In April 2009, 21 travellers accompanied John Tidmarsh for a three week journey through Jordan and Syria. This is now the fifth time that NEAF has run a tour to the Levant and the popularity of this region (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon) for NEAF tourists shows no sign of waning.
On this tour visits to the legendary cities of Damascus and Aleppo, to the spectacular remains of Petra and Palmyra, and to the awe-inspiring Crusader castles of Crac des Chevaliers, Kerak, and Shobak were combined with overnight stays and rambles in the wild and beautiful (and, inexplicably, often neglected) Jordanian nature reserves of Dana and Ajloun.