Legend has it that the Wadi Rum was carved out of the earth by ancient jinn, genies who left their mark on the landscape before vanishing into the ether, taking their magic with them. When you arrive in the valley, that story is actually quite believable. The sky above is impossibly blue, and the mountains that litter the desert seem to emerge suddenly like great monoliths from the ground. When you walk on the red sand, your shoes sink slightly and you can feel the dunes shifting beneath your feet, constantly changing and moving. While on the horizon, you can experience one of the most dramatic views in the world.
It is timeless and ageless, awe-inspiring and immense.
Maybe the jinn left some magic behind after all.
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The name Wadi Ram comes from the Arabic word wadi, meaning valley, and Rum, the name of a biblical figure. The site is ancient, hostile (with temperatures reaching up to 45°C in the summer sun, and sometimes in winter), and yet has been inhabited for thousands of years.
In fact, one of the main attractions for tourists visiting the area is the Nabatean drawings on the rock faces, which date back over 2,000 years.
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Earlier this year, my friends and I went on a trip to the Wadi Rum for 2 days. Although we visited Petra en route (to be covered in another post), it was the ancient valley that really captured my imagination, and my heart. The beauty of the colour is truly moving, and on such an epic scale it’s difficult not to be bowled over by the place.
We met with our guide, who offered us tea while we planned our route: for only 50 JOD (just shy of £50) we agreed to a camel ride tour, jeep trip to various sites, another jeep trip to a sunset location, as well as food and accommodation for the night. Worth every penny.
We set off at about 10am with our camels in a procession, mine being the heaviest and biggest of the lot. I called him Apollo. What a poser.
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Later during the day we climbed up a huge sand dune and raced down it, before being taken to T.E Lawrence’s “house” – which is actually an ancient Nabatean building he used as a base during WWI and the Arab Revolt – and eventually ending the day at a Bedouin camp for dinner and sleep.
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The camp was perhaps the best part of the experience. We were staying in very limited accommodation: a sheet-iron “tent”, with some mattresses inside. So we took the beds and blankets outside by the bonfire where we’d eaten, and set up shop for the night with our hosts, who were sleeping there anyway. We even went for a walk through the sands, as they were completely lit up by the clearest and brightest night sky I’ve ever seen.
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As students of Arabic, my friends and I spent the whole night chatting (well, we tried) to the men who had lived in the desert their entire lives, smoking shisha and swapping life stories. We even ended up dancing with them to some traditional music that they blasted out of their jeep.
I left the desert feeling as though I’d found an old home there, harking back to my Saudi roots: the overawing majesty of the sights, the tranquility and complete silence of the nights, along with the genuine welcome of the locals, make it one of my favourite places to visit.
