Wadi Rum is a 720 square kilometre desert area which has been inhabited by various human cultures since 10,000 BCE. These days it is home to many camels, 4WDs and Bedouin people, many involved in the blossoming tourism industry.
T E Lawrence spent time in Wadi Rum in 1917 -18 during the Arab Revolt and when in 1962 the film ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ came out about his wartime efforts, Jordan’s tourism industry got a kick start. The place is particularly popular with trekkers and climbers.
Jordan’s highest peak is in Wadi Rum – Jabal umm ad Dami (1840m). It’s 30km south of the Wadi Rum village where you arrive. We didn’t venture that far away though, opting to stay two nights in a desert camp enjoying a full day-tour of the key places.
We booked a trip online via Wadi Rum Nomads and went to the meeting place/ office in the village. The village is nothing special, just Bedouin living in tents and concrete homes. There is both a girls and a boys school, where the children have military-style camo- school uniforms! From the village a 4wd jeep took us across the desert sands about half an hour to the campsite. On our way we saw an ambulance heading for the village. We later learned someone had died that day, falling off a rocky area we were to later visit. We were very careful to follow our guides instructions and ventured out cautiously when on the tops of cool places like this…
The camp was well organised with tents on raised platforms and single beds and lighting inside. Powerpoints were available (thanks to solar panels) in the main tent where the meals were served. The food was really good.
It was too windy on the first night to see how they’d made the food but on the second night we saw them lift it out from under the sand… reminiscent of Māori hangi. It was all very good and plenty of food for vegetarians. Antony loved the very sweet tea they served.
At night the temperature drops quite a bit but they had a fire on in the common tent so it was really toasty there! Nice place to relax, we talked a bit with a Canadian couple who run this website promoting travel in Canada and do cool youtube clips like this one. They were lovely – we bumped into them again a few days later in Petra. I did a bit of drafting blog posts offline at night before going to bed. We’d hoped to enjoy the starry skies but unfortunately it was a full moon so it was so bright – we couldn’t see many stars!
I woke up early and marveled at the beauty of the desert and mountains around our campsite, with the rising sun casting a lovely light. Antony and I had a quick walk to soak up the beauty before breakfast… ah, so divine.
Our one day tour of Wadi Rum was fantastic. Antony and I were in a jeep with a couple from the Netherlands and our driver took us to so many beautiful places.
We started at a place in walking distance from our camp site – a narrow canyon that cuts Jabal Khazali. It has been considered a holy site because it is a place where water collects. This was probably my favourite place out of all we saw as all through the canyon there are engraved inscriptions and Nabataean petroglyphs on the walls.
I just loved seeing all the rock art, imagining those who had got up so high and chiseled into the rock images that reflected their life so many years ago. Really high up on the canyon wall was a petroglyph depicting a woman giving birth – it was quite fascinating. Can you spot her? She’s on the left of the three figures with legs spread wide, standing on two stones as is still the tradition for desert people when giving birth.
Here’s another one that was high up on the wall – almost looks like the people are holding hands… then there’s feet and a mountain goat. I love the feet! There were quite a number of pairs of feet like this on the canyon walls. 🙂
These rock engravings are a good 2000 years old and are in such good condition because they are largely out of reach from humans and the elements. Those lower down have suffered some graffiti from the middle ages. We saw Kufic inscriptions (very early Arabic script) from end of the 7th century which included quotes from the Quran and also names of deceased people and in some cases the dates they died. Even older Thamudic script (from 3rd or 4th century BCE) is also in the canyon and there are lots of pictures of animals.
Stop number two was the Red Dune. It was a good wee climb up the sand dune to a rocky top with fantastic views.
We could see jeeps like little ants crisscrossing the desert along with some camels (probably with tourists on their back). We could see Wadi Rum village and a number of the Bedouin camps dotted around the place. Here’s the 360 degree view in this video…
Sorry it was a bit of a quick 360 – hope it didn’t make you dizzy! Here are some clearer shots – top one is me on top of the dune with the desert valley behind me, bottom right is looking toward the Wadi Rum village and bottom left is Antony running back down the sand dune.
‘Lawrence Spring’ was next on the tour. Near where we parked at the bottom of the mountain there is a large rock with inscriptions (bottom right pic below) letting people know about the water to be found above. We climbed up and up (note the steep, rocky route in top left pic!) to get to the Spring only to discover a small sludgy green area and almost no water (bottom left pic- this was literally it!) – it was all being pumped down to fill the cisterns for the camels and goats to drink from.
So the ‘spring’ was pretty disappointing but the views weren’t. Really cool views made the hot climb almost worth it!
Next on the itinerary was the Little bridge – the first of the rock bridges we visited. Our guide took some pics for us and then we took some of our own. The views from everywhere in Wadi Rum were so interesting, it was hard not to keep taking photos to try and capture the beauty.
We then saw Lawrence House – a bit of rubble that may or may not have been where Lawrence of Arabia stayed and/or stored weapons. Just above this rubble I went for a walk and took this photo which I rather love.
Although we saw a lot the day was paced really well, lots of time to just enjoy at each spot and move on when we’d had enough. Our guide spoke English and was a pleasant and interesting character. We stopped for lunch in a beautiful spot. While he collected some wood, started a fire and cooked lunch for us, we explored the plants and rock formations nearby.
Above is ‘Mushroom Rock’ which was a short walk from where we had lunch. I liked looking at all the rock, surprisingly colourful and varied in their shape. Below are some of the plants I saw near here (except for the tree – that photo was taken at the entrance of Khazali canyon).
We offered to help our guide with lunch but he had it all under control so after exploring, we just hung out with the Dutch couple and enjoyed the shade and soaked up our surroundings. Lunch was really good with salads, hummus, a hot tomato vegetable dish and of course lots of flat bread.
The first stop after lunch was Abu Khashaba canyon. The guide dropped us at one end and we meandered through the canyon for half an hour or so and met him on the other side. Here’s the end we started at:
It was a nice walk- sometimes on the sand, sometimes clambering over rocks, a few trees along the way and really interesting rock walls on both sides – in some places smooth and curvy and in others really dramatic and sharp looking.
This next picture is looking back where we came from then the one below it taken almost at the same place looking out of the canyon to our waiting jeep.
Once back at the jeep the boys grabbed snowboards and headed up the dunes to do some sand-boarding. I did not have energy to climb up the sand dune- it was a long way and hard work climbing in sand… but Antony did it twice! Here he is part way down.
He was fair flying down the hill as you can see from these last couple of seconds of his sandy ride.
After the boys’ sand-boarding adventure, it was back into the jeep and onward to our next destination
Last stop before sunset was the Um Fruth rock bridge. There were quite a lot of people here trying to get up and down the narrow path and the way up looked a bit interesting so I decided to stay below and take pics of Antony who was up for the climb.
To finish off the day we headed to a good spot and saw the sun set then headed for the camp where a delicious dinner awaited us. The next morning we were taken to the village base and from there a driver took us and the Dutch couple to Petra.
Wadi Rum was a truly fantastic place and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay here!! So very grateful for the opportunity to explore it – worth every cent we paid for the tour. We can recommend Wadi Rum Nomads, very professional and organised tour company with great camp facilities, nice guides and good food.
