Recap: I (Chris) was on a business trip in Jordan. At the end of the meeting at the Dead Sea Resorts (see post here), many of our colleagues and I joined a tour to see Petra (see posts here and here). While one can spend a whole day in Petra, some of us were tempted by an offer of a desert adventure.

So in the afternoon, we took this side trip to Wadi Rum which was about 2 hours drive from Petra – 5 of us went with our driver in a minivan.

We met our local guide on a desert crossroad, quite literally at a point in the desert where two paved roads traverse, marked by a street sign.

Jordan has no oil (a poor cousin among the middle eastern oil tycoons) but it has rich minerals (potash) which are valuable fertilizers. We saw lone mineral processing plants along the highway and they are connected by these roads and rail lines.

Our local guide was in his early 20’s. He loaded us on the back of his truck which was opened with two low benches.

Then we just went off-road … and entered the desert !

Wadi Rum ( وادي رم‎) also known as The Valley of the Moon (وادي القمر‎) is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan 60 km (37 mi) to the east of Aqaba; it is the largest wadi in Jordan.

We drove on shallow pre-existing tracks at about 30-40 mph (I estimated, as we were sitting in the back whipping about in the wind).

The scale of this little mountain cannot be appreciated until one get closer and start to notice details of its features.

There are many rock-climbing tours on offer, we noticed at the hotel. Given the way the rock face has been eroded, there are many cracks and hollows where a climber can use to ascend.

Wadi Rum is home to the Zalabia Bedouin who have made a success in developing eco-adventure tourism as their main source of income.

Most of these photos were taken while we were clinging onto our seats and handrails on the back of the truck.

The photo below will give you a sense of scale of these rocks.

The desert is not flat and the visible tracks are drivable actually at some speed.

If the truck go off-track here, it could get stuck in the sand. The ride was bumpy at times but it was reasonably safe if you hold onto the guardrail on the truck.

We stopped by a tented village to have some sweet minty tea. While it was an installation for tourists but it was fun. It also commemorates the spot where “Lawrence of Arabia” was filmed. It won 7 awards in 1963. The real T.E. Lawrence who led the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire passed through here in 1917-1918.

While we were criss-crossing the desert, we noticed at a distance some high-tech looking structures. Our guide told us that they are modern tents for tourists and the facility is run by his brothers. I would like to bring Sue and sis here for a few exotic days of camping.

By now, how can you not think of Tatooine in the Star War movies where Luke Skywalker was brought up ? (That episode of Star Wars was not made here, however). This desert has been used in numerous sci-fi movie, the more recent ones are Rogue One (Star Wars franchise) and Prometheus (Aliens franchise).

By the way, I was happy to see where/how this aloe-like plant grows natively. Before this trip, I have only seen it in florists around the world as accompaniment to some cactus in little pots. I also saw a Blaps bettle but it crawled away too quickly for me to snap a picture. The desert has many living creatures despite its harsh condition.

Part 2 will have more pictures of the desert as the sun was setting.