We were really excited to go camping in a Bedouin camp in Wadi Rum. Our driver, Hani, booked our overnight stay at the camp so we had no idea what we were getting into but we were very excited!
On the drive into Wadi Rum, we were lucky to see the train that was used in the film Lawrence of Arabia, which just happened to be filmed in Wadi Rum. The train was parked alongside the famous Hedjaz Railway.
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| The boys were so excited to climb on the train we couldn't keep them still for the pictures. |
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| I think Ripley really thought he was driving the train. |
After another short drive into the conservation area, we left Hani's car behind and hopped into the back of a pick-up truck. We guess this was the "jeep" part of our tour but we didn't actually see any Jeeps out there!
Our first stop was at a natural spring in the rocks.
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| The spring is behind us in the rocks. |
Ripley desperately wanted to ride a camel and this seemed like a pretty good place for it. Michael and Hani negotiated with one of the Bedouin men for the ride.
Whether he wanted to or not (he did not), Teddy was scooped up and put on top of the camel. Teddy tells us that he is afraid of heights and he didn't want to ride because the camel is so tall, but he went on the ride like a trooper. This was the second time on the trip he was scooped up and put on top of an animal - the first time was on a horse outside Amman.
Aftering hanging out at the natural spring, we got back in the "jeep" for a tour of Wadi Rum, which means Valley of the Moon.
Our first stop was to climb a giant sand dune. It was so windy so Michael and Teddy were the only ones brave enough to make the climb.
We then traveled over to Khaz'ali Canyon, which is the site of petroglyphs etched into the cave walls depicting humans and antelopes dating back to the 1st century BC.
We then drove over to the natural Jabal Umm Fruth Bridge, which is the most famous of the seven natural arches in Wadi Rum.
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| Teddy stayed in the car with Hani while Michael, Ripley and I hiked up to the arch with our driver, who was probably there to make sure we didn't do anything stupid. He wanted us all to go out to the arch together, but I was too scared so we want individually. |
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| The arch from the top. |
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| The view of the valley from the top of the arch. |
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| Teddy being silly at the bottom of the arch. |
We then got back in the car and drove to our camp.
Our camp in the desert. The tents were a few steps up from a tent on the ground with mattresses on the concrete floor and lots of warm blankets. It was really cold and rainy at night!
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| The view from the camp into Wadi Rum. |
We couldn't believe it when we walked into the dinner tent to find two of our colleagues, Scott and Kate, sitting down waiting for dinner. Scott's parents were visiting and we enjoyed an evening of good food, fun conversation, and a few games!
Our host treated us to a traditional dinner, which he prepared over a fire buried in the ground. We had a lot of fun watching him dig it up!
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| I can't believe all that food was in the ground! |
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| Helping ourselves to dinner. Teddy was a huge fan of the smoky chicken! |
We were up in the morning bright and early for a wonderful breakfast of eggs and Arabic tea, and off to our next adventure.
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| One last picture with our friends from DAA. |
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| And back into the "jeep" for our drive back to base camp. |
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| Ripley really wanted the camera! |
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| Teddy told us that visiting Wadi Rum was his favorite part of the trip to Jordan. We can't wait to take him back soon! |
