Two nights in Wadi Rum with a tour agency (Jordan)

We often travel without an agency, but in Wadi Rum, it’s impossible to travel without a guide. Whenever I have to choose an agency, I open Tripadvisor and pick one of the top 3. This time, we went with Wadi Rum Nomads, ranked #3 on Tripadvisor.

Part 1: Travel Journal
Part 2: Practical Tips

Part 1: Travel Journal

A little annoyance

The day starts with bad news. As I get ready to leave my hotel, I take out the cash from my wallet to set aside the 300JOD I owe the agency. And then, surprise: my wallet only has 400JOD, out of the 500JOD I left there a few days ago. Also, my little visa paper from immigration is a bit torn. Without a doubt, someone went through my wallet and, in a hurry, tore my visa and took 100JOD. Why 100JOD and not 500JOD? Because if I saw that all the money was gone, I would have noticed right away. But by taking only a part, they knew there would still be money in the wallet, so I wouldn’t count it, and there’s doubt about where and when it happened. In this case, that leaves two hotels on the suspect list.

In the days that followed, I thought a lot. The theft is mostly my own fault. When you leave your wallet on the table in a hotel room (even with a “do not disturb” sign outside), you’re creating an opportunity for theft. And this could only happen during our short absences for breakfast/dinner. I plan to write a long email to both hotels, but after thinking it over, I realize it would be completely unfair to the one that has nothing to do with it, and they’d freak out and suspect their staff for nothing. After looking at the photos I took in both rooms, I suspect the first hotel more, but for someone to dare do it while a security camera points directly at our door, they must be desperate. And there’s a Vietnamese saying that when you lose money or an item, it’s the fee you pay to keep your health. Besides, my passports are still there, that’s what matters most.

So I start this tour in a not-so-happy mood.

Tour kickoff, day one

We leave our car and luggage at Wadi Rum Nomads, in the village. We only take a small bag each. Two other travelers join us (an American, W., and a Finn, S.). After a long chat with the agency boss (a Dutch woman who fell in love with Jordan), we find out that the day two itinerary I picked is too ambitious, too hard for those afraid of heights. After struggling to crawl up the small mountain the day before, I’m aware of my limits and I’m glad the boss suggests a different route, more interesting because on day two we’ll visit areas near Saudi Arabia. S. will stay with us for day one, only W. will be with us for both days. Mohammed, a Bedouin born here, will be our guide. He takes us in a very comfortable jeep with a sunshade at the back. Many jeeps don’t have one, so we’re lucky to have it because it protects us well from the sun.

On day one, we make classic stops, many related to the film Lawrence of Arabia. I admit that despite watching it the night before, I can’t match any landscape to a specific scene; it all looks the same to me. We quickly learn that at every stop, we have to walk, climb, descend, walk… We all recently visited Petra and already did a lot of walking, so having to walk and climb again in Wadi Rum is very bad news.

Lawrence’s Spring is the spring with the highest flow (there are seven springs in total in this desert). Water is channeled from the source (in the mountain) to a trough where camels come to drink.

Mohammed explains that males are kept for transporting goods and tourists, while females roam freely in the desert. He says male babies can be sold for 500JOD (a fortune), but he doesn’t sell females because they have babies and don’t cost him much.

Later, Bianca, our agency boss, will share more info: they track them with GPS, because when they cross the border and get lost in Saudi Arabia, they can’t recover them. They have to wait for them to cross back on their own. To keep them from going too fast, she identifies the leader of the group and ties its front legs (loosely) to prevent it from running (they run very fast). The camels wander in the desert, and then their owner will visit them from time to time to feed them a bit (1kg of food here and there), give them water if needed; but they already find enough to eat in the desert.

Next, we visit a small canyon full of inscriptions and drawings dating back over 2,000 years. There are drawings that show us that there used to be ostriches and tigers here (they’re gone now).

We have to climb a big dune to get a nearly 360-degree view of Wadi Rum. This is where Lawrence of Arabia was filmed, but I can’t tell you exactly which scene.

Then we stop in the middle of nowhere. Our guide cooks with a small saucepan in the middle of the desert, and we have lunch in the shade of the jeep. It’s delicious, even though it’s simple (and almost vegan). W. will later admit that he’s as surprised as I am to see no trace of meat; we’re carnivores and not used to that. Everyone is super tired, and the 15-minute nap did everyone good. The silence of the desert is impressive and very restful. No traffic noise, no neighbors heard through the walls, not even the sound of birds singing. It’s extremely rare in our Westernized lifestyles to be truly in peace and quiet.

We’re delighted to discover that W. and S. are seasoned travelers too. Then again, who’s going to Jordan right now without being a seasoned traveler? S. is a student but travels a lot. W. is a freelancer in the oil industry. He took a sabbatical year like us before opting for a rhythm of x weeks of work in the US followed by 2 weeks of vacation. He lives in a mobile home so he can work for any client across the US. This is the first time we’ve met a freelancer who resembles us so closely. He tells us he’s found a niche in this industry and will never be unemployed. Thanks to that, he can dictate his terms to his clients and often be on vacation. It’s very similar to our strategy: have a rare skill; find your niche.

