Jordan lies at the junction of the three Old World continents, and on the paths of birds migrating from the winter cold of Europe and Asia towards the milder climes of Africa. Just before the setting of the sun on the Mediterranean, lies a country of varied soils, with a limpid dry sunny sky, bathed in colours that change from season to season, from dawn to dusk.

Jordan is a country on the westernmost edge of the fertile Mesopotamian Crescent, on the fringes of the Arabian Desert. Its greatest length, from Yarmouk in the north to the gulf of Aqaba in the south is but 380 kilometres (236 miles), and its greatest width, from the River Jordan to the Iraqi border hardly measures 340 kilometres (211 miles). Four million people live within its 89,544 square kilometres (34,342 square miles, roughly the size of Scotland, Portugal, or Maine). Over one third of the inhabitants live on the hills of Amman, the capital. Aqaba is Jordan's only maritime port, and is located in the southernmost tip of the country, at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. With a Mediterranean, semiarid climate in the north and west, it is arid to super-arid in the east and south. Jordan has strong seasonal contrasts. It is cold in winter, dry and hot in summer. The country has little water; nevertheless, the cities adore their jasmine, and the villages bless their olive groves.

Jordan, a country that has played a significant role in the history of mankind, may be divided into three large regions: the rift, the highlands and the desert. The Rift Valley, flanked by two mountain ranges with steep, rocky slopes, runs from the north-western Lake Tiberiade region of the country, to the Gulf of Aqaba in the south. It is part of the Great Syrian-African Rift, extending from northern Syria, passing through the Dead Sea and ending in eastern Africa. Some 30 million years ago the Arabian peninsula began to break away from Africa, starting a slow move to the north and to the east. The earth first rose on the east side of the rift, then on the western flank. This movement continues still today in what is modern-day Jordan, and has created a natural region of great interest with three distinct areas: the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea and the Wadi Araba. The River Jordan springs from the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges, and flows through Lake Tiberade and into the Dead Sea. Citrus trees and tropical vegetation line the 100 kilometre long, steep-sloped valley, making this valley one enormous, natural greenhouse. The Dead Sea is the lowest point on Earth, 408 metres (1209 feet) below the level of the Mediterranean Sea. Mud from the salty lake waters is used in the treatment of certain skin diseases. The Wadi Araba, lies south of the Dead Sea. It is a flat bottomed valley covered by sand dunes, and leads southwards to the Gulf of Aqaba.

Rising up east of the River Jordan are the high limestone and sandstone hills, marked by four canyons carved by the Yarmouk, the Zarqa, the Moujib and the Hasa streams. If you head up the wooded crests of the Ajloun, between the Yarmouk and the Zarqa, you will get a glimpse of the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Over to the east, lies the city of Jerash. Between the Zarqa and the Moujib are the Balqa highlands, then come the hills of Amman, and further south, the fertile plain of Madaba. Between the Moujib and the Hasa rivers you will encounter the arid, sandstone foothills that harbour the abandoned city of Petra.

The desert covers four-fifths of Jordan's territory. The desert is black in the north-east (due to the basalt); grey and stony in the east and south-east (punctuated with the ruins of Omayyed castles), and multicoloured in the south (with its outcropped granite rocks).