Self-driving in Jordan is actually quite straight forward and something Callum was proud to do. He didn’t think he’d ever drive a car in the Middle East, but beyond navigating on the right side of the road and getting used to our tiny little rental car, it was very easy to get around and in fact, a necessity to keep costs down in order to see the country. For about nine days we paid $90 AUD to rent the car, $100 AUD for insurance, and $85 AUD for fuel. We also had to pay for parking in Amman, but that was only about $5 per day.
Leaving Amman, we first stopped in at Madaba, a town in Jordan known for or its 6th-century mosaic map of the Holy Land in the Greek Orthodox Church of St. George. This tile map is the oldest known geographic floor mosaic in existence, depicting the Middle East during the height of the Byzantine period. We paid our $15 AUD entrance fee and had a quick look around. Callum always knows about these important historical places, and I just tag along.
We continued on our way, taking a slower route in order to experience the Wadi Mujib, also known as the Grand Canyon of Jordan. This was a long detour, but the views on offer were spectacular. The next stop was to see a site Callum teaches about: Kerak Castle. This is a fortress that lies on a hilltop with the Dead Sea on its western side which leant to its fortification. Kerak Castle controlled herders as well as trade routes from Damascus to Egypt and Mecca in the late 1100’s. It was besieged by Saladin several times in the Crusades, which Callum talks about when he teaches Year 8 Medieval History.
After finding lunch and touring the castle, we finally recommenced our drive to a place I have been looking forward to: The Wadi Rum. By the way, the whole time in Jordan I was very lazy and not once looked up what ‘wadi’ means. I thought it meant ‘desert’ since so much of Jordan’s landscape that we drove through was dry, brown, and sandy. I wasn’t completely incorrect, but, technically, ‘wadi’ means a valley, ravine or channel that is dry except in the rainy season, when it becomes a river or a stream. A lot of places have this word at the start of their names. Apparently ‘rum’ means ‘sand’ so Wadi Rum could mean ‘Valley of Sand’ but it is actually sometimes referred to as the ‘Valley of the Moon’ because of its other-worldly appearance. In fact, it is the location of the 2015 film ‘The Martian’ starring Matt Damon (of course we re-watched it), where he plays an astronaut stuck on Mars. I do think this place looks like Mars rather than the moon, and our accommodation resembled what a Martian habitat would look like.
The Wadi Rum is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, but it is thought that it is the place where Moses walked from the Red Sea to the north of the country.
Environmentally speaking, the Wadi Rum is huge and spans 720 km2. It is famous for its enormous red, yellow and black mountains and sand dunes. It is a fascinating desert landscape that despite being a bunch of rocks and sand was one of the more unique places we have seen with our own eyes. We arrived at sunset, checked into our incredible bubble globe hotel room, and marvelled at the views the entire two days we were there.
We took it easy in the morning, enjoying our room and patio. I did a few artworks of the place while Cal did a walk to get an aerial view of the area. We then hired a driver to give us a four-hour tour. This is a customary thing to do, and many people do a full 8-hour tour. This seemed too long to be bouncing around in the back of a pick-up truck, and I enjoyed our half-day tour a lot. We met our driver’s family who lives in a tent like true Bedouins. They had a pair of camels: a mother and her one-month old daughter. We got to meet the camels which was a highlight for me! We then looked at some petroglyphs, had some tea in a tent, and listened to a Bedouin play a strange instrument that I think might be called a lyre.
We were driven around to some natural-built arches which reminded us of Arches National Park in Utah, USA. We scrambled up to the top of one which was a harder hike than I thought I’d be doing that day, and in jeans! We saw a few places where films have been shot, including 2019’s ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ –one of the instalments in the Star Wars franchise.
We really loved our tour of this strange part of the world and took hundreds of photos which has taken me hours to go through and process.
We would suggest staying at least two days in the Wadi Rum. You need one day to arrive and enjoy your globe bubble, and one day to do a tour. Just one night is simply not enough time to fully appreciate the area. We suggest buying some extra water and snacks before arriving as you are really at the mercy of your hotel’s dining room. It’s nice to have some chips and extra water as it is not necessarily supplied if you decide to eat lunch there during the day, as we did. Our time at the Luxotel was a favourite life experience which we are so thankful to have.
Travel Bugs 