Jordan: Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum Desert is famed for its link to T.E. Lawrence the original “Lawrence of Arabia”. Along with Prince Feisal bin Al-Hussein, he made his base here during the Arab Revolt of 1917-1918. At the center of Wadi Rum village is the Desert Police fort.

🙂 Spectacular scenery. Desert storm. Location of many films including: Star Wars, The Martian , Dune and Aladdin

🙁 Too many resorts now. Dry (ie. NO alcohol!).

We left Petra on a high and drove to Wadi Rum. This desert is known for its sandstone rock formations, valleys, gorges, sand dunes, and natural archways. We checked into our resort called Sun City Camp. We had Martian Bubble No. 3 which was at the front with unobscured views across the desert … divine. We spent the afternoon chilling on bean bags on our deck … we had forgotten the beers that we bought in the fridge at our previous hotel, so it was a dry stay! LOL.

We headed off for our dune jeep safari 17h30 – our guide was great fun! he drove over the dunes like a maniac! Exhilarating!

First stop was recreating The Martian scene!

We then took a few more scenic shots and had to giggle at the You Tubers behind us making a Vlog!

The other couple were camped in that particular photo spot so we moved on. There was no one else in sight and truly stunning. This massive cliff was named “The Pillars of Seven Wisdom”  after the title of the book by T.E. Lawrence, the legendary British Army Officer who based his operation here to help the Arabs in their revolt against the Ottoman Empire during  WW I. His adoption of Arab custom and dress earned him the name “Lawrence of Arabia,” which was also the  title of the 1962 movie based on his life.  (A large part of the movie was shot here.) Wisdom’s Seven Pillars is a women’s Bible study by Author Nancy Sari that teaches the seven pillars that uphold wisdom’s house found in Proverbs 9:1. Wisdom’s seven pillars, according to scripture, are: fear of the Lord, instruction, knowledge, understanding, discretion, counsel, and reproof.

He was quite clever at taking pics!

… and videos!

We climbed a small dune and enjoyed the stunning views from the top. WOW. The rock formations look like they are literally melting in the sun.

We tried to hold the setting sun!

On we drove… until we found the petroglyphs which are Thamudic writing from as early as 4th century B.C.  Wadi Rum was an important stop along the main caravan trading route due to availability of water. The inscriptions that mostly look like drawings of animals and people were messages left by passing traders for fellow traders. The inscriptions translate into names of people who passed by, instructions, and indications of where water sources were located. (It must be the closest thing to e-mail or text message at that time.)

we drove to a Bedouin camp where there are carvings of the faces of Lawrence of Arabia, Prince Abdullah Bin Al Hussein, and the Bedouin Sheik Odah Abu Taeh.

It is a spectacular site.

We stopped at the sunset vantage point but there was too much cloud for it to be spectacular so we played with photos intead.

On our way back pour driver got out of the moving vehicle and jumped into the back of the vehicle with us as it drove unmanned – hilarious!

We got back to camp and sat by the fire with a coke and a non-alcoholic beer. Food was served at 18h45 – Zarb is a traditional Bedouin underground oven used by nomadic herding peoples in the Arabian Peninsula. Much like a BBQ, the methods starts by digging a hole in the soft sand. Then cook down wood to coals, place the food over the coal and cover the hole with sand. The food is left undisturbed for several hours. It was delicious. After dinner there was Bedouin dancing but we went to bed when the played the Macerana song! 🙂 LOL.

It was a shame that there were clouds as the stars would have been stunning (and also to the left of us were two camps with lots of light pollution) – luckily our view was not impacted. We. sat outside but then it started to rain … we were woken by a massive thunder storm with lightening lighting up the desert through pour bubble windows – magnificent!

We were supposed to go on a sunrise camel safari at 05h30 but unfortunately it was still raining so we slept in instead. What a great stay… we headed for breakfast before Abdullah collected us.

We stopped off at the old railway station which is now disused.

We realised that we were actually pretty lucky to get out of Wadi Rum as the only road had been subjected to a flash flood and nearly washed away! Thepoor Farmer’s crop of watermelons was completely ruined… 🙁

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