT NORMAL and if locals pick up foreigners they assume they don't know where the bus is or have missed it or whatever - they don't think that they need to save 30p or whatever, and therefore give a lift from the kindness of their hearts.

I can confirm that Ruffgyders knowledge of Jordan is much like a natives'. His facts are always exact and his advice is always correct and up to date - well the postings I have read are. Maybe the truth hurt somewhat, and you are thinking of the good ol' 60's or something. What's the AVP ? another bunch of hitch-hikers ? Maybe thats why the
area is so poor . . lol !