Freelance developers who haven’t worked on their rare skill have suffered a lot over the past two years, and there’s no improvement on the horizon. They had a golden age for several years; even the most mediocre developer received 10 job offers a week. Now it’s very hard to find developer work if you don’t have a rare skill, and you have to accept lower rates. So as usual, I advise any aspiring freelancer to find their niche first. There won’t be 36,000 clients, but the 10 clients who truly need you will call on you, and you’ll be indispensable, and never in need. As Geoffrey B. Small, a designer who sells overpriced clothes, says, his customer base is tiny, but big enough to support his business and still sell his four-figure coats.

W. works in the oil industry, so he gave us some interesting insights: for example, only 10% of oil consumption is turned into fuel. The rest ends up in cosmetics, clothing, and various products. I asked him about the gasoline shortage by 2050, and he’s more optimistic; he says many other oil sources are being discovered, just in the US alone, so with the declining global population, we could clearly surpass 2050. We then had a brief discussion about Savile Row and canvassing after I told him about my sewing projects. He’s very curious, so in every country he visits, he tries to eat local dishes, even if they’re not always good, and he has lots of fun anecdotes. Compared to other Americans we’ve met, he’s very open-minded. W. and S. confirm that the leveling down applies in their countries too. Which boggles my mind because Finland has always been considered strong in math. Globalization seems to give all countries the same problems, and the same challenges.

We then visit Lawrence’s House, named that way but it was never his actual house. It’s just a checkpoint as old as the hills. Here, the ground is slightly elevated, and you can monitor any movement coming from Saudi Arabia. We’re on the old route between Hegra and Petra, where caravans passed with their camels loaded with incense, myrrh… The Nabataeans built many checkpoints, supply stops, and protected water sources for these caravans. And you can still see the traces 2000 years later all across the country.

We’re then dropped off in front of a canyon that we have to cross ourselves, and Mohammed waits for us on the other side. Luckily, it’s impossible to get lost. There are just a few big rocks to climb. W. and S., perfect gentlemen, position themselves at various strategic spots to help me up.

At the canyon exit, a man offers us tea (we could have not paid, but we had a few dollars on us). Hospitality is very important to the Bedouins; wherever you go, you’ll be offered tea. And there’s a big dune in front of us, and you can climb up and then slide down on a snowboard. JB already tried that in Dubai and doesn’t want to end up full of sand when we’re about to spend two nights in the desert. I don’t like sliding sports, so we just watch other tourists fall on their butts or slide for one meter. Not an easy sport.

We then visit a very photogenic arch… but the descent is a bit tricky. I won’t even climb up, because I have no desire to struggle on the way down. From below, it’s pretty enough.

Since we still have a lot of time, Mohammed takes us to a wonderful place with breathtaking landscapes.

The sunset will be observed elsewhere. With so many mountains, it’s not a real sunset; we just see the sun disappear behind a mountain. Nothing transcendent.

We discover our camp. I forgot to take pictures of our tent, sorry, but you’ll find them on the agency’s website. There are two twin beds in each tent. Mohammed shows us how to wrap ourselves in the blanket like a burrito at night to stay warm (we’ll each have two blankets). Everything runs on solar energy (or wood). The bathroom is shared, and it’s a bit far from our tent (sniff). But the shower water is very hot and has great pressure. The toilets are clean. That’s a luxury in the desert.

We all gather in the main tent because it’s the only place with a fireplace to warm our frozen hands and feet. We stay there for a while chatting until Ali, the camp manager, shows us the “kitchen.” It’s a hole dug in the sand, where they put charcoal, make a fire, and then lower two layers of vegetables and meats, cooking them “smothered.” The hole is covered with a tarp and then sand to keep air from fueling the embers and to maintain a slow cook.

Everyone is thrilled to have good chicken meat tonight. It’s delicious!! Mohammed serves us tea all evening. It does us good, it warms us up. We go to bed super early because we’re so, so tired. Sitting in the back of the jeep all day and getting blasted by wind is exhausting. Add the blinding light and the desert dryness… it’s killing us.

We secretly envy S., who had the good idea to choose the one-day, one-night tour. Besides, we already spent a night before that at Wadi Rum, in an absolutely amazing luxury hotel, but that will make 3 nights in Wadi Rum + 11 nights in other countries, either near the Sahara or near Hegra, meaning almost 14 days non-stop in the desert, and it’s driving me crazy!!! I slather on tons of cream, but it doesn’t help at all. My creams have too much oil! Here, I should have brought water-based creams. My lips are chapped, my eyes tired, my skin very dry… I suffer a lot in the desert.

We try to look at the stars, but there are some clouds and the sky still isn’t dark enough. Here at the camp, the lights are very dim, and we could have seen everything if conditions were better.

