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Published: November 4th 2013
October 10, 2013
The time had now come for one of the sights I was most looking forward to: Wadi Rum desert and the land of Lawrence of Arabia...as mentioned I fell in love with the desert while in Morocco, so was really keen to get into another one and start exploring...and throw in the history and exploits of T.E.Lawrence and I couldn't wait to get going...
Took an early bus from Petra and made it to the visitor's centre in Wadi Rum by 8:30am where we were promptly met by Rum Stars tour group, our hosts for the day and night's adventures...after the customary mint tea at their office we met our guide for the day, Mohammed, and then discovered it was just K and I on the tour...perfect! So we threw our gear and ourselves into the back of his truck and away we went...
First stop was Lawrence Springs, the place where the man used to get his water apparently...not all that exciting, basically a trough with some water in it, and a hose running down the hill from the spring itself...then on to a cool crevasse in a mountain wall...bit of a
slow start to the tour but the coolness factor would increase dramatically as the day went on...and especially as we got to know our guide a bit...
From there we visited this big sand dune which K and I climbed, beautiful vistas from up there...also watched as another guide in a 4x4 made his best attempts to climb the dune in his vehicle, very cool! Had some good laughs with the couple he was showing around, especially after his truck broke down at one point...haha...
The rest of the morning was spent exploring the desert and rock formations/mountains, it was great in the sense that we had time to get out of the truck and properly explore on foot...also along the way we stopped at Lawrence's house, or what was left of it...really cool walking in the footsteps and seeing the area where much of his story took place...
It was getting near lunch and our guide booted us out of the truck, explaining we were going to walk for a while and meet up around the valley where he would have our lunch ready for us...so off he went, and soon after it was just K
Rock Bridge
...made it! (KC)and I all alone in this desert valley, absolutely beautiful...it was quiet, serene, hot and extremely peaceful, a great way to really get a sense and appreciation of the place, loved it...
Sure enough after a while we found Mohammed and our lunch ready for us in the "shadows" (shade!) and we hunkered down for some good fixings, conversation and of course mint tea...followed by the Bedouin equivalent of a siesta, awesome...
The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring a few more wadi's (valleys) in the desert, I just couldn't get enough of it...came to this really cool rock bridge, and after clambering up a pretty steep rock face (Mohammed did it in his bare feet! Gah...) we walked out on this bridge and again the vistas were brilliant...
It was then off to find a spot to watch the sunset, the final piece of the day's tour before heading to the camp...K and I climbed up a rock and watched as a couple of other tours were doing the same on the surrounding rocks, and then settled in to watch a truly beautiful sunset...some friends of our guide had shown up so we climbed down
and joined them all for of course some mint tea (Bedouin whiskey!).
Getting dark now so off to the camp...the truck broke down a couple of times but with the help of some other guides we finally made it...dark at this point but we were shown to our cabin which was really cool, and then made our way to the main tent where four other tourists were hanging out with some tea...beautiful spot in the middle of the desert, but certainly by no means rustic: proper toilets/showers, generator etc...very comfortable, it was nice relaxing before dinner on the comfy low couches and chatting with the other tourists and guides...dinner was supposed to have been cooked under the sand in traditional Bedouin methods, but I guess with there only being six of us they didn't bother and just did some stuff on a charcoal bbq...great stuff nonetheless, after hiking and bouncing around the desert all day we had worked up quite the appetite and the food was excellent...
Didn't last long after dinner, chatted with everyone for a bit and then K and I turned in...although not before wandering out of the camp a bit to get a good
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
...sadly it was backlit by the sun, still very cool though... look at the stars, unbelievable! The night was so clear and we were so far from civilization that I'm sure we could see every star, planet and galaxy in the universe! Sleep was fantastic, not a peep was heard (and I'm sure there were fresh camel tracks right by our tent in the morning, heard nothing!).
The next morning we got up and had some breaky, had a bit of time to wander around the camp and get some pics before sadly having to return to town...the tour was fantastic, Rum Stars did a great job and once again I have fallen in love with another desert...expectations were high but also exceeded, one of my highlights of the whole trip...
(Some photos copyright of Karen C., denoted by (KC)...used with kind permission)
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