From Petra we headed a couple hours south into Wadi Rum, the large and well-known red sand desert that has been the setting for films such as Star Wars, The Martian, and Lawrence of Arabia (not to mention the real-life location of the latter, as we would soon come to find out!). As a protected nature area, the only way to get out into the desert is with some kind of tour, so we signed up for a two-night, three-day trip with a company called Wadi Rum Nomads. [Editor’s note: Because the desert is so damn vast and it’s super easy to get lost (every sand dune and rock starts looking the same after a while), they don’t let folks venture out on their own in Wadi Rum; instead requiring them to be accompanied by local Bedouins, who effectively run the area.] We found out that we were the only people doing this particular 2-night itinerary starting that day, so we would have a private tour with our guide, Abdullah, the entire time!
At first we weren’t sure if that would be as much fun since it’d be just the three of us, but it was a blessing in disguise as we quickly developed a rapport with Abdullah, joking about him being Rorie’s Bedouin father (and me being his daughter-in-law) and taking countless selfies with him as he sang songs and bounced us around the desert in his truck. [Editor’s note: The desert was cool, but Abdullah absolutely made the experience fantastic for us. In his own words, we quickly transitioned from a tourist/guide dynamic to just being friends. He was a warm personality who absolutely embraced us as his guests and made the whole experience really fun by constantly joking around with us and bringing a good energy, such that we were sincerely sad to leave him (and the other Bedouin guides affiliated with the company, as they were all awesome guys who enjoyed joking and hanging around with us).] This truck, which he called his camel, became known as Nemo because its front left tire was smaller than the other three, which also meant that we frequently came thiiiis close to getting stuck in the deep, soft red sand as we jostled up and down dunes and over scrubby bushes. [Editor’s note: The truck was a champion in every respect. Parts of it were literally held together with baling wire and packing tape, but it handled the desert well and Abdullah clearly loved it. It really was the modern vehicular version of Nemo, which made it all the more sad that Abdullah had never seen the movie and we didn’t have WiFi to introduce it to him.]
Driving selfie with Abdullah while Jess holds on for dear life in the backseat.
Feeling the wind rushing through your hair (Bedouin edition).
Along for the ride in the back of our camel.
The first day we drove around from site to site within the desert, stopping at each one to climb some rocks, take some pictures, and sit in a Bedouin tent with hot tea served to us. (Example location: “Lawrence’s Spring”, a natural spring that Lawrence of Arabia once bathed in. Another example location: “Big Red Sand Dune,” which was exactly as described.) Despite the searing temperatures that left us mostly unable to function outside the shade, the Bedouins constantly drink hot tea and tend the fire that they use to boil the water. Not only that, but they drink their tea with so much sugar in it that after a few small cups (it’s rude to refuse) we were jittery from the sugar high. [Editor’s note: It’s amazing to me that they all don’t have crippling cases of diabetes. Drinking the tea was practically like chewing on sugar, which made it all the more amusing when they scoffed at our comments that it was too sweet. At one point Abdullah tried having tea our way (with no sugar), then shook his head at the notion and poured it out.] Nonetheless, the desert was stunningly beautiful and incredibly vast, and although we were overheated it was a ton of fun to hop back in the truck and speed off across the sand, sometimes on a cleared path and sometimes not, with no idea where Abdullah was taking us next.
One of the cool sites where we went with Abdullah the first day.
Traversing a gorge named after a thief who used it to escape an angry mob. Seriously.
This time Abdullah led the way down the gorge. We loved how narrow they were and how they had a lot of Bedouin carvings in the sides.
Taking in the view at the top of the aforementioned Big Red Sand Dune.
Silhouette shot under a famous natural rock bridge.
