Travel Guide Azraq

As you approach Azraq, about 100 kilometers east of Amman, the signs read "Border with Saudi Arabia: 50 kilometers", "Border with Iraq: 230 kilometers". In the days of camel travel, the city of Azraq was an essential stop for caravans and pilgrims on their way to Mecca or Baghdad. In this desert, the city also owed its prosperity to a providential oasis, the only palm grove in the kingdom, a refuge for migratory birds. Unfortunately, fate decided otherwise: in the early 1980s, the Jordanian government began pumping water to meet the needs of the inhabitants of Amman and Irbid. Exploited beyond reason, the Azraq marshes are practically dry. Many inhabitants have fled a growing drought, and within a generation the oasis has all but disappeared. What remains is a modest nature reserve of 12 km2, where a few birds still fly by.The city is, on the other hand, still an important road junction. Huge trucks, which have now replaced camels on the Aqaba-Iraq or Amman-Northern Saudi Arabia axis, drive through the town, spreading their smelly black fumes. Azraq is not a pleasant city. But for tourists, it is mainly used as a stopping point during the visit of the desert castles. The city itself is home to a castle, Qasr al-Azraq, where Lawrence of Arabia stayed. On the outskirts of the city, there is a camp for Syrian refugees