One of the reasons I decided to do this trek, as opposed to going on a ‘highlights of Jordan’ tour is that I really wanted to spend time in the landscape and interact with the local people. Our desert team have been brilliant so far, waiting for us in a shady canyon for elevenses – coffee/tea and a snack to fortify us on our next leg.
When thinking about a desert, most people probably have an image of the Sahara in mind with sand dunes within a vast featureless expanse. Wadi Rum is nothing like this and over the course of the day we walk along open plains surrounded by the rock mountains, traverse through narrow gorges, cross a section of red sand dunes and spy beetles, lizards and birds in and around the sparse vegetation.
The main image was taken at lunchtime, where we spent a couple of hours admiring the view and resting during the heat of the day before continuing to our first wild camping site. There are eight of us in the group, with equal male/female ratio. Everyone was friendly, all from different walks of life but with similar experiences that gave us common ground. Sitting round the camp fire eating the delicious food prepared for us by Mousa, a local Bedouin and one half of our desert team, the conversation and laughs flowed.
With very little light pollution and a clear night the stars were amazing and we stared up at the night sky trying to identify the constellations (with the help of a handy app!). Eventually it got too chilly to stay up and we retired to our tents to get some sleep. Tomorrow we would go scrambling up a very large rock to the highest rock bridge in Wadi Rum 😎
Elizabeth Mooney 