Shaumari Wildlife Reserve

Shaumari Wildlife Reserve is a fenced conservation reserve in eastern Jordan near the Azraq area, established as a breeding and reintroduction site for threatened ungulates. The reserve is focused on captive breeding, species recovery and limited public visits for education.

The site combines a small visitor area with observation points and managed enclosures where reintroduced species such as Arabian oryx, Persian onager and various gazelles are kept as part of breeding programmes. Interpretive material explains the reintroduction work and species biology.

Set up in the 1970s with international conservation support, the reserve was one of Jordan’s early efforts to breed and reintroduce locally extirpated ungulates; it has been used as a source population for releases and as a conservation breeding facility.

Located in eastern Jordan near the Azraq desert steppe within Amman Governorate, the reserve sits inland from the country’s central corridor and is reached by road from Amman.

• Conservation role: Established in the 1970s as a breeding and reintroduction site, the reserve played an early role in restoring Arabian oryx and other threatened ungulates to Jordanian habitats.

What to See #

• Visitor centre: A small visitor area and interpretation centre that provides information on the reserve's objectives and introduced species, and serves as the main public contact point.
• Breeding enclosures: Fenced breeding enclosures and managed release paddocks used for captive breeding and acclimatization of Arabian oryx, Persian onager and other reintroduced ungulates.