Going into this trip there were a lot of hesitancy, even consideration of cancelling/rebooking to other destinations given the conflicts going on in the world.
For starters, the US has the following ratings for
Morocco: Level 2, Exercise increased caution
Exercise increased caution in Morocco due to terrorism.
Egypt: Level 3, Reconsider Travel
Reconsider travel to Egypt due to terrorism. Exercise increased caution in Egypt due to the Embassy’s limited ability to assist dual national U.S.-Egyptian citizens who are arrested or detained.
Jordan: Level 2, Exercise increased caution
Exercise increased caution in Jordan due to terrorism. Some areas have increased risk.
For sure Egypt and Jordan we had the most fear about. With both of these countries bordering the ongoing conflict Israel/Palestine, the fear of the unexpected dominates. It seems like a lot of people also share this fear. Egypt saw it miss the goal of visitors by 600,000 despite having one of the highest tourism years [1]. Jordan, on the other hand, saw massive drops, even as high as 80%+ in Petra [2]. While we didn’t see or feel any slowdown in Egypt, in Jordan, specifically the Dead Sea and Petra, it was very obvious.
The drive by the Dead Sea featured hotels with fairly empty parking lots, no traffic, barely any cars. Our 25$/night fairly decent hotel in Petra seemed to be completely empty with maybe one other person being in the entire hotel. When we started our hike at 6am (The Daia special, early bird gets the worm), we were the first ones on the trail with the attendant saying normally at this time there would be 50-100 people already lined up to get started. It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves but yet it felt very eerie.
I bring this all up because all of this is due to one concern. SAFETY.
So, did we feel safe in all these places? Yes. Yes we did.
Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan all had a lot of police presence everywhere especially around really popular areas. If you were practicing normal travel etiquette (don’t leave your phone hanging out or your wallet easily accessible) there wasn’t really a moment where we felt unsafe.
In Cairo, a funny moment occurred. During one of our tours there was a delivery driver on a scooter (think uber eats, etc.) blazing through the streets about to enter a walk only area. He didn’t realize the area was limited to only tourist foot traffic and boy did he face the wrath of the Egyptian police. 5-6 men rushed to yell at the motorcyclists to stop while he confusedly pulled out his phone to show the location is straight ahead. The policemen forcefully picked up his bike and turned it around shoving & hitting him in the back and telling him to get on his way out. There is no messing around. One security mishap and you can only imagine the impact on tourism. From the brief period we were out and about, both during late night (11pm+) and during the daylight, we always felt safe. Additionally, all locals we spoke with didn’t seem to have any concerns that they highlighted we should be extra careful about. I realize that one bad experience in any certain way will overlook any of my observations, but one should look at probability over 20million population (+8million that travel in and out weekly). Let that, and general good practices lead you.
Jordan also had quite a bit of police presence and A LOT of police checks. We opted to rent a car and we passed at least 10-15 police checks during our time there, only 3 times did we actually get pulled over. When we got flagged to pull over the police inspected our documentation and let us on our way. It was a bit crazy how close we got to the West Bank border but there was no signs that there is a conflict ongoing across the border. There was a time however, where we felt a bit uneasy. During our stay in Petra we noticed a lot of honking and a convoy of cars waving the Jordan flag, some folks peeling out and doing donuts on the road. This lasted for about 1-2 hours (see video below). We called to the reception to inquire and he said its due to the parliament elections (Happening early sept) It seemed like protesting but nothing different than some of the political convoys we have in the states. Once the convoy ended there was no more noise.
Overall traveling to all of these countries opened our eyes to the normalcy that still exists despite the ongoing war. Open any news site and there is an abundance of negative things going on all over the world which can easily paralyze your sense to explore, be it because of Mpox, or war, or whatever disease. If you look closely there is always something, somewhere going on that you can use as an excuse to not explore. Of course there are limits, but who shall define those limits?
'Til next time,
Adi
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