Wadi Rum

One of the must see sites in Jordan is Wadi Rum.  We had done our fair share of research on the internet and people always said to spend “no less than three days” there.  Given our tight schedule, we decided to book an overnight-leaving time for us to see Petra, Jerash and Bethany Beyond the Jordan. We booked a tour with wadirumtrips.net.  At the time we booked, a night of camping was $35 a person and a four hour jeep ride cost $95 per car.

We arrived in Amman as the sun was setting.  After clearing immigration and customs, we procured our rental car and hit the road for the three hour and forty minute drive to Wadi Rum. We pulled into the visitor’s center parking lot and slept in the car until sunrise.

When the park opened around 8:00 a.m., we met our guide.  We placed our bags in our tent and sat down for a welcome tea.

It wasn’t long, we were in the jeep and riding through the desert.  This area reminded me a lot of Arches National Park in Utah.  Be sure to pack a warm coat, gloves, and something to cover your head.  The desert is cold in the early morning hours.

Although we enjoyed our time in Wadi Rum, it all started to look the same after three hours.   We started to talk and figured that if we cancelled the afternoon drive, night in the tent, and morning drive the next day, we would have enough time to possibly get to Israel.  We knocked on the roof of the vehicle many times to get the driver’s attention.  Finally, we told him we wanted to go back.  He appeared to have been insulted to no end.  We felt terrible about it, but we really could not justify freezing in the back of a Jeep for another eight hours. He finally agreed to take us back to camp.  We loaded our car and were on our way.  To this day, I have no regrets about cutting our time short in Wadi Rum.  We were able to get to Israel because of it.

The pictures below give you an idea of what it’s like.  It is beautiful.

~Bella