Thursday 14th January - Wadi Rum

It was a bit nippy last night, although we were fine buried in our sleeping bags.  The weather kindly returned to sun and blue skies this morning, so we got up and headed off to Wadi Rum relatively early.  There were a couple of Belgian ladies staying at the campsite who offered to pay in return for us driving them round Wadi Rum for the day, however we had other plans afoot and had to turn them down (plus we thought we may get stuck as neither of us have driven on sand before and we decided we didn’t want an audience to any such humiliations).

You have to cough up 10JD per day (just short of £10) to take your own vehicle into the protected area which seems steep, however we dutifully paid in the hope our cash will go to maintaining the site rather than into the government’s pocket.  Our grand plan for the day was to orientate ourselves within Wadi Rum via camel, however using the four legged variety rather than our usual chariot.  So it was with no consideration for our arses that we booked ourselves on a four hour trek and soon found ourselves setting off into the desert, Mike aboard “Naughty” and me aboard “Slow”.  Our guide just told us to hop on and didn’t give any hints as to how to ride them or suchlike, but we weathered the initial pitching and rolling as they stood up and copied our guide and hooked one of our legs round the front pommel for the trek (it did seem to take a bit of pressure off your bum doing this rather than just letting your legs dangle). SPOT

 
It is a fantastic way to see the desert, and we soon got used to the odd gait and settled down to enjoy the scenery.  Before long “Naughty” started his favourite pastime of suddenly trotting up behind my or the guide’s camel and trying to bite their tails, although my ride deserved it on occasion as he was a bit tardy.  The guide tried to muzzle him with a strip of cut blanket during our first stop at Lawrence’s Spring (Ain Ash-Shallalah), but he soon had that off.  Lawrence’s Spring (named after Lawrence of Arabia in honour of his evocative description of it in his book “Seven Pillars of Wisdom”) was a bit uninspired from our vantage point as all we could see was a pipe down to the valley floor, but its importance as a watering hole can’t be underestimated.  We might have to scramble up the hill tomorrow to see the spring in its more natural glory.

Our destination for the day was Khazali Canyon which is an impressive fissure that cuts into the rock.  We could only follow the fissure/siq for 150m as it then becomes necessary to have some rock climbing equipment to go further, but it was still an impressive sight and nice and cool too. 

There are also ancient carvings along the walls which include feet and a woman giving birth - we’re not sure why either.  We stopped for lunch at this point as watched our guide leg it after our camels as they made a run for it, hobbling soon put paid to their fun.

My bum was starting to suffer as we mounted our camels for the trip back, and then I managed to do my back in slightly when my camel prematurely stood up as I was getting on after a quick stop to walk up a sand dune to check out the view. 

I managed to stay on (must be all those years of riding that stood me in good stead), but Mike’s having to pick up anything I drop on the floor this evening.  Despite a bit of pain it was a great ride back, especially when we entered the village of Rum to the sound of the afternoon call to prayer echoing off the rock faces of the surrounding mountains.  The guide’s camel, we’ll call him “Hungry”, had been snatching at bits of vegetation as we trekked around, but he came into his element in the village as he investigated any possible bit of debris that might have been food (they were mostly bits of plastic). He scored big time when he spotted the remains of a sandwich someone had left on a wall and honed in on it like a scud missile and scoffed it in one.  We have learnt today that camels will eat anything.

Having reached our dropping off point we said an emotional goodbye to “Slow” and “Naughty” who completely ignored us, then returned to our proper Camel to drive into Wadi Rum to find a campsite for the night. We aired down (well, Mike did as I was finding bending tricky at this point) and headed off, largely sticking to the more compacted tracks left from previous vehicles, of which there are many as that’s the way most tourists get around to see the sights.  

Not only did we not get stuck, but we managed to find a great campsite away from everybody else and were treated to a lovely sunset. SPOT

There was a bit of a diesel smell as we pulled up and there does seem to be seepage from the engine, so tonight will consist of investigations into that before watching Lawrence of Arabia (oh come on we’re in Wadi Rum, it’s got to be done!).

Posted by Anne.