Riding Camels and Drinking Tea with the Bedouins: Travels to Dana, Wadi Rum and Petra

Last weekend, I ventured to southern Jordan. The Dana Nature Reserve and the Wadi Dana, the Shobak Crusader Castle, Wadi Rum, and Petra were the attractions for the weekend. Check out my Photos from Dana, Wadi Rum, and Petra.

   

We began out trip to the Dana Nature Reserve, overlooking Wadi Dana and located about 202 km south of Amman. From the moment I walked off the bus, smelling the fresh air, feeling the combination of hot weather and a nice breeze, and witnessing an absolutely beautiful view of the 320 sq. km of the Dana Nature Reserve, I knew that this trip would be nothing like I had experienced so far in Jordan.

Overlooking Wadi Dana was absolutely stunning. However after hearing we had to walk all the way to our campsite from the top of the mountain, I was not too thrilled. The walk was downhill so it didn’t require much effort, although you had to be carefully in your steps because of the loose gravel. The views from our hike downhill were beautiful as well, seeing Wadi Dana from different perspectives. We arrived to the Rummana campsite, where a portion of us camped for the night. Before sunset, we took an hour and a half long hike with a Bedouin man on the Campsite Trail, providing us with gorgeous views of the northern part of Wadi Dana.

 

On Saturday morning, I woke up around 6:15 am with my friend Matt so we could watch the sunrise. We climbed some rocks to get a better view and sat on top of those rocks watching the sunrise. It was such a peaceful and beautiful experience – wish I could do that more often.

We left Wadi Dana in the morning for Shobak castle. We spent less than an hour at the castle, as there was not too much to see partially due to its rather ruinous state. However, it was still worth the visit as the Shobak castle was the first castle built by the Crusaders in Transjordan.

Our travels continued with Wadi Rum – the highlight of my trip. Wadi Rum is known for its vast deserts and sandstone mountains explored with camels and 4x4 jeeps. We arrived at the Visitor Centre at the entrance of Wadi Rum where we enjoyed lunch at Captain’s Restaurant before hopping on the 4x4 jeeps. For around 2 hours we explored the desert of Wadi Rum via the back of a 4x4 jeep. It was a blast driving on the back of a jeep and we were able to stop at a couple places throughout the drive. Two places stood out to me: one, the “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” rocks referring to Lawrence of Arabia’s famous work and his presence in Wadi Rum years ago; and second, a large Bedouin tent located next to an inscription of Lawrence of Arabia in a large rock. The experience in the Bedouin tent was enjoyable for two reasons: first, I received tea which I am a big fan of; and second, this experience showed some inherent characteristics of the Bedouins, particularly their hospitality.

A side note with the 4x4 jeeps. All the jeeps were owned and driven by locals who live in the Wadi Rum area. After getting in and out of the back of our jeep a couple times, we realized that our driver looked rather young. Not like someone my age, 20, or in their 30s. Rather our driver had to have been around 13 to 15 years old. And this is no joke. We also parked our jeep at one point, and our driver left the truck and opened the engine cover – apparently our engine had overheated (all the other people around us were laughing, but we weren’t). Luckily he was able to fix it within a matter of seconds and off we went.

After the jeeps, we were on to our second mode of transportation – camels. Abdul Rahman, a 15 year old Bedouin, was our guide for the next two hours. Four of us rode with Abdul Rahman – at least for a little bit. One of our friends was having a difficult time with the saddle as it kept sliding towards the camel’s rear end. After a short while, it was obvious that this couldn’t last for 2 hours or else we would be arriving to the campsite when it was pitch black outside. I felt bad for our friend but luckily she did not fall off or anything like that. As we were finishing our camel ride, I did witness one of the students on the program fall off his camel. He was wearing a traditional cloak (not sure why?) and let’s just say that when he fell, his cloak moved up his body and all that was visible was his compression shorts (again not sure why he was wearing that – definitely better than nothing!).

The ride overall was enjoyable, although a little rough on my thighs. Our camels, all of which were pregnant, were attached via a rope to the lead camel that Abdul Rahman was riding. My camel, Rema, kept trying to get ahead of two of the camels by riding up faster in between the two of them. Well, every time this happened my feet, which were hanging to the sides of the camel, kept riding up into the rear end of the other camels – hopefully the camels weren’t upset about that!

