The biggest safety issues on the Trail are water and navigation. See those sections for more information.
Plan and prepare. We made sure we kept the JTA and local contacts we made informed of our whereabouts in case something did happen. If something does happen, don’t be afraid ask for help. The locals are incredibly kind.
People
Jordan is a relatively safe country and we have never experienced such kindness as we did on the Jordan Trail. The people make the trail.
Keep an eye on the news and take commonsense precautions.
Some people are really curious because they’re not used to hikers or camping, so we did have some people come up to our tent and say hello (even while we were sleeping). They just wanted to have a chat and/or offer us to stay at their house.
Dogs
If you are afraid of dogs the Trail might not be for you. Every other valley our arrival was greeted with barking and aggression from sheep dogs. Stray dogs were generally more gentle.
We mostly got used to it and threatening to throw rocks usually helped – and most never came within 10 meters. While we had no issues we have heard from two other hikers that were bitten.
Wildlife
On the entire trail, (besides dogs) we saw one harmless garden snake, one tiny scorpion and a frog. Obviously there may be more serious encounters.
Just remember, all wildlife can be unpredictable. One night, after a long long day where we combined 2 days of walking, we saw some strange shapes in the distance… camels!!! – they were right in our path in the narrow canyon – but they didn’t move. They let us pass and we continued on our way. They followed, so we walked a bit faster. They sped up as well. We continued on the path, they followed. We stopped, they stopped. We kept walking. Then one camel went into a full sprint and ran right into Anna, almost knocking her to the ground. While it probably just wanted to play Anna stopped feeling so comfortable around enormous wild animals after that.
Flash Floods
Flash flooding is a risk in Jordan.
While we were in Jordan two significant and tragic flooding events occurred.
Be especially careful of where you camp and keep an eye on the weather.
Terrain
The terrain is uneven, rocky and slips, trips and falls can occur.
There were a lot of rocky sections (make sure you have good soles on your shoes!). There were ups and downs on a daily basis. As mentioned, its not marked, there is no trail, and the surface can be loose.
There was some road walking (these bits were the worst) as well as sections of long flat meandering through Wadi’s and (the worst!) sand.
While the three Wadis were rated Difficult + by the JTA we took these carefully and they turned out to be in the top few days of hiking across the entire trail.
Danger can be in the eye of the beholder. The terrain and cliffs on the day of Mount Nebo felt the most treacherous (at least to us) especially one section where we were traversing a cliff side. This day was rated “Moderate” by the JTA.