Dana () is a village near the city of

Tafilah Tafilah (, ), also spelled Tafila, is a city with a population of 27,559 people in southwestern Jordan, located southwest of Amman. It is the capital of Tafilah Governorate. It is well known for having green gardens which contain olive and fig ...

, in the Feynan area in central-western

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

(

Tafilah Governorate Tafilah () is one of the governorates of Jordan, located about 180 km south-west of Amman, Jordan's capital. Tafilah Governorate is bordered by Karak Governorate to the north, Ma'an Governorate to the east and south, Aqaba Governorate to th ...

). It is situated on the edge of Wadi Dana, a large natural

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

, and has views over

Wadi Araba The Arabah/Araba () or Aravah/Arava () is a loosely defined geographic area in the Negev Desert, south of the Dead Sea basin, which forms part of the border between Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. The old meaning, which was in use ...

. It is host to

Dana Biosphere Reserve The Dana Biosphere Reserve (Arabic: محمية ضانا للمحيط الحيوي) is Jordan's largest nature reserve, located in south-central Jordan. Dana Biosphere Reserve was founded in 1989 in the area in and around the Dana village and ...

, one of Jordan's premiere nature reserves with

ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...

facilities. The modern village of Dana has been occupied for approximately 500 years. According to some sources, the village was built by Bedouins from

Hebron Hebron (; , or ; , ) is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the Hebron Governorate, the largest Governorates of Palestine, governorate in the West Bank. With a population of 201,063 in ...

, Palestine, who settled the area during the Ottoman period and were members of a tribe called Al 'Ata'ata."The Dana Project." ''The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature.'' 1990. vi
library.acorjordan.org/liberty/main.do
/ref> The perhaps 6,000 years of prior human occupation at the site included

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...

Edomite Edom (; Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomites appear in several written sources relating to the ...

Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

Nabataean The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu (present-day Petr ...

, and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

cultures, taking advantage of its easily-defensible topographical position, fertile soil, and water. Supposedly it preserves many aspects of Jordanian villages of the 19th century. The

Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature The Royal Society for The Conservation of Nature (RSCN) (الجمعية الملكية لحماية الطبيعة) is an independent voluntary organization that is devoted to the conservation of the county of Jordan's natural resources; it was ...

(RSCN) initiated a project to protect the nature surrounding the village and promote sustainable development and tourism ("revitalization"). Many of the families from Dana turn to the nearby village of Qadisiyya for access to more modern amenities. Dana is home to several hotels, including the RSCN Guest House and the Dana Hotel operated by Dana and Qadisiyah Local Community Cooperative.

Gallery

File:Mosque in Dana village, Jordan.jpg, Dana, mosque File:Dana village, Jordan 02.jpg, Dana, main street File:Dana Reserve 01.jpg, Dana Nature Reserve

Climate

See more

* Archival photographs of Dana from throughout the 20th century via the

American Center of Research The American Center of Research (ACOR) is a private, not-for-profit scholarly and educational organization. Based in Alexandria, Virginia, with a facility in Amman, Jordan, ACOR promotes knowledge of Jordan and the interconnected region, past an ...

Photo Archive: ** https://acor.digitalrelab.com/index.php?s=filter=place_name:Dana%20(Jordan) * An overview of the Dana

Biosphere Reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

via Wild Jordan, an initiative of the

: ** https://www.wildjordan.com/destinations/dana-biosphere-reserve
Dana Jordan Camping & Adventure
*

References

Populated places in Tafilah Governorate {{Jordan-geo-stub