Wadi Rum
Some 70 kilometers
northeast of Aqaba lies Wadi Rum, a vast silent place that is both
romantic and extremely beautiful. Massive mountains rise vertically
out of the pink desert sand, which separate one dark mass from
another. The faces of these sheer rock cliffs have been eroded by
the wind into faces of men, animals and monsters. Everywhere in this
strange and empty place are indications of man's presence since the
earliest known times. Scattered around are flint hand axes, while on
the rocks at the feet of the mountains the names of ancient
travellers are scratched. In the center of the valley an elaborately
carved temple bears witness that Wadi Rum was once a holy place for
Nabateans.
Today the major distraction in route to Aqaba
is the fabled Wadi Rum. As you near Wadi Rum, look to the left or
to the north, and you will see the Seven Pillars of Wisdom. These
natural columns are Huge and vary in height. The true size of the
mountains at Wadi Rum is only realized when a human or animal form
gives the vastness of perspective. Life does not seem to have
changed in Rum for a long time. The pace is slow and tourist
activities tend to centre on the rest house. No more than a
cluster of Bedouin tents and basic houses make up Rum.
There is no feeling to compare with being in
the wilderness, with pinkish sand beneath your feet and no sound
but the wind cutting across the surface of the rocks.
Daybreak at Wadi Rum must surely be one of
life's greatest experiences. A landscape whose likeness seems more
lunar than earthly. With its rosy, yet pallid, complexion, the sky
is vast and seems as forbidding as the wilderness beneath it.
As you enter Rum you will pass the small fort
which looks best for Beau Geste. It is home to the elite Desert
Patrol, whose corps watch over Jordan's eastern deserts. Visitors
are always welcomed and, in the ritualistic fashion of the desert,
offered a cup of cardamom flavored coffee or hot sweet tea.
Wadi Rum's immensity is hard to leave. The
longer time you spend there the more you become attached to it and
the more you long for it when you have gone. The valley of the
Moon makes man tremble at the power and majesty of Nature.
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