Kufr Malek to Al-’Auja

Experience one of the most stunning valleys in the area and admire its natural richness.

Following a small road from Kufr Malek, the trail zigzags down a hillside riddled with the remains of Roman cisterns and graves on its way to the Ein Samia Valley. After reaching the valley, the trail crosses a larger paved road and continues past fields of zaatar before following a path out of the valley bottom past the remains of an old Byzantine-era church.

After crossing a ridge, the path drops down into Wadi al-’Auja, a deep, rugged wadi that runs from Ein Samia (Samia Spring) down to Ein al-’Auja (Al-’Auja Spring) in the Jordan Valley. Wadi Al-Auja is home to an impressive array of plant life as it descends from the higher elevations of the Palestinian highlands to a point around 50m below sea level at Ein al-Auja, a popular, local picnic spot.

From Ein Al-Auja, the trail follows the wadi and ancient Roman aqueducts, used divert water from Ein al-Auja to Jericho, past the ruins of a Byzantine church, and onto the Al-Auja Bedouin community.