The Lanterns of the Enchanted Cave

The Lanterns of the Enchanted Cave Parent and Teacher Guide

One of the most enjoyable things for students in schools is going on recreational and cultural trips to various places.

In the Lanterns of the Enchanted Cave, the reader will experience a school trip to the forests of Barqash in northern Jordan, which includes an exciting adventure full of dangers and difficulties, undertaken by the members of the Makhlouta group after much planning and arrangement among them, especially when Jad tells them about a legend of buried treasure hidden by aliens in one of the caves of the Barqash forest.

While wandering through the forest, they discover a mysterious path between the trees and decide to walk through it, hoping that it will lead them to the cave. With a lot of courage and wit, the gang manages to unravel the mystery of the enchanted cave and its luminous lanterns, and succeeds in saving their friend Karam from the cave guards who would have eventually turned him into a jellyfish.

Barqash Forests, is located in the north of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, within the Ajloun mountain range. And specifically to the south in the province of Irbid in the province of Koura, and is famous for the forests of Burqsh Tal Barkash, which rises about 875 meters above sea level.

The Cave of Barqash is a famous and very important cave in the Barqash forests, estimated at 4 million years old. It is the only known natural cave in Jordan, with an estimated area of 3 to 4,000 square meters.

The cave consists of a number of cavities and long narrow rocky paths linked to each other in intricate nets. These can sometimes be 100 meters or more in length, with the usual stalagmites and caves, some of which are about 170 cm in length.

The cave is located 20 to 30 meters below the surface of the earth and within a rock mass of 50 to 60 meters in height, from 20 meters to 20 meters, and separated from the adjacent road leading to the forest 150 meters away. The back cave was discovered for the first time in 1995, it was not known before that time.

When discovered, the entrance was a narrow, half-meter-long, rocky, three-meter-long rocky corridor, but several years later, in 2003, the authorities blocked part of the wall of the corridor so that it could become wide and passable. It is likely that this passage in the past prevented people from entering this cave or dwelling inside it, thus maintaining its natural structure.

Questions for discussion

• What are the major tourist attractions in your country?
• List some of the characteristics of forests? Where on the globe are forests most common?
• List some types of animals that live in forests?
• Do you like to go on camping trips and why? Describe a trip you went on, where was it, and what did you do?
• Is it possible that some legends are true?
• Are there natural forests in the Arab world? What are the most prominent ones?