Jordan 🇯🇴 - Day 7, 8, 9 & 10 - Wadi Rum Desert
After the failed second day at Petra, we made our way straight down to Wadi Rum. It's a fairly straightforward drive, along a portion of the famous desert highway.
We didn't yet have a place to stay for the night when we left Petra, so we quickly arranged something on the way down. We did it the Jordanian way, through a friend.
What we didn't realise though, was the type of accommodation we'd just booked. It was a night in a camp, already properly in the desert!
It was like a little settlement, with a few tents used as bedrooms, a couple used as dining and living rooms, and even a proper toilet block.
We were in theory rather against the kind of semi-permanent settlement in the desert, but we only realised what it was once we actually got there.
The next morning we met with our guide back in village.
He's a bedouin man who grew up in the desert with his family. Now his brother and him offer trips into the desert, with overnight stays in their family caves in the desert.
Given the extent of the desert, most of the moving around was done with a jeep, to avoid having to walk for hours in the sand and the heat, even though December is far from the warmest time for Jordan.
The first day consisted mostly of exploring popular spots in the desert, so we encountered a few other groups of people, especially towards the start.
Throughout the day, Deifallah–that's the name our guide–took us to various spots in the desert.
This first day was very much discovery, finding out about the wonders of the desert, and exploring this intriguing wonder of nature.
Around midday, we stopped in a little sheltered area, away from the wind and sun. Deifallah let us walk around the mountain while he was preparing lunch. He came back to a nice traditional meal.
After a short nap time, we were off to explore again.
The desert in Jordan is nothing like what we usually see from the Sahara desert. It's not made up of endless sand dunes, but rather of huge sand plains scattered with sand rock mountains.
For the sunset, we went to a beautiful viewing spot with a very easy and tiny climb up to the viewing point.
After the sunset, we went to the camp for the night.
When we got there, Deifallah's cousin was already there, ready to prepare dinner and take over for the night. Our guide still stayed for dinner, but not for the night.
Since the full moon was out and the night was very bright, we went to walk around the camp, to enjoy the desert mountains in the night.
The next morning, we woke up around 8, slightly after sunrise, to a wonderful Jordanian breakfast prepared by Diefallah's cousin.
During the day, we continued moving around the desert, going as far down as possible–and interesting–before reaching the border with Saudi Arabia.
Once again, we stopped around lunchtime to eat and nap, while the sun is the hottest.
This time Deifallah prepared a nice Kofta dish.
Even in the middle of the immense plains, nature still lives. The sand is scattered with tiny trees and flowers.
At the end of the day, we were treated to an extra bumpy jeep ride, racing through the desert in order to get to a sunset spot in time.
This time we slept in another cave, because another group was using our first one. It was less sheltered, and not at the end of a mountain so there was less to explore around.
The morning was the same though, with a nice breakfast prepared by Deifallah's cousin.
He was also driving the most bumped-up car I'd ever seen, held together by a few strings. You've got to make the most out of your car!
This was our last morning, so Deifallah brought us back to the Wadi Rum village.
Before leaving, he gifted me a tour on a camel!
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