Wadi Rum, 07/11/2019
Made famous through the writings of T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) and the movies based on his writings. Filmmakers often use Wadi Rum as a substitute for Mars in science fiction movies, as well as other Earth desert settings. Scenes from the Star Wars franchise ,as well as the upcoming Dune movie have been filmed there.
I spent two nights at Wadi Rum Nomads Camp. I slept in a small cabin made up to look like a tent, and we took our meals in a similar, larger building, often to the sounds of the owner’s music act.
The landscapes were simply breathtaking. Massive sandstone edifices rising up from the almost impossible flat landscape. Minimal vegetation, except for a handful of trees around springs and within canyons, almost everything was below a metre, but all to my botanical eye perfectly adapted to the harsh environment.
Ancient springs were marked with inscriptions in stone in multiple languages to inform travellers, a courtesy that would have saved many lives.
One canyon had permanent standing water, and inscriptions in multiple languages pictogram forms .
On the second day we took a hike to the top of one mountain, from which you could see the very edge of Saudi Arabia, as well as sea life fossils caught in sedimentary rock.
Before we headed back down, of course we had tea. I think it’s tribal law that whenever two or more Bedouins gather together, tea must be brewed and consumed. Often complete with herbs picked nearby.
It didn’t matter how many times you throught that you had seen it all, taken photos of it all, you would turn around and see another amazing vista.
The nights at the camp were cold, but incredibly quiet, insects being almost entirely absent compared to the Australian bush. There was also no Wifi or phone reception, which was good for a social media detox.
But all good things come to an end, and the next stop in my trip was Petra, an ancient city surrounded by a tourist trap.
Adrian's Got The Moose 