A Night in the Wadi Rum, Jordan 🌌🏜️

For many visitors, an overnight in the serene Wadi Rum desert is a highlight of a trip to Jordan.

🇯🇴 Most tour companies in the region offer a day of sightseeing in a 4X4 vehicle 🚙 with an option to sleep at their camp in a Bedouin tent ⛺.

Tours include a picnic lunch on the road and a traditional dinner at the camp. You can also ride a camel back out the next morning. Other hiking options are also available, but in May the daytime temperatures are already too hot for any extensive hiking.

While Don and I preferred the Wadi Rum landscape 🌄 to the Dana Biosphere Reserve, we found the area interesting 🤔 for a short visit but too touristy at some of the more popular attractions.

Whether this region will appeal to you or not largely depends on your fondness for the desert 🌵 and your tolerance for sharing the remote landscape with other tourists.

Arrival at the Wadi Rum Visitor Center 🚪

We had arranged a jeep tour 🚙 including an overnight stay 🌙 with Rum Stars Camp via email.

Leaving the hotel in Aqaba 🏨 at just after 8 AM, we easily made it to the Wadi Rum Visitor Center by 9:15 AM.

On the road into the visitor center, a couple of guys in traditional dress 👳‍♂️ wanted us to pay a 5 JOD per person entrance fee 💰 but didn’t have a ticket to give us, so we refused to pay ❌.

We still aren’t sure what the protocol really is, but not paying didn’t cause us any problems.

We then drove up the road a couple of kilometers and parked 🚗 in the main lot.

Idh from Rum Stars met us there and drove us a couple of blocks to where we met our traveling companions 👩‍❤️‍👨, a young French couple.

Idh, who would be our guide and driver 👨‍✈️ for the next day, was polite and spoke excellent English.

We boarded the back of a small pick-up truck 🛻 outfitted with cushioned bench seats.

We left right at 9:30 AM and started the tour of Wadi Rum.

Thankfully, the temperatures were a bit cooler 🌞 than they had been in Aqaba.

Hot in the sun and just very warm 🌡️ in the shade – I’m guessing low to mid-90s°F (32-35°C).

Attractions 📸

The Wadi Rum consisted of a drive through the desert 🚙 with short stops at a series of attractions 🏜️.

Short Climb up to a Spring 💦

Short Climb up to a Spring 💦

Goats 🐐 hide in the shade of a large tree 🌳 munching off the lower branches.

Of course, the tenderer leaves require a little extra effort.

Back near the bottom, an ancient inscription 🏛️ on the face of a boulder.

Cool Walk down a Narrow Siq 🏜️

Small pools of water 💧 dot the way. My favorite stop of the morning. 🌟

Sand Dune with Great Views

Despite the harsh midday light, the views 👀 are worth the climb. You also have the opportunity to sandboard 🏂 back down.

The young Frenchman attempted it but had difficulty getting the board going.

Camel Carvings 🐪🖼️

The carvings of camels on the side of the cliff were difficult to see in the harsh midday light.

At each stop, there were another 3-4 vehicles 🚙🚗🚕, all on the same route.

It seems all the tour companies do the same stops with only minor variations in itineraries.

Lawrence Outpost 🏰

An unimpressive ruin of a stone block structure 🏚️ with a vantage point above.

Lunch 🥪

Next is a lunch break in the narrow shade of the cliff wall.

Idh lays out a large mat 🏕️ and we are each given a lunch bag 🎒 containing:

🍞 2 pita bread

🐟 A can of tuna in oil

🧀 2 small processed cheese wedges

🍊 An orange

🥒 A cucumber

🍅 A tomato

🍬 2 packaged sweets

Idh makes a fire for tea 🍵.

We rest here for a couple of hours, waiting for the harshest sun ☀️ to pass. It’s warm but comfortable in the shade with a breeze 🌬️ that sometimes turns into a stiff wind.

Mushroom Rock 🍄🏜️

Around 3PM we pack up and continue on to more sights, starting with the mushroom rock.

