After a busy week of classes, most of my group went on yet another weekend excursion, this time to a place called Wadi Rum. Wadi Rum is a desert in the south of Jordan that extends into Saudi Arabia. It is a place simultaneously desolate and beautiful. A 4x4 tour took us though the desert, hemmed on all sides by immense cliffs jutting out of the earth in fascinating formations. Even the sand in Wadi Rum is unique, as it ranges from beige, to orange, and even red.
In addition to it's natural beauty, Wadi Rum is a place that has been long romanticized by the actions of Lawrence of Arabia during World War I. Lawrence of Arabia, a British army officer, aided the successful Arab Revolt against the Ottomans that took place during the war. The Ottomans sided with the Germans and the Austro-Hungarian Empire against Britain, France, and Russia, so it was in Britain's interest to facilitate a revolt against the Ottomans. From their base in Wadi Rum, Lawrence and the Arab forces conquered Aqaba (where I was last weekend), and advanced all the way up to Damascus (in modern day Syria).
Wadi Rum is about a 6 hour drive south of Irbid. We left Irbid at about 7:30am on Friday morning and arrived in Wadi Rum close to 1:30pm. When we got there, we piled into old rickety trucks and set off into the desert. The tour took about 4 - 4 1/2 hours and ended at a camp site where we watched the sunset, ate a meal prepared by some local bedouins, and slept outside under the stars. We actually didn't do that much sleeping though. Most of us were so caught up in the beauty of the scenery that we stayed up until like 2:30am and were up by 6:30am. Those 4 hours of sleep were far from relaxing. As we were warned, the desert gets pretty cold at night - unfortunately I returned to the campsite too late to get a blanket, so it got pretty chilly! In the morning we woke up, soaked up the sunrise, had some breakfast, and headed back to Irbid. It was a fantastic trip! I was completely in awe of the stark beauty of the Wadi, and I had a long time to sit and ponder many things under the stars.
Here are some pictures. As pretty as some of them are, they simply (and sadly) do not do justice to the awesome expanses and monstrous mountains that they depict.
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| Heading into the desert... |
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| "Lawrence's Spring." This spring is allegedly the place where Lawrence of Arabia and the Arab forces got their water from. |
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| Our sweet ride...nearly 30 years old and still kickin! |
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| Some petroglyphs from either the Nabateans or the Thamuds |
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| Sandstorm!!! Well..maybe it wasn't that exciting, but it was kind of cool. |
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| Most of the group (I took the picture from the top of a cliff, so I'm not in it) |
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| One of the natural bridges |
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| Our guide informs our group about what we are seeing |
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| Some pictures during the sunset... |
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| Our camp...we all slept outside in the middle of those tents. |
Pretty cool. The first few pictures look like Abiquiu, New Mexico. I liked the petroglyphs also--they reminded me of the ones we saw at Bandelier National Monument in NM last summer.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy Jerusalem!
after you said "old rickety trucks" I saw that Jeep in the first picture and thought to myself "that thing is in much better condition than mine is!" but then I saw the other truck. idk though, it seems pretty awesome even if you say it was rickety. what would you say the ratio of stars visible in the desert to stars visible here is? also, why no pictures? also, be excited to come home...if for nothing else but to hear what happened to sean a week ago when we went to the casino! also, I apologize for starting most of the sentences in this post with "also"
ReplyDeleteYeah, the trucks were rickety, but I think it made the experience better! Unfortunately we weren't able to see many stars because the moon was full and very bright, so it drowned out a lot of the stars. I was hoping to see more - I would imagine that many more stars are visible in the desert than are visible at home.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to hearing the story about Sean when I come home, lol!