The Wadi Rum - Jordan

The Wadi Rum is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in south west Jordan.

Every year hundreds of climbers from around the world travel to the Wadi Rum to climb those rocks raising from the sand.

It has been inhabited by many human cultures since prehistoric times with many cultures—including the Nabateans—leaving their mark in the form of rock paintings, graffiti and temples. Currently several Bedouin tribes inhabit the area.

The genuine attraction of the Wadi Rum is the desert itself, best accessed in a hired four wheel drive or on a camel. It’s definitely worth staying overnight and camp in the desert.

Lawrence of Arabia spent a significant amount of time here in the course of the British-inspired Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire during the First World War (1914-1918). The area is quite isolated and largely inhospitable to settled life - the only permanent inhabitants are several thousand Bedouin nomads and a few villagers.

There is no real infrastructure, leaving the area fortunately quite unspoilt: apart from the goat hair tents of the bedouin, the only structures are a few concrete shops and houses and the fort headquarters of the Desert Patrol Corps. There are no hotels.

Wadi Rum is a short detour from the Desert Highway between Amman and Aqaba. A side road leads to the entrance to Wadi Rum, where you will find little more than a parking lot, a police office and lots of would-be guides offering camel and 4x4 treks.