High Natural Bridge 🌉

Idh points out a bridge formation 🌉 high up in the hills. He says people can climb up and walk across it. It’s a meter wide but seems much narrower from far below 😨.

Short Walk

And then on to a place where we could walk around a bit where we found this elephant rock, the start of an arch.

Walk through a Narrow Canyon

We then do short 30 minute walk through a narrow canyon. The sandstone walls are the same melting wax formation that we first saw in Dana. The floor is soft, fine sand that makes walking harder and harder as it fills my shoes and it gets later in a long day in the desert.

Bedouin Dam

Next we visit a Bedouin dam that was built from cement to supply water for the animals.

Natural Bridge Crossing

The next stop is the big phot op. All the tourist trucks gather at the base of a formation about 50 feet high with a manageable natural bridge crossing. The tourists scamper up the steep sandstone and queue for their turn on the bridge. The guides take the cameras down below for the best shot of their patrons.

Sunset

Our last stop of the day is at a point where we wait for the sunset. Don and I climb to a point with views of both the setting sun and the valley behind us. The colors of the landscape intensify in the low light. Not much color in the sunset but the hazy conditions do add a bit of drama. Idh has hot tea waiting for us down below.

For me the most pleasant and prettiest part of the day was the drive to camp after the sunset. Light breeze, perfect temperature and soft light, much too low for photos in a bouncy truck but a magical time of day nonetheless.

Bedouin Camp ⛺🔥

We reach camp at about 8PM and are shown to our Bedouin tent.

The tents are lined up barracks style and are draped in black on the outside with a garden of brown flowers on the inside. The bottom sheet is old and pilled with no top sheet but plenty of blankets. Still too warm inside we open the two windows and door to let the cool evening air in. We ended up sleeping with the windows and door wide open all night.

The camp’s common areas are quite pleasant. Guests sit on rugs and pillows by the fire waiting for the last two guests to arrive before we have dinner. Lots of offers of more and more small glasses of sweet tea. Be careful, however, it’s caffeinated black tea.

Finally everyone has arrived, 4 couples in all, 3 of which are European, and then us.

Outlets are available to charge batteries and phones. Bathrooms are communal with shower rooms available.

Dinner

Guests are invited to see the unveiling or the digging-up of dinner. A traditional cooking method where they build a fire in a drum in the ground. Once the coals are hot they place a covered platter of meat (chicken) and vegetables protected with foil in the drum and burry it in dirt until dinner time.

A spectacular presentations but not as succulent as one would hope. Too salty for my tastes and the chicken a bit dry. The rest of the buffet consists of the typical selection of vegetables sides and dips, many of which are too salty.

After dinner guest are invited back to the fire for more tea. Dead tired I opt for bed.

I didn’t sleep well and woke multiple times during the nights. The desert is gorgeous in the soft glow of the moon.

Morning & Departure 🌅🚙 Morning Photo Session 📷

Just before dawn, I woke up with a start to the brighter light of the rising sun 🌞. Other guests were already up. Beautiful morning, perfect temperature, and soft light.

That is until the camels showed up 🐪🐪.

Breakfast & Heading Back 🍳

The breakfast buffet included:

🥚 Hard-boiled eggs

🍞 Bread

🥜 Pistachio paste

🍛 Refried beans – too salty 

🧂😖🧀 Local cream cheese

🫚 Zaatar spice

☕ Instant coffee with powdered creamer

After breakfast, we say goodbye 👋 to the other guests who were taking a two-hour camel ride 🐪 back to town.

Don and I opt for the truck 🚙.

Flat Tire at the Visitor Center 😬🔧

Back in town, after we pay our bill, Idh takes us to our car, where it is pointed out to us that we have a flat time. Idh quickly helps us take off the bad tire. Turns out the valve is bad. He takes the tire and returns in record time with the valve replaced and the tire fixed.

We’re thrilled that the problem is resolved so quickly but are suspicious that it’s a scam to earn more money. Of course we tipped generously for the speedy repair, but if anyone has had a similar experience, please leave me a comment.

A trip to remember! 🎉🏜️

Debbie Bender and her husband Don