Wadi Rum is a desert inhabited by Bedouins. Our jeep tour--actually a Nissan Backroad tour-- took us into the desert with our Bedouin driver, Omar, for three hours.
Lawrence of Arabia is it's most famous visitor. The British helped the Arabs kick the Turks out of Jordan in 1916 and Lawrence was the commander of the British army. He united the Bedouins and conquered Aqaba coming overland from the desert at Wadi Rum instead of attacking from the sea at Aqaba, which is what the Turks expected. Remember Omar Shariff as Sheik Ali in Lawrence of Arabia? Well, lots of Bedouin men look like him or Johnny Depp. Dark, kohl outlined eyes and extremely handsome men!
The desert landscape of Wadi Rum is like nothing I've ever seen. Huge ochre color rock formations loom everywhere and all kinds of other-worldly rocks rise from the desert floor like islands in a sea of sand--as someone else said--wish I were so imaginative!
A long time ago, it was under the sea, and early history saw it as an oasis on the caravan routes with the rock carvings detailing where water and food can be found.
Erosion has created some sites similar to what we see at places likes Arches National Park in Utah.
There is an annual horse race in the desert next week and the markers are out and men are practicing already. There are also camel races. These markers are all over the area we toured.
A large aquifer was discovered under Wadi Rum several years ago and water is now piped to Amman. At the current rate there is enough water to last for 30 years.There are building cranes all over Amman and new building everywhere so I would guess their predictions might be a bit off. Does this sound like a familiar story? We all have the same difficult problems to try and solve!
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