Jordan 2012 Day 8 – Desert of Wadi Rum

On this day, we ventured southwards from the beautiful Petra towards the famous desert Wadi Rum.

Cattle taking the road as we drove alongside towards Wadi Rum.
Cattle taking the road as we drove alongside towards Wadi Rum.

After 2hrs of drive, we arrived at the carpark of the Wadi Rum visitor’s center and proceeded to the center. From there, since we were going to drive in ourselves (we didn’t have a 4WD anyways), we booked the most time practical tour available, a 5hrs jeep tour, considering we were going to drive back to Madaba for the night.

From the office, we were greeted by our English speaking Bedouin guide and boarded our retro looking jeep. The first stop was the Rum village where the guide stopped by a shop and went in to back a plastic bag of food, apparently our lunch.

Rum village where the guide packed lunch.
Rum village where the guide packed lunch.

The desert was huge and driving from point to point took some time. The guide showed some desert map and the different places we were visiting before we drove onwards to Lawrence Spring. Upon reaching the location, the guide allowed us to roam the area gave us some history on the spring and Lawrence. He pointed that the spring can be found high up in the rocks. So I started climbing towards the green bushes and it was tough! There weren’t any path upwards and there were loose rocks. Furthermore, the searing hot weather was adding to the challenge.

Lawrence Spring, supposedly at the green patch of grass.
Lawrence Spring, supposedly at the green patch of grass.

When I finally reached, I could not see any water springs. Walked around towards the vegetation nearby and found a tiny pond, wondered if this was it. Incredible though, to see water in this really parch dry desert.

And there is indeed some water in this parch dry desert.
And there is indeed some water in this parch dry desert.

The view at the top was pretty good though.

View was awesome.
View was awesome.

Back to ground level, where the car parked was some watering points for camels. There was an option to take the camel for the tour, if anybody was crazy enough to do that in this hot weather.

Water from nearby spring where camels come drink.
Water from nearby spring where camels come drink.

The next location was a sand dune. We didn’t think much about the sand dune, after all it was only sand. Then we attempted to climb it and it was extremely difficult! Brought meaning to 2 steps forward and 1 step back. The sand was so fine and when we stepped onto it, our foot just sang in! Took awhile before making it to the half way point. I guessed sand surfing was probably possible if we had the rug.

Sand dune, high pile of sand which was so difficult to climb.
Sand dune, high pile of sand which was so difficult to climb.
Shoes flooded with sand.
Shoes flooded with sand.
Our deep in the Wadi Rum.
Our jeep in the Wadi Rum.

Next we would visit the ancient inscriptions on the walls of the desert rocks. These were said to be from the Nabatean people long time ago. These were seen within the Khazali Canyon which was a narrow path between 2 towering rocks. We only managed going some tens of meters into the canyon before some climbing was required that we didn’t attempt. The high rocks provided a temporary reprieve from the heat from the midday sun, with the walls cool to the touch, and nice wind blowing into the gap.

Ancient inscriptions and pictures.
Anfashieh inscriptions and pictures.
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Rock carvings of humans.
Within the Khazali Canyon where the rock carvings were found.
Within the Khazali Canyon where the rock carvings were found.

Lunch was settled at a Bedouin tentage not too far drive from Khazali Canyon. Underneath this wide tentage almost size of a basketball court was a carpet for us to sit down and have lunch. There were a couple of bedouins sitting around smoking, taking a rest. Food wasn’t fantastic and mostly dry but we couldn’t expect much in a desert. Bedouin tea was served as usual.

Packed lunch of fruits, snacks and Naan.
Packed lunch of fruits, snacks and Naan.

The lunch time provided the opportunity to rest from the rather tiring activities thus far. After we were ready to hop onto the jeep towards the Little bridge. This was a rock bridge formed naturally that linked the top of two rocks together. It was an easy climb up to cross the bridge and get a photo.

View of the bridge from the ground.
View of the Little bridge from the ground with some tourists standing on it.

The next location was a much bigger natural bridge called the Um Frouth bridge. Similarly formed naturally, this was a little more difficult to climb as it was steeper. Of course this had a better viewpoint than the Little bridge.

Um Frouth bridge, view from the ground.
Um Frouth bridge, view from the ground.
That's me on top of the Um Frouth bridge, created by nature.
That’s me on top of the Um Frouth bridge, created by nature.

Lawrence house was the next location but there weren’t much left as the walls had crumbled. There weren’t much to see either so it was a shoot and go moment.

Lawrence house or what's left of it.
Lawrence house or what’s left of it.

It was nearing the end of the tour and the guide gave us some jeep fun in the sand by driving down a steep sand slope, like a roller coaster. It was indeed pretty exciting.

The final stop before heading back was the Nabatean temple. Similarly, the ruins were all that were left for us to look at. Walked around for a while before getting onto the jeep for the return to the visitor’s center.

Nabatean temple.
Nabatean temple.
Steps of the temple.
Steps of the temple.

Once back at the visitor’s center, we disembarked, took a photo with our guide and got ready to long drive back to Madaba.

Seven pillars can be seen from the visitor's center.
Seven pillars can be seen from the visitor’s center.
Map of Wadi Rum.
Map of Wadi Rum.
The various itineraries available.
The various itineraries available.
Wadi Rum visitor's center.
Wadi Rum visitor’s center.

Along the highway, we saw outlets selling dead sea mud and we stopped for a while to stock up on gifts for people back at home. Rivage looked really familiar and so we got our stash of dead sea minerals mud pack and continued northwards towards Madaba.

Rivage outlet store, popular for its dead sea mud.
Rivage outlet store, popular for its dead sea mud.

The drive back was really long, by the time we arrived, it was already very late at Mosaic City Hotel. Along the way, we had almost ran out of petrol and worst of all, not all the petrol stations were opened 24hrs. Luckily we managed to pump at one station and arrived at the hotel.

Bed.
Bed.
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TV and dressing table.
Shower.
Shower.

The next day would be when we would cross over for the Israel leg of our travel.