Wadi Rum, Jordan

Literally meaning high valley, Wadi Rum is one of the most spectacular desert location in Jordan.

The main tourist attraction in Jordon is of course Petra, although the Wadi rum is the second most famous tourist site in this region.

If you want to have the desert experience there is not other police like this. Here you can have everything from a luxury tent camp to a general hike with the local Bedouin guides.

In fact Lawrence of Arabia was out of this region and it is a famous site for his many exploits, during the end of the First World War, Lawrence based himself here.

One of the most famous rock formations in the area was called the seven pillar of wisdom and his then became the title for his book.

The film also had real shots taken from Wadi rum. David lean who was filming the movie at that time wanted to have the locations as authentic as they could be.

During the late nineteen eighties, this location became a popular destination for rock climbing.

The tallest peak I this region is the Jabal rum peak, this peak can be seen all the way from Saudi Arabia and the red sea.

It would highly recommended to hire a local Bedouin who will be your guide and go with you for a two or three day trek by camels.  This is a far better alternative than the organized tours by the desert tour companies. . One of the best things you could do is go to sleep under the stars with the grainy smooth sand under you and a cool starry sky above.

Riding a camel is something that you will remember for a long time. The humpty movement of the camel gives off a very relaxing after effect. The movement is very good and soothing for your back.  While you are in the desert especially if you are raveling fair distances, then it would be a good idea to alternate between sitting on the camels back and walking along. This is how the Bedouins do it and seems to be the best habit with camel back travel.

The nights here are uncomfortably cold, especially during the winters.  And during the summers, the days are blazing hot. Hence; the best times to actually go into the desert is during spring and autumn.

Wadi rum is also called valley of the moon. The valley that has cut into sandstone and granite rocks; this is the largest Wadi in the whole of Jordan,

Rum is Aramaic means high or elevated.

The tallest peak here in um Dami which is about eighteen hundred meters above sea level.

This area is now one of the most popular destinations among tourists. There are almost no Arab tourists here in this region.

Although over the weekends, his place is visited frequently from people from Amman.

Activities like sand duning, hiking, horseback riding and of course rock climbing; are quite famous and are commonly seen at various campsites at designated areas in the desert. These camp sites would be fairly close to civilization.

The sudden influx of tourists has promoted the Bedouins in their economic matters to a fair extent.

Don’t be surprised if you see the Bedouins using cellular phones and driving big four wheels SUV’s. They use this economy to further grow their business of adventure tourism.

In the village of Wadi rum, there are few hundred Bedouins in the village.  These have tents made up of goat’s hair and house designed in the wind tower style and now, they also have modern concrete houses. The village has schools for boys and girls and a police headquarters for patrolling the desert.

Some of the major films that have scenes that have been shot here are at Wadi Rum are:

Lawrence of Arabia

Red planet

And Transformers: revenge of the fallen.

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