Surprises beneath the desert stars
In a trailer for The Rise of Skywalker, the Star Wars movie that opens later this month, we see Rey racing across a desert landscape, light saber in hand, trying to outrun a spacecraft. The landscape looked familiar to me, and for good reason: I had visited this dramatic desert on vacation in Jordan.
Wadi Rum is just four hours’ south of Amman. After a long, flat and mostly unremarkable drive on the Desert Highway, you arrive at the crest of a hill to behold this remarkable site, also known as the Valley of the Moon. It feels like you’ve landed on another planet.
Petra is widely known as the crown jewel of Jordan but, for adventure seekers, Wadi Rum is the star. From the enormous red, pink and brown sandstone cliffs rising out of the sandy desert floor, it’s readily apparent why this place has earned starring roles as Mars in 2015’s The Martian, as the fictional city of Agrabah in 2019’s Aladdin and, of course, as Pasaana for the final Skywalker instalment.
As far back as Lawrence of Arabia in 1962, filmmakers have flocked to this site for its magnificent scenery. For tourists, Wadi Rum also offers a chance to experience the traditional Bedouin culture of southern Jordan.
I had never heard the term ‘‘wadi’’ before arriving in Jordan. It refers simply to a valley carved by water. But Jordan is famous for its wadis, most of which are narrow canyons that provide great hiking and an escape from the sun.
Wadi Rum is vast, the largest in Jordan, taking up 725 square kilometres – nearly the area of New York City – and extending south to Jordan’s border with Saudi Arabia.
Day trippers can spend a few hours taking a jeep ride through Wadi Rum with stops to hike and scramble over rocks along the way. But it is the experience of staying in one of the many Bedouinrun camps that is unforgettable.
In planning our November visit, we were overwhelmed with the number of options for camps (more than 70), and were briefly tempted by the fancy biodome-style camps (some with airconditioning and hot tubs) that have invaded Wadi Rum in recent years. We would later learn that the locals do not look kindly on these establishments, as they are not locally owned. But after looking through websites and reviews, we ultimately opted for a traditional camp, aptly named Wadi Rum Bedouin Camp.
Once we had made our reservation, the owner, Mohammed, who was born and raised in Wadi Rum, emailed us instructions to arrive at the Rum Village Rest Stop by 2pm. There, we would meet our guide for a jeep tour of desert highlights before heading to the camp for the evening.
A row of four-wheel-drive pickup trucks were waiting at the entrance to the rest stop. We slowed to a stop, rolled down our window and spoke to the first driver we saw. ‘‘We’re here for Bedouin camp,’’ we said cautiously.
‘‘Yes, I’m Mohammed’s cousin. He told me to come meet you. Come with me.’’
Carrying only what we needed for the day and overnight, the six of us climbed into the back of the truck, which was outfitted with a shade cover, ready to explore. Our driver wore a traditional dishdasha, a long white robe, with a red-and-white scarf – the traditional kaffiyeh – atop his head.
We had bought similar scarves for ourselves at a highway rest stop, and it did not take long for us to see how essential they would be in the desert.
We would meet many of Mohammed’s other relatives during our stay in the camp – the camel herder, the cook, and others who popped in and out with various messages and supplies. These extended Bedouin families all used to live a nomadic life in traditional goat-hair tents, within the confines of the Wadi Rum protected area, herding goats and camels.
But as wealth from tourism has spread through the community, many have moved to cement houses in the town of Rum, just outside the park boundary. Mohammed later told us there are now just five Bedouin families still living the traditional lifestyle in the desert.
We opted for a two-hour tour, although with the vastness of Wadi Rum you could easily spend more time. We began our bouncy drive into the desert, and were all soon reaching for the grab bars and pulling out our scarves to keep errant hair and swirling sand out of our eyes. It’s an exhilarating drive, and the kids in our group thought they’d just boarded the best amusement park ride ever.
We had time to properly adjust our scarves at the first stop on our tour – the Lawrence Spring, supposedly where British officer T E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) camped during the great Arab Revolt of 1917-1918, and where today’s Wadi Rum camels rest and replenish their reserves with the spring water. It was Lawrence’s time here that first drew Western tourists to Wadi Rum, although inhabitants date to prehistoric times.
Next, we were driven to a narrow gorge, where we ascended a few sandstone steps and entered a cramped passageway where ancient Nabatean