Jordan – Gazing Upon the Land of Canaan from Mount Nebo

As a traveling documentary photographer accompanying a Christian pilgrimage group, I arrived in Jordan, where history lingers in the air. From the summit of Mount Nebo, I gazed westward at the land of Canaan, where ancient prophecies once unfolded. Along the journey, I captured fleeting moments—the Bedouin shepherd guiding his flock across the road, a young girl standing beside her donkey, watching us with quiet curiosity. Finally, I reached the banks of the Jordan River, at the very site where Jesus was baptized, observing the interplay of faith and the present world. This journey was not merely a religious pilgrimage, but an exploration of culture, history, and the echoes of time.

Arrival in Amman – The First Glimpse of Jordan

As the morning light grew stronger, our journey led us away from the airport and into the heart of Jordan’s rugged terrain. The road to Mount Nebo stretched ahead, winding through arid hills and scattered olive groves. The land was quiet, save for the occasional sight of a shepherd tending to his flock or a distant truck kicking up a trail of dust.

With each mile, the landscape shifted—villages appeared and faded, and the horizon remained vast and unbroken. As we ascended toward Mount Nebo, the air grew cooler, carrying a faint breeze that whispered of ancient stories. Soon, the summit came into view, standing solemnly against the sky, a place where history, faith, and legend converged.

Mount Nebo – The View of a Promised Land

Our first destination was Mount Nebo, a place steeped in legend. It was here, according to the Bible, that Moses stood and gazed upon the Promised Land, though he himself would never enter it.

The land stretched wide and endless, the wind pulling at our clothes as if to remind us of the vastness of history itself. Standing atop the ridge, I adjusted my lens, framing the distant haze where the land of Canaan met the sky. Today, that sacred expanse includes the West Bank and Israel, lands marked by conflict, faith, and the weight of human history.

Near the peak stands the Memorial of Moses, and beside it, a striking sculpture—the Brazen Serpent Cross, created by Italian artist Giovanni Fantoni. It represents the bronze serpent Moses raised in the wilderness to heal his people, a symbol that later intertwined with the Christian cross. As the sunlight filtered through drifting clouds, shadows danced across its surface, adding an almost mystical dimension to its form.

The Bedouin Shepherd and the Girl with a Donkey

As we descended from the heights of Mount Nebo, our bus came to an unexpected halt. A vast herd of sheep had wandered onto the road, guided by a lone Bedouin shepherd, his posture unchanging, his gaze focused.

This was a scene that could have been pulled from any century. His face was lined with the marks of the desert sun, his keffiyeh wrapped loosely around his head. The sheep moved slowly, dust rising in small swirls as they crossed our path. For a moment, time stood still.

Further along the road, in a small village, a young girl stood beside her donkey. She observed us with quiet curiosity, her dark eyes taking in our foreign presence. I lifted my camera and, in simple English, asked if I could take a photo. To my surprise, she responded fluently, nodding with a smile.

I snapped the shot. She stepped closer, pointing at my camera’s display, eager to see herself in the frame. I showed her, and she grinned, satisfied.

The Baptism Site at the Jordan River

By the time we reached the Jordan River, the afternoon sun had turned the landscape into a tapestry of gold and deep ochre. This was Bethany Beyond the Jordan, the site where John the Baptist baptized Jesus—a place where the sacred and the political now converged.

I had imagined a pristine river, something clear and flowing. Instead, the water was murky and slow-moving, carrying the color of earth. A group of pilgrims in white robes stood at the water’s edge, their hands clasped in prayer. Across the river, on the Israeli side, modern buildings rose beyond the trees. On our side, the golden dome of St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church shimmered under the sunlight.

It was a landscape of paradox—faith and geopolitics, history and modernity, myth and reality all colliding in one place.

Photography as a Bridge Between Time and Memory

Through the viewfinder, Jordan revealed itself as more than a land of pilgrimage. It was a crossroads of history, where the ancient and contemporary intertwined seamlessly. Mount Nebo’s panoramic sweep of time, the unchanging rhythm of Bedouin life, the sacred waters of the Jordan River—each image I captured became part of a larger narrative, a story written not just in scripture but in the lives of the people who still move through this landscape.

To document is not merely to see, but to seek an understanding. I am here not just to capture images, but to listen—to the wind over the desert, to the quiet exchanges of shepherds, to the footsteps of those who came before.

This is not only a land of faith, but a land of human stories, waiting to be recorded, retold, and remembered.