Mofleh Bdoul grew up in the ancient city of Petra , scrambling up the rocky slopes along with herds of goats amid the ruins of tombs and temples. But over the years, he has seen his home transform from remote hinterland into a tourist attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.
Now Mofleh is one of just a handful of Bedouins from the Bdoul tribe still living inside the historic site. Although his cave on the back side of Jebal Habis, or Prison Mountain, is just a five-minute climb from the main tourist drag, it feels far removed. Outside the caveβmore spacious than the apartments of many city-dwellers and with windows drilled into the stone for lightβMofleh constructed a walled terrace with a garden of flowering shrubs where he welcomes visitors for tea.
In the winter, the rain waters the plants; in the summer, he hauls water up from a restaurant in the tourist area. A Jordanian flag stands sentinel over the canyon below. If you have problems, you forget them quickly. Traditionally, the Bedouins lived off goat herding and small-scale farming. Many, including Mofleh, also found work on archeological digs and in the tourism industry.
He gestured at a hillside across the canyon. Sometimes the meeting of cultures led to romance, as it did for Mofleh. He married a Swiss woman, had a daughter, and for a while split his time between Switzerland and Petra. Upon further thought and counting on his fingers, the number rose to eight. Reactions to the resettlement were mixed. Many, especially families with children, liked being closer to schools and hospitals. According to Mofleh, before the construction of Um Sayhoun, there were about families living inside Petra; now there are around 10, and he is the only one left in the center of the park.
Like most of the Bdoul, Mofleh relies on the tourist economy. The number of visitors to Petra grew gradually after the World Heritage designation, but skyrocketed after with the signing of a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan.
