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Petra and its little secret paths

Petra is one of these rare places in the world that you have the impression to know without ever been to before. There is the Petra of Hollywood, the one that Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) and his father (Sean Connery) discover, riding, in the Steven Spielberg's movie, "Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade". Or the Petra of Tintin with the Khazneh temple, drawn by Hergé in a scene from "Coke en stock".
There is also, for sure, the touristy Petra, the one that the groups discover between the Siq, the Khazneh and the royal temples in less than three hours, constantly rushed by a disillusioned guide. But above all, there is also the Petra with its small forgotten paths, its secret canyons and its discreet temples. Even if you have already seen the famous picture of the rocky facade of the "Treasure" or the Kazneh ones being discovered between two narrow rocks; starring, for real, at this place coming from the ancient world in the rising sun remains an unbelievable experience.
Principal monuments of Petra are concentrated on a site of 40km2, but the Nabateans have sculpted the mountain on a ten times more important surface ! There is nothing easier for an independent traveller to skip away from the classical tours and to find himself alone, deeply moved, in front of these forgotten and desert temples. The ideal to discover this secret Petra is to choose a Bedouin "Bdoul" guide. Until 1985, this tribe used to live in the ruins of Petra and let its goats graze freely in it. Chased and relocated in the village of Oum Seyhoun on the top of the site, they mostly live from tourism, renting horses, selling jewels and coloured-sand bottles. In their company, you will easily go and discover the Djebel Al Khubta, the rocky massif that dominates the gap of Petra. You will quickly walk in front of the royal tombs, magnificent but rarely visited. You will follow the course of the Wadi Mataha, far away from the crowd. The caves there used to shelter the ancient Nabatean forges. Walls are full of tombs, votive niches, cisterns and canals. The path, entirely carved into the rock is getting transformed into monumental and vertiginous stairs. Steps have been worn by centuries and processions that used to come along this way for sacrifices on the top of the djebel.
Agile as an ibex, Ali jumps from a rock to another. Bdoul Bedouin, born in the middle of the ruins of Petra, Ali knows every single tomb, and any secret canyon of the fabulous Nabatean city. Protected from the sun by his "keffieh", he gently touches the red sandstone of the walls and reads the history of his people on it.
The site of Petra was occupied since the VIth century BC by the Edomites, a people of the Old Testament, but the Nabateans have been the true
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