I have often dreamed of visiting the desert where movies such as Star Wars (two of them), The Martian, Dune (the 2020 one, because the 1984 one was filmed in many locations in Mexico, including Samalayuca, Chihuahua -very close to Cd. Juárez, my city-), Lawrence of Arabia, among others, were filmed. But also because of all the recommendations I had read or had been given, about the mistake it would be to travel to Jordan and not visit this great desert.
Since Wadi Rum is about two hours from Wadi Musa, we headed to our camp after finishing our visit to Petra. We met one of the owners of our camp, which was a family-run guesthouse, in the parking lot of the visitor center. We left our car there and were driven into the desert in a 4×4. The desert is a protected area that you enter with the owners of the camps, but if you are not staying overnight, then you need to go to the visitor center to pay the entrance fee and be taken in an all-terrain vehicle with a licensed driver.
We arrived just after sunset and since it was cold, we had a quiet cup of tea with the person who picked us up. He told us a little about the surroundings, the family camps, the activities we could do, and, what stuck with me the most, was that his family consisted of 11 brothers and 22 sisters, since his father had four wives. Although I only saw the men working in our camp.
Something that I find very welcoming about Arab culture is the familiarity with which they treat you and that they call you “sister”, “brother”, “family”. We felt very comfortable there from the moment we arrived.
The traditional dinner
The camps offer a traditional food buffet, including salads, hummus, other dishes I can’t remember the name of, and zarb or Bedouin barbecue, which is chicken with vegetables that is cooked underground for hours and brought out in front of you (see photo on Instagram). After all the activities that surely all the guests would have done that day, we were hungry and eager to try that chicken which looked very tasty.
After a delicious dinner, they invited us to have shisha or tea in a Bedouin-style tent, in front of a fireplace, while they danced. It wasn’t a show at all, they danced together, I imagine to show us a bit of their music and traditions. From time to time, I would leave the tent to look at the starry sky, so grateful to be there.
We finally went to bed, I have to admit that it was the best I slept on the whole trip, we left the curtains open to admire the mountains and the stars. Our “tent” (it was actually build out of concrete, but they give it the look of a tent, I imagine because of the extreme conditions of the desert climate) was very nice, comfortable and super clean.
Desert tour
The next morning, we took a four-hour Jeep tour, which took us into the desert to see the most emblematic sights, such as the petroglyphs, the ruins of Lawrence’s house (where the British man who fought to free the Arabs from the Ottoman Empire would have lived), the famous Um Fruth arch, among other impressive natural attractions.
So we spent the morning walking among rock formations, driving through different shades of earth that at times turned into an impressive reddish color, and visiting Bedouin camps to drink tea. We were cold, especially with the wind, because we were sitting in the back of the vehicle, which was uncovered, so the tea and sesame cookies were a delight.
Both at the ruins of Lawrence of Arabia’s house and the arch, we had time to climb. The arch is a bit more dangerous, but it can be done. We made the mistake of not leaving a cell phone with the guide for the photos and we both climbed up with our cameras. Once at the top, we said laughing “Now who’s going to take our picture?” I went down first because I wanted more cookies (yes, food always moves me) and I took the photo of Patrick waving from above.
After our excursion, we were dropped off at the visitor centre, where we picked up our rental car to return to Amman that same afternoon, as we had an early flight to Egypt the next morning. In Wadi Rum, we left behind all that silence and tranquillity that we would not see for the rest of our trip.
If you want us to design and organize your trip to Jordan through our travel agency Tripdreaming, contact me at silvia.lucero@tripdreaming.com. For editorial questions, write to silvia.lucero@latrotamundos.com.