Between the jeep and camel rides, I had the best view of the desert and I felt like I was really experiencing it as well. We arrived to another Bedouin campsite where all the students stayed for the evening. The tents in this camp were better than the previous night and I had another graceful rest. The evening was filled with amazing food, sitting in a large circle, watching traditional Bedouin dances and even a mock Bedouin wedding ceremony.

On Sunday we left relatively early for Petra – one of the seven wonders of the world. To be honest, I did not know much about Petra until this summer when family and friends would ask me about my upcoming study abroad plans. When I mentioned Jordan, they always referred to visiting Petra where Indiana Jones took place. So I had no real idea what I would be experiencing. And it did not help that our weekend guide, “Jerome” (at least that’s the name I gave him), told us prior to entering Petra that there were two types of people in Petra: the Bedouin and the Bdul (who lived in the caves of Petra for many years until being forced to move) tribes. He told us not to talk to the Bdul, as they are “very different people – different shape, different form, different size, and different color.” What is that supposed to mean? Thus entering Petra I expected to see an alien or something completely foreign that I would struggle to stop staring. However, I could not tell who was a Bedouin and who was Bdul, and I am actually content that I could not tell the difference, as it may have shaped my image of different tribes – and I found everyone in Petra to be welcoming, hospitable, and enjoyable to interact with.

Petra was home to the Nabateans over 2,000 years ago and was abandoned when the Romans arrived in 106 AD. From roughly 1300 to 1800, the Bedouins kept Petra a secret until in 1812, when a Swiss explorer rediscovered it. Now, Petra serves as Jordan’s most valuable treasure and its greatest tourist attraction.

As we walked through the siq (the main entrance to the city), it was impressive, especially to see the remaining inscription on some of the rocks, as well as the water channel and location of where a damn previously existed. Yet nothing beats walking through a valley covered by two lines of jagged peaks and from what seems like out of nowhere appears a magnificent gem – the Treasury.

After lunch we had a couple hours to explore. A group of us set out to reach the “Best view of Petra” – however there happen to be several. Walking to the Monastery was an experience. It took roughly 45 minutes, walking up the Nabatean-carved sandstone steps, passing local Bedouin families encouraging us to purchase one of their items, using the little English they know: “Buy one for your wife, she loves you more” or hearing the kids with donkeys available for transportation to the Monastery saying “Air-condition taxi, mister?”.

In addition to our journey up to the Monastery, I stopped at one of the local Bedouin’s tents, where a friend was sitting with an older woman drinking tea. He introduced the woman as his “grandmother” – she was not his grandmother yet he knew her well from his days as a Petra guide. She offered us tea and, yet again, I enjoyed the genuine hospitality of a local Bedouin. After a few minutes of resting, I continued the hike to the Monastery. The best view of the Monastery was further past its ground level. From one of the many “best views of Petra” offered by the local Bedouins, there was a perfect view of the Monastery, carved into the rock similar to that of the Treasury. There were also breathtaking views over the peaks down to the Petra basin and Wadi Arabia in the distant.

The journey back into Petra was quite relaxing as it does not require anywhere close to the effort needed going up. As I walked down, I noticed several donkeys coming up and coming down. However, people were only riding the donkeys up to the Monastery and not back down to Petra. Not only is the hike down a lot easier, but riding a donkey down seems to just call for a death sentence. I would not trust anything, especially a donkey, with my life going down on uneven and rocky steps and curves.

Overall, this weekend trip was relaxing with breathtaking views of historical places and gorgeous environments. It was definitely a nice break from the urban city of Amman where the sounds of cars and traffic permeate everywhere you are in the city. From this trip, I concluded three things: one, I dislike large groups to the extent that it is more difficult to do what you want to do since there are over 100 other people to consider, and it reinforces the tourist persona, which I usually prefer not to have; second, the nights sleeping in the tents reminded me of my love for camping and sleeping outdoors in very basic accommodations – makes me miss Grandpa’s Land; and third, the genuine hospitality of the Bedouins whether it be of their offerings of tea (which I love!) or while on the camels or even just in passing, is something that should be noted by every visitor of Jordan and even every native of Jordan – it encourages me to show genuine care and hospitality towards others whom I have never met.