Wadi Rum is a vast area of protected desert in southern Jordan. Its red sands stretch like seas between mountains of sandstone.
Jordan Tourism Board
The Wadi Rum —
"Vast, echoing, and God-like." These words were used by Lawrence of Arabia to describe Wadi Rum, almost a century ago.
courtesy Nick Wade
The Wadi Rum —
Travelers can stay at desert camps -- don't expect any hotels.
Jordan Tourism Board
The Wadi Rum —
Nick Wade traveled from Wadi Rum to Aqaba by camel. "There is the movement of the sun, and the interplay of light and shadow, and that defines your waking hours," he says.
courtesy Nick Wade
The Wadi Rum —
Wade says of camels: "Any creature that has the strength and endurance to cross one of the harshest places on Earth with a man and his supplies on its back, whilst drinking only twice in five days and eating nothing but thorns, does not deserve the label of unreliable."
courtesy Nick Wade
The Wadi Rum —
"Driving a camel is less an exercise of steering than of prompting the animal from one shrub to another," he says.
courtesy Nick Wade
The Wadi Rum —
Most camps offer tent or under-the-stars accommodation, and meals cooked in the Bedouin style.
courtesy Nick Wade
The Wadi Rum —
"Rock monoliths sculpted by nature to resemble the drippings of candlewax on a monumental scale."
