Waddi Rum is a desert in the middle of the most unique and barren mountains. The mountains are rough and craggy with absolutely no vegetation on them. The scenes are incredible and it is the valley were the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" was filmed.
We drove into the desert to what looke like a large Bedouin camp and got off the bus. From there we got on jeeps, or more correctly 20 or 30 year old Toyota Desiel four wheel drive pickup trucks and they took us out into the desert. Some of the group started the trip on a camel ride (not me) and met us at our first stop.
The first stop was a desert oasis. Height up the side of a barren mountain a spring came out of the rock. The Bedouin people has capped the spring, because a few feet after it came up it disappeared back into the ground, and ran a plastic pipe down the side of the mountain to a holding talk and a watering trough for the camels and sheep. We explored some rock carvings which based on the writing and alphabet used were written into the stone by caraven traders pre-Christ.
When the people on camals finally caught up to us, we all piled into the back of the trucks and again headed off into the desert.
Our next stop was a sand dune. Because of the mount of iron in the rock there the sand is a deep red.
While it was hot, the sand was actually quite cool as it had rained there and the first four inches of sand were damp. Below the dune we were served a Bedouin tea that was a black team that they added a spoonful of a cinnamon and sage and cadamon or some such spice to a whole pot of the tea. It was very good. They were offering bags of the spice mix and I thought that this is something the family at home might enjoy, but hesitated in making the decision and before I knew it we were on our way. (And of course, I have not seen it for sale again anywhere! Aargh...)
We went to a sand dune, to a spring, and then to our campsite.
Tents. perminant ones, for sure, but tents. The place we eat was an open one side tent, and the washrooms were two sinks and three "Stalls." All was shared with men and women. All 33 of us.
We ended up going for a walk to some nearby spectacular rock formations and then they fed us a supper cooked over coals in the ground, veggies, chicken and lamb.
No power. Could not put TP in the toilet (shades of D.R.) and it got very cold. They gave us lots of blankets so kept warm.
In the morning we got up, had breakfast of tea and yogart and pita bread and jeeped back to the bus.
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