We arrived at the Rum village in the Wadi Rum Protected Area after a one-hour drive from our day at the Red Sea beach and transferred to 4-wheel vehicles with partially deflated tires for a better grip on the shifting sands to get to our desert camp.
As darkness fell, we entered this otherworldly Wadi Rum desert which is home to Bedouins who have created several desert camps for tourists to enjoy the beauty and solitude of the desert.
After half an hour, drive through the desert, amidst the enormous rock formations, we arrived at our camp called Muhammad Mutlak Desert Camp. The Sheik met us and showed us to our “felt tents” followed by a filling buffet dinner. We had the option to sleep under the stars, but no one in our group did.
The Seven Pillars of Wisdom Rock Formation dominates the camp background.
Although we were informed it would be a more primitive arrangement, we found that the bathroom accommodations up the hill, had normal toilets and hot showers, and the dining arrangements were good. The electricity and hot water for the bathrooms and showers were powered by the solar panels nearby. Water was trucked in, so we used it sparingly. We even had Wi-Fi and cell phone connections—not very primitive at all.
After dinner, we sat outside around the fire pit and enjoyed the clear skies above with many stars, including the Milky Way. We even saw a shooting star while there. Unfortunately, the smoke seemed to chase me wherever I sat so I ended up heading back to our felt tent for the night.
It was a quiet, comfortable night sleeping, and when we awoke, I opened the back slider to see the morning sun hit the Seven Pillars of Wisdom rock formation.
This rock formation was named by T.E. Lawrence who recounted the Arab Revolt he had participated in back in 1917 to an American journalist who wrote the book, “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”. The Arab Revolt overthrew the Turkish Ottoman regime.
Here is a picture of T.E. Lawrence at the Paris Peace Conference with Emir Faisal's entourage. Lawrence is the 3rd from the right. The Paris Peace Conference was held between 1919 and 1920 following World War I designed to have the victorious allies set the terms for the defeated powers including land redistributions and financial reparations.
After coffee and a buffet breakfast, we hiked about 9 miles to see and climb some of the unique rock formations including a natural rock bridge where many posed for dramatic pictures.
"Atlas" Dan is holding up this big rock.
During our hike, we came to a cluster of hobbled camels and one took a particular interest in me—I called him Joe Camel.
We came to a small water reservoir that was still a bit damp on the bottom.
After that, we stopped for some Bedouin coffee, tea, and pastries on mats our host had placed before us. Our Bedouin host had heated our beverages by using some small sticks for the fire.
Our loop hike brought us back to our camp which was nestled up against some amazing rock formations carved by the actions of the wind and weather.
After lunch, we begin our four-wheel-drive tour of other parts of the Wadi Rum desert including other natural bridges, deeply carved canyons, and sand dunes. We are at the entrance to the Alkali Springs, one of the few places in Wadi Rum where water is present.
We stopped at one of the natural bridge locations and had some tea while some of the group bargained for various trinkets. Musa had me try on a typical headdress of the Bedouins.
We also had the chance to climb up one of the sand dunes only to run back down. Here are Sabine and Thorsten running down this sand dune ahead of me.
This is the third and highest natural bridge we visited. I would not want to be on it when it collapses.
Upon our return, the showers were hot, at least for those who took early showers.
We walked out to a nearby rock outcropping to watch the sunset and how it played against the desert sands and unique rock foundations before returning to our evening dinner.
For dinner, we were treated to a traditional buried earthen oven of vegetables and meats that were added to the buffet.
On our final morning in Wadi Rum, we had breakfast, packed up, and then had a group picture of us with the Bedouin staff, including the Sheik who owned this desert camp.
One of Musa's favorite activities--group shots.
Our 4-wheel cars joined several other cars leaving the desert to converge on the Rum village.
We transferred back to our minivan and then stopped at the railroad station and train that was featured in the Lawrence of Arabia movie to take some pictures. Wadi Rum has served in several movie sets that featured being on Mars and other science fiction genres, and most recently the "John Wick Chapter 4" franchise.
It was then on to Petra some two hours away where we explored one of the world's most treasured UNESCO Heritage Sites for two days.
sho
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel
I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads. I have also added other shorter travel videos.
That link is https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold
If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.
No comments:
Post a Comment