I travelled into the remote deserts of eastern Jordan in search of a vanishing oasis that once teemed with life. And to learn how conservationists are clawing this wetland back from the engulfing sands. Driving east from Amman, the sun beating down on the dark tarmac,...
Discover the unusual story of Jordan’s ‘panhandle’, a cartographical curiosity in the far eastern desert borderlands between Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The empty highway led northeast from Azraq. Leaving behind the sparse palms and military...
I travelled deep into Jordan’s eastern deserts in search of Winston’s Hiccup, a cartographical anomaly supposedly drawn by drunken statesmen which defined the Middle East’s modern borders. The road was long. The tarmac was scorching hot. And the...
From ancient mosaic maps to crumbling Byzantine ruins, discover the best things to do in Madaba, Jordan’s surprising Christian city. Located some 30 kilometres south-west of Amman, the Jordanian capital, Madaba is one of the Middle East’s most intriguing...
Discover the King’s Highway, an ancient trade route which could be the world’s oldest continuously used road. Here’s what happened when I road tripped its surviving fragments in modern-day Jordan! The King’s Highway is one of the oldest continuously used roads...
Discover the story of the Hejaz Railway, an audacious Ottoman-era plan to unite the Middle East, and how it could soon be resurrected. The Hejaz Railway was the most ambitious engineering project the Ottoman Empire ever embarked on. Intended to link...
Discover the complex history of Amman, as I embark on a foodie tour of the Jordanian capital with Omar from 3J Expeditions. Welcome to Amman, Jordan, a city where history, identity, politics and cuisine intertwine like no other city I’ve visited in the world. I...
Discover the curious case of Bir Tawil, a trapezoid of land in the Nubian Desert between Egypt and Sudan that could be the world’s last ‘Terra Nullius’. The Egyptian-Sudanese border is a geopolitical anomaly, filled with territorial disputes,...
Discover the unusual case of Puntland, a Somalian breakaway territory that hit the headlines thanks to none other than Donald Trump (who else?). The world is filled with contested borders, breakaway states and geopolitical oddities. For those of you intrigued by...
From Babylonian boundary stones to the extensive engineering works of the Roman Empire; here are 10 ancient borders that shaped the world. Borders are a constant in human history. The human story is one of boundaries. Of division. Of a search for definition and...
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