After breakfast in our hotel we drive to the Petra visitor center for an ATM. Wadi Rum has no possibilities to collect cash. After a little stress about a machine that didn’t work as expected, we start our two hours drive. The scenery is amazing, certainly in the light of the sunrise.
We check-in at Wadi Rum’s visitor’s center. The entry of the protected area is included in the Jordan pass. Then we drive to the office of Wadi Rum Nomads and have tea with Bianca, the Dutch lady that works for the company. She informs us about the program and, most important, she explains how to wrap ourselves as a sandwich in our blankets at night.
We jump in the back of the truck of our Bedouin guide, Nowas, with two young Korean ladies. The Wadi Rum experience can begin. We heard so many positive stories, our expectations are high. We drive to Lawrence’s spring first. It’s a place where (ancient) travelers get water for themselves and their camels. Near the water a few camels are waiting.
It is mating season. Male camels can become agressive to other male camels and can bite humans too. One of them looks very restless and “hungry”. It is wearing protection around his mouth to prevent it from biting.
We climb on a rock for a 360 view and drink a delicious Turkish coffee with cardamom. We go to a siq with 2000 year old Alameleh inscriptions: a woman giving birth, ostriches and also younger Arab prayers. We visit a natural arch, climb one and view another one. The lunch is perfect. Nowas turns the car into a kitchen and makes us delicious food and tea. We just do nothing in the sun…
After lunch we walk through canyon Abukashaba and fail in climbing Burda and Um Frouth rock bridges. I am just too afraid of heights, but we do have a good laugh. I do a weak attempt of sand boarding and learn from Nowas that rocks have names and that their names are linked to stories. I would love to hear some of the old Bedouin stories… We enjoy the sunset at Um Sabatah, sitting on a rock with tea and some peanuts. When the sun disappears we drive to the Bedouin camp for the night.
The camp is amazing. A huge, very cozy tent with a nice fire in the middle. We do watch the stars, the sky is completely clear. It is rather cold, though, so we go back to the heat of the fire. The sleeping tents are perfect, they have real beds and two very heavy thick blankets each. I practice the blanket-sandwich lesson of Bianca and have a very warm night sleep. The noise of the planes is the only disturbing thing. They avoid Israel now, and fly straight over the normally so peaceful desert.
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3 июл 2024
