Being that small it is very easy to go around Jordan and enjoy the fascinating landscapes, in Jordan you can be in the middle of a forest and in less than one hour you can be in the middle of a desert, or from a thousand meters above sea level to 390 m. below sea level, you can even enjoy swimming in the warm Dead Sea in a cold winter day with heavy rains in Amman half an hour away.

Dead Sea: The lowest point on earth, 410 m. below sea level, loosing the average of one meter a year, it is half an hour drive from Amman, has some resorts and a public beach, it is warm in winter and hot in the summer, some wadis bring water into the extra salty sea from the mountains, one of which is Wadi Mujib, a nice walk against the current in a canyon full of water, Wadi Mujeb is a nature reserve run by RSCN, and has a new camp site, www.rscn.org.jo. Around the Dead Sea are many biblical site, one of which is the baptism site on the river Jordan.

The water level in the Dead Sea dropped from 390 metres below sea level in the 1960s down to 420 metres below sea level at present and will be 450 metres below sea level by 2040, if the trend continues, the report states.

Altitude difference:
Amman is at 700 meters above sea level. The finish line at DS shore is at 390 meters below sea level

One of the lowest points on earth, whilst we were at the Dead Sea beach at the Holiday Inn, we were over 390 metres BELOW sea-level. Check out my GPS below!

METHOD: The ATP level and the activities of hexokinase (HK), phosphofructokinase-1 (PFK-1) and pyruvate kinase (PK) in red blood cells (RBC) were measured in 50 school students 6-12 yr of age in the Jordan Valley (JV) which is the lowest region below sea level in the world (low altitude: 390 m below sea level, hyperoxic and with an average daily value of 796 mmHg barometric pressure) and in 50 school students of the same age group in Irbid region (normal altitude: 600 m above sea level and with an average daily value of 600 mmHg barometric pressure). The same parameters were measured also in 40 school students at sea level. RESULTS: A significant decrease in HK and PFK-1 activities and an increase in ATP level in the low altitude region, while no significant change in PK activity in JV-group when compared to Irbid and to the sea level control groups. Possible explanations will be discussed to interpret these observations.