JB will wake up at 3 AM to go to the bathroom and won’t be able to fall back asleep, poor guy. As for me, even though I wasn’t cold, I slept in a bad position and have aches everywhere.

Day two

The next day, we wake up very early (breakfast is from 7-8 AM) and are half dead by the fireplace. Mohammed takes S. back to the village at 8 AM, and at 9 AM, W. and we leave for the second day in the desert. The jeep will drive for 45 minutes to reach a spot very close to the Saudi border.

We see a low metal wire. It’s to keep camels from crossing and getting lost in Saudi Arabia.

We hike a long way to a viewpoint. Meanwhile, Mohammed collects medicinal plants, then thyme, and waits for us at the bottom of the mountain.

Coming down the mountain, we discover that tea is ready. It’s deliciously fragrant. It does us a world of good.

We cross another canyon, and Mohammed waits for us on the other side. This one is easier than the one we crossed yesterday. We’re all very tired but still manage to walk. I think no interesting thoughts cross your mind when you’re this exhausted, but as coaches would say, it’s exactly what you need to “live in the present moment.” By the way, we asked several Bedouins, and they all say they don’t think much about the future. They truly live day to day. I think the environment doesn’t allow for projecting either. Myself, what I’m looking forward to is in 2 minutes, when I can sit back down in the jeep, in the shade.

We keep making stops, and the one I find most interesting is another spring flowing from the mountain. We can see the water rising from a cave. The Bedouins have installed pipes to channel water down to their camp for the camels. It’s best not to drink this water directly because any animal can access it. Near the entrance of a cave, JB saw a carcass. It’s sad; the animal must have died of thirst just 2 meters from the spring.

We see some camels “parked” down below. Some tourists, instead of choosing the jeep, prefer to travel by camel. After doing it in Morocco, we don’t want to do it again because the distances covered are too short. Mohammed tells us there are tours like that lasting 7 days. What courage, honestly!

We have lunch again in the middle of the desert, then we stop at Mohammed’s uncle’s place, who lives in the middle of the desert. Three families share three large tents made of goat wool hand-woven by the women of the family. There is a tent for children and women (where they also cook). We (the tourists) and the men gather in a “men’s tent,” where there is a small fireplace and everyone chats around it. I almost take a nap in the tent. When voices are monotonous, and in the distance, you only see the color of sand, you know, my eyes close automatically. His uncle tells us that they move as much as the seasons. When there is more grass elsewhere, they pack up and move their goats to those food sources. W. is intrigued and asks how Mohammed knows when and where his uncle moves. You should know that there are places where you can still get a signal. And the Bedouin community is very close-knit; everyone is cousins, so when someone moves, basically everyone knows. In an hour, they can pack everything, load it onto their jeep, and set up the tents elsewhere. They have small water tanks, and water is delivered from the village by specialized trucks. Some have solar panels.

Mohammed says that Bedouins know Wadi Rum by heart. Every mountain has a name, so it’s impossible for them to get lost. If anything happens to his jeep, he knows where to find a phone signal and can describe precisely where he is. In the village, water comes from the groundwater, and there is so much that they even supply water to Amman, the capital. There’s no doubt there’s a lot of underground water because there are many plants around here. I think life in Wadi Rum must be more pleasant than in the Sahara. In the Sahara, there are dunes as far as the eye can see, while here, at least you can find shade thanks to the many mountains.

We have another delicious dinner thanks to Ali’s talent. In the evening, a Korean joins our camp. Like our Finnish companion from the previous day, he has done over a year of military service (he was a blue helmet in Lebanon!). We realize that many countries still have a long military service. Since World War II, Finland has always felt threatened by Russia (even more so today!), and the two Koreas are still officially at war despite the 1953 armistice. He is also exhausted because he walked too much in Petra. He is also a great traveler, but having less vacation than freelancers, he has to do Egypt-Jordan in less than two weeks. To get to Jordan, he crossed Egypt, then Israel, before arriving in Aqaba and taking a taxi to Petra, then Wadi Rum. We offer to drop him off for free in Aqaba the next day to save him the taxi fare.

The next day, after a good night for me and a very short night for JB (when he’s cold, he often goes to the bathroom and then can’t fall back asleep), and a good breakfast, I decide not to email anyone about the theft of my 100 JOD.

We are taken back to the village by Mohammed. We hurry to leave this arid place. I think Wadi Rum was never the problem; the agency was great. The problem is doing Petra – Wadi Rum back-to-back. I think next time, it would have been smarter to start in Wadi Rum, rest in Aqaba, then visit Petra.

Part 2: Practical Tips

• Two days/two nights with Wadi Rum Nomads (all-inclusive, and I recommend it): 150 JOD/person
• You can opt for a one-day one-night tour if you hate walking like me.
• It is customary to leave a tip for the guide and the camp manager. It’s at your discretion, but budget between 10 JOD and 25 JOD.