Located at the top of the Gulf of Aqaba, Aqaba is the only sea port in Jordan. Aqaba itself is an ideal location for Scuba Diving, Wind Surfing and even Water skiing. For cruise ships, Aqaba is the gateway for its best known tourist attraction, Petra, one of the great wonders of the Middle Eastern World. This site is truly amazing and we were fortunate enough to visit here in 2013 with a private tour, just fantastic. We invite you to click back to this using the index at the beginning of the blog, go to 2013, March and then March 21st.
The other major attraction here is a visit to Wadi Rum and if we ever had the opportunity to come back to Jordan, this was going to be our main focus. Wadi Rum is a spectacular desert valley located about an hour north of Aqaba in the Jordan desert, which was loved by the British adventurer, T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). It’s beautiful rocky cliffs and brilliant colours of red, brown and orange set Wadi Rum apart from other desert areas. It is here that we decided to go all in on the adventure, I will let the tour description set the stage.
A one hour drive from Aqaba takes you to Wadi Rum, also known as the Valley of the Moon. This the largest and most magnificent of Jordan’s desert landscapes - a stupendous, timeless place, virtually untouched by humans. A maze of monolithic rockscapes rise up from the desert floor to heights of 5,700 feet, creating a natural challenge for serious mountaineers. Hikers also enjoy the tranquility of the boundless empty spaces. Bedouin camps are evident throughout the wadi (dry river bed) and these are still home to a number of Bedouin families who welcome visitors with the hospitality and generosity for which Bedouins are so famous for.
Upon arrival, follow your guide into a Bedouin camp, where the hospitable Bedouins welcome you. They will serve Arabian coffee before showing you to your own Bedouin tent. We were actually served a refreshing, hibiscus juice.
In the late afternoon, set out to view the sunset over Wadi Rum from the back of a camel - an hour ride that you will never forget. After this memorable experience, head back to camp and enjoy dinner. What is not mentioned here is that the majority of your dinner has been cooking underground for over 3 hours where they dig out the three tiered feast with great pride and presentation.
The night sky is a starry blanket, and you will enjoy stargazing along with a Bedouin astronomer, who will introduce you to his amazing map of stars. Again not mentioned is that this astronomer had five telescopes, of varying strengths set up to view some very specific sky features including, the crescent moon, Saturn, Venus and two other deep space star clusters that could not been seen by the naked eye. These telescopes were all high tech in that they did not need to adjusted for the rotation of our planet, they automatically tracked the target sites. He did a fabulous job.
You will sleep in comfort of your Bedouin tent - a once in a lifetime experience that is likely to thrill even the most jaded traveler - it is the stuff of which great travel stories are made.
Here are some pics of our amazing day out in the desert, as an added bonus we stopped at the train station that is home to the train used in, Lawrence of Arabia. Also over the past few years the domed tents have become very popular, really because the Matt Damon movie, Martian was also filmed here. Hope you enjoy, probably in a few parts…
Quote of the day, “Once a year, go some place you’ve never been before”. - Dalai Lama
The Train used in Lawrence of Arabia
Reception at Sun City Camp
With Jackie and Harold
This is not camping, this is a 5 star’s tent M&S
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