Train used in Lawrence of Arabia movie
Seven Pillars of Wisdom, near Wadi Rum
In the truck driving to Wadi Rum camp
Riding camels through Wadi Rum
Al-amelah inscriptions, Wadi Rum
The Bridge, Wadi Rum
Chicken Rock, Wadi Rum
Watching the sunset, Wadi Rum
Playing Bedouin music, Wadi Rum
Barbecue dinner, Wadi Rum
The road south from Petra to Wadi Rum climbs initially out of Petra township to a high point where we stopped and viewed the scene over the archaeological site for the last time. The activity seen below appeared frenetic as there were thirty or more buses in the Petra car park and the crowds were milling at the entrance. The so-called ‘high-season’ for Petra is from mid-March to July and it’s about to occur. We were very lucky to have visited Petra on what was apparently a fairly ‘quiet’ day.
We then followed the King’s highway south where the terrain drops away some 600m from the heights of Ras al-naqab to the plains of Quweirah below. These plains are a vast expanse of pinkish sandy desert with pinnacles of sandstone rock of every imaginable shape thrusting up from the desert floor. This part of south-eastern Jordan is called Wadi Rum.
This is the land of (T.E.) Lawrence of Arabia where the desert, the mountain peaks, the blue skies, the pink red sand and the silence are all encapsulating and were described by T.E. Lawrence in ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ in the most evocative description as “vast, echoing and godlike”.
The name Wadi Rum is derived from wadi meaning valley and the ancient Semitic word irum meaning heights probably a reference to the enormous crags that erupted from the sands many millions of years ago.
Our first stop was at Wadi Rum Railway Station which is a small building on the side of narrow gauge line connecting a central phosphate mine with the southern port of Aqabah on the Red Sea. There is another reason for stoping here as on the rail siding there is an old steam train with two wooden carriages and a gun carriage flying a Turkish flag. This is the train used in the 1960s movie “Lawrence of Arabia”. The carriages are in remarkably good order and one is upholstered with plush material despite its apparent abandonment here in the desert in the middle of no-where!
A little further down the road we stopped at a point where across the desert stood a craggy sandstone mountain range with prominent towers or pillars. This unusual geological feature is the basis to the title of T.E. Lawrence’s autobiography ‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’.
After a lunch break at Wadi Rum visitors’ centre we took a camel ride for an hour across to Lawrence’s Spring where a fissure in the mountain provides drinking water for stock and humans in this parched world. The camels were led by camel drivers and were mostly well-behaved except Janet G’s which reared up and attempted to buck her off. Fortunately she didn’t suffer much more than a big fright and a small injury to her finger.
We then loaded all our gear into two 4x4 one of which was set out with covered seating on the flat-tray.
We drove around amongst these phenomenal mountain peaks and did a few short walks, one of which was onto a 10m high ridge where there was a natural rock bridge. We also climbed a steep sand-dune and the great view from the top was worth the effort. On descending this 100m high dune we encountered a large group of Japanese tourists some of whom were climbing but most were laughing at the difficulty they experienced in trying to climb in very steep soft sand. Many were wearing dust masks and all were photographing each other.
Another small excursion took us to a narrow gorge where we saw the Al-emeleh inscriptions. These entail a large number of quite well preserved Thumudic rock drawings of animals and scenes. One side had words written but unfortunately there had been very much more recent graffiti which certainly detracted from the value of this historic site.
The sunset was a little disappointing as the sky was a little dusty and the colour of the sinking sum was a blurry yellow rather than the blood red we’d been expecting.
We then arrived at our Bedouin camp where we’ll stay for two nights. The campsite is only 34 km from the Saudi Arabia border! The camp is set in a 100m circular sandy flat area surrounded by a natural amphitheatre of high sandstone rock walls with only one narrow entrance laneway making the campsite a hidden oasis. The camp is a collection of eight black and white Bedouin tents the largest of which is the dining and meeting room tent. Each tent is covered with thick black felt like material made from camel hair and stripes of white heavy grade cotton. The rooms are on carpet-covered sand and are very comfortable considering the isolation from running water and electricity. There is a generator for lights that come on for evening meal time and bedtime. Water for washing is brought in by truck and stored in tanks just behind the campsite.
After a camp-oven BBQ meal of chicken, vegetables and traditional Bedouin tea we all sat round on the floor with the other guests and chatted while one of the Bedouins played a six stringed lute and sang.
After a game of “Pass the Pigs” and a hand clapping game we headed for our beds which we were expecting to be cold but the tents’ insulation plus the thick blankets resulted in us being too hot!
Tomorrow we explore on foot the sandy deserts surrounding our camp.