After lunch in the shade of a natural cave with a family from India – both of our guides started up a fire and cooked us lunch from scratch – we took a nice siesta break during the hottest part of the day and started off again around 4 or 5pm once the air got slightly cooler. Rorie decided that as much as the heat was getting to him, any place that builds in massive naptime breaks during the day can’t be all bad. [Editor’s note: 4 hour long lunchtime siestas are my new favorite thing ever. Bedouins know how to live life right. I couldn’t possibly be more on board with the lifestyle.] We hit another few spots and headed for camp, a permanent camp with awesome private tents and a beautiful common dining room area. The bathroom was another pleasant surprise – a clean tiled building with nicer facilities than any of our hotels in Jordan so far! Not what I was expecting in the middle of the desert but no complaints here! After a delicious dinner cooked literally in a pit underground and pulled up from the sand with a flourish, we watched the stars with the guides and other guests before heading to bed. [Editor’s note: Jess is doing a disservice to this dinner unveiling – it was quite a show. First they had to dig away a layer of sand, which revealed a sort of tarp or canvas. They then pulled back the tarp/canvas and unveiled a metal trey, which we thought was cool. Then they lifted the cover of the metal trey and pulled a 3 tiered metal contraption out of the ground which was full of delicious chicken and vegetables. The awesomeness of this was exacerbated in part by how unexpected it was.]
Jess learning how to cook Bedouin lunch during our first siesta.
Our Bedouin campsite in the desert.
The dining area at our campsite – definitely glamping.
Our second day in the desert started with a hike up one of the mountains that dot the desert. Though we started relatively early, this sun and heat was no joke, and we couldn’t do too much hiking before needing to find some shade and rest for a while. We eventually made it to a viewpoint looking towards the Saudi Arabian border (apparently) and enjoyed the epic scenery before heading back down and driving all over the desert trying to find a sufficiently shady place for our afternoon siesta and lunch break. [Editor’s note: Abdullah liked to say that in Bedouin culture a real man is one who can read the sun and find shade. This was amusing when it took him 35 minutes to find shade for lunch, taking us all over the desert as he continued to insist that 1) he wasn’t lost and 2) he’d find shade. What a prince! He eventually found an awesome spot where we took another 5 hour siesta (seriously) and worked on the blog in between eating, napping and climbing around some of the various rocks formations in the area.] Afterward, we were pleasantly surprised when Abdullah took us to the house – actually, nomadic tent – of a Bedouin friend of his who lives with his family (two wives, ten children) in the desert. We shared tea (yep, more sugar-tea) and sat on mats on the sand while watching his herd of goats and chickens roam around. It was really cool to see how someone actually lives in the desert full-time, and I’m really glad we got to stop by.
Did you randomly decide to take jumping pictures at a mountain top?…
…Yes, in fact we did. (Note that Saudi Arabia is theoretically in the background)
The two of us together, for good measure. Trust us, there’s more of these coming…
Typing a blog post (with Nemo!) during our second siesta. Crazy setting, right?
Inside the camp of the local Bedouin that Abdullah took us to meet.
Getting her wildlife fix even in a barren desert.
That evening, we hit a few more sand dunes, took plenty of jumping photos in the soft sand, and met up with a bunch of other tourists for sunset and tea before heading back to camp for our second evening in the desert.
Solo sand dune-jumping photos can turn out awesome…
…but the same can’t always be said for group jumping attempts (even if I actually look awesome).
Jess captured beautiful images of sunsets…
…while I simultaneously took selfies with our Bedouin guides. Win-win situation.
At this point, we’d been scorched enough by the heat that we didn’t feel the need to do another hike in the morning, so our very nice and accommodating hosts re-arranged our schedule for us so that we could head back to the village earlier the following day (as we had a several-hour drive ahead of us). We arranged to have two camels and a camel guide meet us in the morning, where we said goodbye to Abdullah and his truck-camel and mounted our actual camels for a two-hour walk across the sand back to the village. It was a peaceful and enjoyable walk, since it was early in the morning and the heat wasn’t too bad yet; plus Abdullah helped me tie my scarf into the local head-wrap style to keep the sun off my head and neck. We walked silently and enjoyed the swaying camel’s gait and the scenery before arriving back in town, where we “parked” the camels and hopped back into our trusty little rental car to head out of Wadi Rum and back up north to the city of Madaba. [Editor’s note: Jess may have “hopped” back into our rental car (which was truly “trusty” given how well it held up to the heat, bumps and speed I put it through for 2 weeks), but I most certainly didn’t. If you’ve ever ridden a camel for 2 hours, you know that afterwards you can only move slowly with a bow-legged wobble and copious amounts of pain as you curse your loving(?) fiancé who insisted on doing it in the first place.]
