Wadi Rum – Day 1: A Martian Adventure
WADI RUM
Day 1: A Martian Adventure
April 04, 2025
PART I
This was it. Our last day with the group. I was close to whimpering the second I realised. But at least we still had another long day of fun and adventure ahead of us.
And so, after a relaxed breakfast, we left the mountains of Petra behind and made our way towards Wadi Rum. The Arabic word wadi generally refers to a valley or seasonal watercourse, though Wadi Rum is far more than a single river valley. Often nicknamed the Valley of the Moon, it is an enormous desert landscape of sandy valley floors, towering sandstone mountains and exposed granite in southern Jordan, close to the border with Saudi Arabia.
Over millions of years, erosion and other forms of desert weathering have carved the landscape into narrow gorges, natural arches, bridges, towering cliffs, sand dunes and cavernous formations known as tafoni. The 74,000-hectare protected area was inscribed as a mixed natural and cultural UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. Its petroglyphs, inscriptions and archaeological remains document around 12,000 years of human occupation and interaction with the desert environment, with some of these belonging to the Nabataeans. Bedouin communities continue to live and work in and around Wadi Rum, maintaining a cultural connection with the landscape while increasingly relying on tourism and other settled ways of life.
Arrival at Camp
Once we arrived at Wadi Rum Village, we hopped into the back of a 4×4 and set off towards the camp where we would be sleeping. The second the village disappeared from sight, it felt as though we had just landed on Mars. The sand around us was a deep orange, while the otherworldly rock formations left us in awe throughout the journey.
I don’t think I’ve ever taken as many photographs as I did during the ten-minute drive to the Bedouin camp. Needless to say, a good 99% of them were unusable, given that the ride was bumpy, to say the least. In fact, I’m quite surprised I still had my phone by the end of it.
Jabal Umm ad Dami
At the camp, we had a chance to unload our bags and refresh ourselves for a bit. Once ready, we set off again – this time towards one of the region’s most impressive landmarks, Jabal Umm ad Dami.
Standing at approximately 1,854 metres above sea level, Jabal Umm ad Dami is the highest mountain in Jordan. It rises close to the country’s southern border, with views extending across the surrounding desert and into Saudi Arabia. Although climbing the highest mountain in the country might sound like an enormous feat, our route involved an elevation gain of only around 450 metres, meaning we had already tackled much steeper inclines during the trek. That said, reaching Petra had carried such a sense of finality that accepting this additional climb was harder than it should have been – especially for Rafael, whose knees were this close to giving up on him. Luckily, he was a trooper through and through and pushed on like a true champ!
Together with Delia, we had a local guide accompanying us to the summit. I’ve genuinely forgotten his name – mostly cause he couldn’t quite keep up with us and was exhausted by the time we were halfway up. I don’t mean for that to sound braggy, but yeah… We were that good. Anyway, we kinda rushed up the mountain, but the views we witnessed along the way were unreal. It took us less than an hour to scramble over the rocks and reach the summit. There, the Jordanian flag stood proudly above us, with the Saudi Arabian desert stretching out beyond the border to the south.
The vast red-and-white expanse of desert, broken only by the gorgeous rock formations rising from the valleys below, was truly a sight to behold. Blisters, bad knees and all – it had been worth every step.
The Stones of Serendipity
The hike back down proved a little more difficult for me, given that I only had one hand available.
“Why’s that?”, one would ask – if one other than myself were to be actually reading this. Well, the answer’s simple. Along the way, it wasn’t just views I’d been collecting. The entire mountain was studded with all kinds of stones and crystals. So, so many different kinds of stones! From pieces of quartz to iron-stained rocks that looked like haematite, I had my fair share to choose from as souvenirs – though, considering that we were exploring a protected landscape, I probably shouldn’t have taken any of them. Whoops.
That said, I’m sure a handful of missing yellow quartz stones won’t be noticeable. it would, however, noticeable to us. As I later explained at our lunch spot near the base of the mountain, these were the Stones of Serendipity. There was one for each member of the group, including an additional stone for John, which Lara would hold onto for the time being. As long as each of us kept our stone, I explained, fate would ensure that we all met again someday.
Complete and utter BS, obviously, but I figured they would also make wholesome little reminders of the adventures we had shared over the previous week. You see? I’m not a total monster. I can be cutesy and mindful when I feel like it. Also demure.
PART II
“I Am Not Happy!”
After lunch, we were ready for the second part of our day – a 4×4 tour around the protected area of Wadi Rum. Along the way, we saw some of the majestic desert’s highlights, including narrow gorges, ancient rock inscriptions, towering sand dunes and natural rock bridges.
Having said that, I think I speak for all of us when I say that the most memorable part of the tour came when the vehicle appeared to be on the verge of rolling sideways down a sand dune. As I freaked out and instructed everyone to jump out, Doug was busy recording the entire situation on camera. Lara, meanwhile, transformed into a typical Brit-on-holiday-slash-Karen and repeatedly exclaimed: “I am not happy!”. Which, of course, immediately became yet another catchphrase for the group. Meanwhile, Rafael and Hans remained completely unfazed.
It took us a while to climb out of the precariously positioned vehicle, after which we had to give it a push. The driver then lowered the pressure in the tyres and, just like that, we were finally able to resume our journey.
Sunset, Zarb and One More Night
After returning to camp, we made our way up a nearby hill, where we could finally sit back and enjoy one of the most magnificent sunsets we had witnessed thus far – contrary to Doug’s belief that the sun might decide to rise instead, just to bamboozle us.
Although we still recorded a time-lapse, I gotta admit that John had done it best – which remained a bit of a sore spot for the rest of us at that point. Dinner went a long way towards alleviating that pain, though, with the traditional zarb leaving all of us drooling. As Delia explained, zarb is a traditional underground cooking method associated with Bedouin communities in Jordan and the wider Arabian region. Meat and vegetables are placed on stacked trays inside a pit containing hot coals. The opening is then sealed with metal and sand, allowing the food to cook slowly underground for several hours. Speaking for myself, it was the best food we had eaten so far – and that’s saying something, given that practically every dish we’d had in Jordan had been top-notch.
Miserable at the thought of this being our final day together, Rafael and I decided to extend our stay by another night and join the group for one last adventure the following day. We simply couldn’t let go! Happy, exhausted and slipping into a food coma, we finished the evening with one final Yahtzee showdown before heading to sleep. What had been intended as our last day with the group had somehow become our second-to-last. Apparently, Wadi Rum wasn’t done with us just yet.
