From Egypt, I took a short one-hour flight to Amman to start my week-long tour of Jordan. There is a noticeable difference as soon as you land in Jordan after spending some time in Egypt. To name a few things, it’s more expensive, it’s more modern and it’s not as conservative. It was not as big a culture shock in Jordan as it was in Egypt in my opinion.
The top reasons people visit Jordan are to spend time in Wadi Rum (a desert valley) and to visit Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world. We spent one night in the city of Amman before heading out to Wadi Rum where we would spend two nights in a remote desert camp.
Several movies have been filmed in this area like Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Martian (2015), Aladdin (2019), Star Wars, and Dune (2021).
The first experience we had was loading into these Jeeps that drove us about an hour into the desert to our campsite.
The scenery during the drive was really beautiful. It was also really fun driving over the sand. This was the view from our campsite.
These were the tents we slept in. There were about 10 of these at our site and then there was one big tent for dining and a brick building that had toilets and showers. The bathroom facilities were very nice actually. I forgot to take a photo of them.
Inside each tent were two beds, a side table, and some hooks to hang bags or clothes on. The tents also had a lock so I felt safe leaving my belongings inside during the day. Not like anyone else was out there but still.
We found some furry friends on the drive-out.
Feeding the camels.
On day one we hiked up a sand dune to the top of this rock and the views of the valley below were incredible!
You could see a 360-degree view of the surrounding area.
This picture of the Jeep really puts the vastness of the landscape into perspective for you.
Our shadows on top of the rock.
Whenever we were hiking we always had a jeep with us to keep our daypacks and water in. They were also there for safety reasons in case someone came down with heat exhaustion or dehydration and couldn’t continue on foot.
View of the moon during the day.
On day two we got up bright and early for a 6-mile hike around our campsite. It gets really cold in the desert overnight and into the early mornings, so I’m glad I brought my scarf and gloves.
Group picture.
During our hike, we stopped halfway for a tea break and some shade.
Me loving the desert!
We also made a stop at this canyon to see some petroglyphs (images carved into stone).
The carvings in Wadi Rum date back to as early as 10,000 BC.
Each night during sunset we would walk a short distance from our campsite to view the sunset over the valley below.
We had fun finding faces in the rock cliffs. That’s another camp in the distance.
Selfie at sunset 🙂
So quiet and beautiful. I found the silence in the desert to be pretty mesmerizing. You can see for miles and hear nothing.
We got lucky with clear skies both nights which made for some lovely sunsets.
This is what the inside of our dining tent looked like. Plenty of tables and chairs if you wanted to hang out. There was a portable charger in this tent for everyone to charge their electronic devices too. There really was no cell service unless you were standing on top of a high rock somewhere. I noticed the place we watched the sunset from was the only place I had service.
They cooked our dinner each night the traditional way, in the ground! The top portion was vegetables and the bottom was the meat.
We also had lentil soup with pita bread.
My vegetarian dish: rice, vegetables, and salad.
We stopped in town before we headed out to the desert for any snacks. I picked up this assortment of baklava desserts and it was the best I’ve ever had!
One aspect of the desert that I was really looking forward to was the night skies. I took an astrophotography course in the desert in Utah back in 2019 and I’ve been wanting to try the skills I learned since then. So I borrowed someone’s tripod and started taking pics of the stars.
I think they turned out pretty good! It was hard balancing the tripod on the sand because any movement of the camera causes the stars to blur.
You can kind of make out the milky way in this one.
That’s it for my post on Wadi Rum. I think this was my favorite experience in Jordan. I loved being off the grid with no cell service or distractions for two days. The silence was unlike anything I’d experienced before. You could hear coyotes howling in the night. It was nice getting to know the new members of the group too. There were 5 of us that continued from Egypt to Jordan, but the rest of the group was new faces.
Amazing!!! I bet those night skies were awesome!!!!! So glad you have this opportunity to fulfill your dream of traveling around this beautiful world God created!!! Stay safe my” traveling daughter”!!!!! 🙂
Amazing!!! I bet those night skies were awesome!!!!! So glad you have this opportunity to fulfill your dream of traveling around this beautiful world God created!!! Stay safe my” traveling daughter”!!!!! 🙂
I’m so glad too! It’s been the best adventure yet. Thanks Linda!