On our trusty “steeds” with our Bedouin camel guide for the 2 hour ride.
Views of the desert from atop a camel – not a bad life, huh?
Ever ridden a camel on a city street? Now we can say we have.
You think it’s difficult to park your car sometimes? Let me tell you a little something about camels and Wadi Rum…
The desert was stunningly beautiful and so peaceful with its endless size and vast landscapes everywhere you turn. Yes, it was hot to be in the desert in June, but I’ve always loved desert landscapes and it was nice to immerse ourselves into it for multiple days and nights, especially after the crowds and touristy feel of Petra. [Editor’s note: I completely agree. I’ve never felt more grateful for our amazing travels (and overall lives) to date and humbled by our place in the world than while in Wadi Rum. It probably had something to do with the vastness of the desert (pictures will never convey the massive size of the mountains/cliffs dotting the desert, or the sweeping vistas of untouched sand that we confronted at every turn), but also the simplicity, silence and slow pace of the day as well. In any event, I feel so fortunate that we got to spend a few days there – it was a highlight of our travels and a great way to finish up our time in Jordan!]
For real, the desert is pretty stunning.
As a quick ending to our time in Jordan, we stopped through the town of Madaba, a smaller city about an hour outside of Amman. Madaba is notable for a few reasons – first, it’s actually closer to the Amman airport than staying in downtown Amman itself, making the city a perfect first or last place to stay in the country. Second, it’s home to the largest Christian population (by percentage) anywhere in Jordan, around 30%, which means that more things are open during Ramadan (though by this point the holiday was over) and generally there’s a more diverse population and vibe. Third, and related to the prevalence of Christianity, Madaba is home to some incredibly old Christian churches, including a Byzantine era Greek Orthodox Church called Saint George with a mosaic map on the floor, the oldest known cartographic depiction of the Holy Land in the world, from the 6th century AD. The map is still largely preserved today, so we went to go see it – it’s a fascinating look at the geography known of the time, and includes landmarks like the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, and even places we’d visited like Kerak Castle!
St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Madaba.
The map from afar. Note how they constructed the church around it.
A close up of the map with Jess’s fancy camera.
We had passed through Madaba before when we did Wadi Mujib and found a great place to stay and some truly delicious food, so we spent our last 24 hours in the country seeing the map, eating all our favorite foods again, and generally hanging out before our flight out of Amman. That concluded our amazing time in Jordan – between seeing it during Ramadan as well as after, making it through pretty much the whole country top to bottom, and experiencing the beauty of the natural landscapes as well as the man-made history, it was an incredible trip and one I’d wholeheartedly recommend to anyone! [Editor’s note: Jordan was awesome and people should definitely visit it – in fact, it’s probably number 1 on the list of countries I’d recommend to people after our extended period of traveling. I’m grateful for the opportunity to experience the country, with all of its multitudes, and it makes me excited to visit other countries in the region in the future (we’re looking in your direction, Oman).]
Views of Madaba from the terrace in our hotel.
Jess loved this shawarma so much that she demanded we eat there multiple times. It stole her heart/stomach.
Next, we say goodbye to the Middle East (we’ll be back; there’s too much more to see) and head to Europe, our last continent before returning to the States. We’re flying to Greece for a few weeks of exploration before meeting up with Rorie’s family on Crete – can’t wait!
Because the desert is so damn awesome, it gets one more picture for good measure.
