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Writer's pictureKirk

The Desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan

I've already posted several stories of Wadi Rum already:


Those posts were about specific events that occurred on this adventure. This post will focus on the desert itself.


I had a rental Vehicle to drive to the desert but it was unfit for driving on desert sand, so I parked it in a lot nearby and grabbed a driver and a Jeep to take me to my tent and through the desert. The driver was also my tour guide and photographer for this adventure.


Each day we spent about 4-5 hours exploring different areas of the desert. This is not an area you could self-explore, as I normally prefer, because iPhone GPS was not available and there are no roads or maps to aid. You are reliant on local guide's knowledge of the desert.



Wadi Rum lies about 180 miles south of the capital of Amman. The country of Jordan is not that large and any point in the country can easily be driven in a day. There are few major roads so it is difficult to get lost even without GPS.


The desert is huge. It is over 180,000 acres. Although it does get some rain, it's still pretty dry as you can see.





Looks like a this could be on another planet, doesn't it? Actually the several movies with a Mars setting were filmed here.



It can get cold in this desert, as you can see by my heavy jacket. I was there in January, the coldest month in Jordan. It was quite cold even under the daytime sun.



Jordan is not far from Egypt. As a result it is not surprising to see the same rock type formations as found in the Sinai peninsula as I documented here:






These bridge rocks were very popular photo stops. It's a bit of a climb up the rock face to access, but great views are offered at the top. Too bad I couldn't take any pictures from up there as I gave my camera phone to my guide to photo me at the top!






Looks like I'm lost? I would have been if my guide took off. I had no idea where to go on this 180,000 acre wasteland.





A picture of Lawrence if Arabia carved in the rock. He was stationed in this desert and was a big proponent for the Arabian struggles at the time. He survived the war only to die later in a motorcycle accident.


There are even caves in the rock formations of this desert. These are not limestone caves so don’t expect to see stalactites or stalagmites, but they are rather cool. A nice place to escape the desert sun which can be quite blinding at times.


There is more I can say about this place but the words will just get in the way of the natural beauty. I’ll leave you with a typical desert sunset I took at different time intervals:






I hope you enjoyed your virtual walk through the Wadi Rum desert!

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