TRAVEL ALPHABET CHALLENGE

Jordan’s Majestic Wadi Rum

A to Z of my favorite travel destinations — W is for Wadi Rum

After touring the spectacular beauty of Egypt’s White Desert I was a little skeptical that Jordan’s Wadi Rum would measure up… but I was wrong.

The White Desert is spread out over golden sand, pockmarked with snow-white majestic rocks that have been sculpted into other-worldly shapes by Mother Nature. Wadi Rum, on the other hand, glows with rust red, coral pink, and deep orange-colored sand.

Wadi Rum is ringed by mountains that have been carved and cut by an ancient ocean, powerful winds, and blasted by sand for thousands of years.

Some of the mountains look like melting candles, the sandstone rocks dripping onto the earth. There are a few that have massive holes cut into their face, creating huge stone arches that suggest they were created by an ancient civilization.

My driver Qassim prepared me for the experience as we made the trip from Petra to Wadi Rum, which literally translates to Valley of Big Mountains. It’s also known as the Valley Of The Moon.

As we drove through the desert the landscape changed before my eyes, from a dirty yellow, barren frontier to the jaw-dropping beauty of the desert valley.

We met up with my guide Mahmoud, a Bedouin father of seven who took me on a tour of the land that he has spent his entire life exploring. With my eyes (and mouth) wide open, we drove across the sand dunes and I was stunned into silence by the unbelievable beauty all around me.

Wadi Rum was made famous as the base of operations in the early 20th century for the Arab Revolt, an uprising for liberation from the Ottoman Empire. It all played out in T.E. Lawrence’s book Seven Pillars of Wisdom and the movie, Lawrence of Arabia which was filmed on location in this desert.

Mahmoud brought me to Lawrence House, a cave that had been cut into the side of a mountain. It was set up as a dressing room during the filming of the movie, Lawrence of Arabia. Actor Peter O’Toole would change into his costume there, for his starring role as British Lieutenant Colonel T.E. Lawrence.

We continued on, bouncing across the sand in the desert jeep, just a few sand dunes away to a large tent that had been set up as a Bedouin rest area. We sat in the goat hair tent, drinking mint tea while a young man played a Bedouin guitar.

I wandered out into the vast open space, feeling the burn from the blazing sun, seeking shade among the windblown rocks. Mahmoud had wrapped a kaffiyeh (Arab scarf) around my head, he said to keep me from burning under the blazing hot sun.

We hopped back into the jeep and made our way to the famous double arches, two large rock formations. I began to climb to the top of the smallest one and came across a big chameleon lizard scrambling across the rock face, changing colors as it moved.

The arch framed a perfect window to the blue sky and the mountains beyond. Just two hundred meters away is the Giant Arch, and exactly what the name implies.

I scrambled to the top, exhilarated by the view of the valley below (remember I really don’t like heights - I feel sick looking at that picture now). We didn’t waste too much time there, not much to do and we were exposed to the scorching desert sun.

As we sped across the desert sands, the mountains of Saudi Arabia were visible in the distance, just a few kilometers away through a smoky haze.

The red sand spread out in every direction, in waves from the winds that never seemed to stop blowing.

And as the day ended, the orange burn of the setting sun, made the sand glow a brilliant orange and red with the long shadows quickly dissolving into darkness.

It was time to head to camp for the night. I would be staying at the Jabal Rum Bedouin Camp, not your typical 5-star resort. It’s a field of canvas tents spread out across the sand. There’s also a large kitchen and dining sheltered area in front of concrete fire pits. And it’s all surrounded by a fence. Well not really a fence. It’s a magnificent inlaid stone wall that surrounds the compound.

Inside the tents, it was just the basics but it was very comfortable. I was surprised by the clean and well-organized latrines, that offered up powerful hot showers to scrub off the dust of the day and to warm me up from the night chill in the desert.

After cleaning up, all the guests at the camp gathered on mattresses spread out over a circular concrete bench with a big firepit in the center. Normally during high season 150–200 guests will stay at the camp but when I was there, the crowd consisted of just 10 of us and a few guides.

We sat around smoking sheesha and drinking Arak, a Jordanian alcohol, that is milky white with a hint of anise flavor. When dinner was ready we were called to an area just behind the kitchen where a couple of the waiters used a spade to shovel the sand off a small firepit. Hours earlier, the chef had heated up coals before adding lamb, chicken, and vegetables and covered them up to roast in the natural oven. It was delicious and I was surprised that I wasn’t crunching on little pieces of sand in my food.

After dinner, the sound system blasted Bedouin folk music and the waiters and camp workers performed a traditional dance. And as I feared, they grabbed my hand and dragged me and a few of the other reluctant guests, to join them. I have never felt so uncoordinated.

The dance was two small steps to the right and then a step (and occasionally a knee lift) to the left and then to the right, (it kind of sounded like The Time Warp to me) but I just couldn’t seem to catch the beat… maybe it was the alcohol. It was a lot of laughs though.

It was a relatively early night, as everyone was exhausted from their day in the desert. I was hoping to wake up early to catch the desert sunrise and luckily my trusty internal clock woke me at 5 am. I could just see some light beginning to filter into my tent, so I jumped up and quickly dressed and headed outside.

I watched as the sky and the surrounding landscape were lit up by the rising sun. I climbed on top of a huge mound of rocks to welcome the day. The desert positively glowed, with the light reflected off the face of the surrounding mountains. Soon a herd of camels wandered by, disappearing behind the camp where they foraged around the camp’s trash for their morning meal.

Later as I sat eating breakfast (not often am I the first one at the breakfast table) a man flew by on his ultralight plane, waving as he passed the camp. He continued to soar around the skies over the valley for the next two hours, getting his own birds-eye view of the mountains and red desert.

We packed up and got back in the jeep for the 4-hour drive back to Amman but I couldn’t stop looking behind me as the colorful beauty of Wadi Rum dissolved into the brush-covered desert.

Thank you for reading. For more of my favorite travel destinations, you can check out my list of stories: