Wadi Rum, less commonly known as Valley of the Moon and disappointingly not called Rum Valley, was the next spot to tick off on our round the world UNESCO list. Somehow there's always a UNESCO site somewhere on our trip and it never disappoints. Having been to picturesque Ha Long bay in Vietnam to the historic towns of Kotor in Montenegro and of course the old city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, Wadi Rum was turning out to be completely different. I mean, it's just desert, right?
We were of course sad to leave Petra (which makes up 1/6th of all UNESCO sites in Jordan). But the itinerary for Wadi Rum was to include some 4WD trips, sightseeing of famous movie locations and one night sleeping in a Bedouin camp. On our way out of Petra though we had a group photo and managed a look of the Petra site from the hills above.
Look carefully and you can see the stream of visitors entering Petra. Its 10am, the visitors to Petra don't have an appetite for early starts!
The drive from Wadi Musa to Wadi Rum, was pretty boring, mostly featureless straight highways and a recipe for snoozing, lasting about 90mins. The bus came to a stop at the turn off, we all disembarked and then climbed into one of three 4WD vehicle with a cloth canopy. It was about 5-6 persons in the tray.
You would expect a UNESCO site to remain untouched since designation, but actually the population of Wadi Rum, the Zalabieh Tribe are free to do as they please, with little interference from government agencies. So, they develop sites with a focus on eco-tourism. You can sleep under the stars, go glamping, do the Bedouin lifestyle or stay in luxury resorts. Thankfully there's plenty of space and the state it is in now, its not too busy with buildings. Thankfully they fit the aesthetics of the area.
Our accomodation was the wooden walled cloth covered bedouin housing. Scorching hot water, no moving air, surrounded by sand and of course incredibly hot. It's like I was back working in the Australian bush.
We stayed at the Eco-Zawaidh Beduin Camp, though don't be tricked by the photos on Google Maps, those photos relate to the posh half, just a stones throw away. Still, we had nothing to complain about, the views outwards, were stunning.
Our camp, nestled on the right, looking South
The view from the camp to the north
Two incredibly tiny people to the East
After lunch, having remembered the exfoliating effects of the sand and also being sun-wise, we were prepared to venture out again, with our protective gear.
We travelled in our convoy, heading north, occasionally stopping for the car in our group that kept breaking down (only for it to be revived momentarily with some WD40). Our first stop was at the Thamudic Petroglyphs. Next to it, there just so happened to be a Bedouin Tent, where our hosts treated us to some tea and music and a selection of souvenirs to buy.
He plays some music too...
Making tea for us tourists
We continued north west, across the dunes...stopping occasionally to take in the sights.
WD40 Stop
Now, we'd always been promised as part of our Wadi Rum journey that we would see film locations from Star Wars and Indiana Jones, Transformers etc, but when it came to identifying the places, information was very limited. We did stop at the Giant Rock Bridge (google maps name, not mine). It looks amazing, and very popular with the tourists, but I don't know, other than the natural marvel that it is, why else it is famous. If you recognise the Rock Bridge from a movie or TV Show, please tell me!
A pilgrimage by vehicle and on foot...
Photoshop Wizardry utilised to make people disappear...
...because it was so incredibly busy.
We continued to drive, and honestly I didn't get bored of taking dynamic bumpy shots whilst we were moving. You may detect sarcasm, but I promise there is nonet! We also drove past the French Fortress. Which we may have been told was historic, but suspicious brain later verified that it was in fact a film set, probably built from scratch.
The French Fortress
Our final stop of the evening was for a group sunset, looking West (of course), and though there isn't an official google location, I think it was around here, maybe. Wherever it was, the views were stunning as per usual, yawn. Enjoy this photo dump.
Once the sun had set, we quickly drove back to our Bedouin Camp. Dinner was lots of lamb, chicken, vegetables that all had been cooking all day, buried under the sand in some sort of sand pit pot, but it was dark and so no photos were taken. We ended up enjoying some local music, shisha and some sensible drinks well until the night. Unfortunately that night was a full moon, so we couldn't 'fully enjoy' the night sky, but it was still pretty bloody cool. By cool, I mean it was still pretty warm.
In the morning I scuttled up the giant rock to the east of our camp, where some had slept through the night, to see if a sunrise wasn't out of the question.
At-Tuweisa to the South
Over the next day we set off for the resort town of Aqaba, enjoyed life at the beach, stabbed by coral thorns, fell onto coral thorns, J lost his shoes, I forgot my shoes and I had a huge bruise from when I pulled my hamstring muscle in Luxor almost a week ago. Standard holiday stuff. Although, impressively, no sun burn!
