Stacey’s Mini-Extravaganza to the Middle East

Wadi Araba Desert

Expedition Wadi Araba minus Audi who is taking the picture

Desert

The original itinerary for this trip had me set to visit the protected area of Wadi Rum in the desert between Aqaba (the port of entry) and Petra.  The problem with Wadi Rum, indeed in all of Jordan, is that it’s not very well set-up for solo independent travelers.  There is very little public transport within the country and since Jordan is so small it’s easy to taxi around (though that can get very expensive when traveling alone).  In Wadi Rum, the standard tour is private and there are no group tours to be joined.  The procedure is that the Bedouin guides will pick you up at the visitor center and take you on a jeep tour, maybe do a hike or some camel-riding or rock-climbing and then you spend the night under a traditional goat-hair tent.  Sounds fun right?  Or at least something interesting to do for one night?

Flowing water in the desert?  Who knew?

Sami and Ali making the dam for the swimming hole

Chantel enjoying the swimming hole

Unfortunately, since I was traveling alone it was prohibitively expensive.  I could’ve offered to pay the rate for two people but that would’ve meant spending about $350 US for two days and that doesn’t even include transport costs to the site.  I was really hoping to find someone in my hostel who wanted to share a tour but that didn’t work out and when I polled the local travel agencies they were asking for over $500 for a day and a half!  So, I resolved that I would not get to spend the night in the desert after all until Sami and his friends said I could instead go to Wadi Araba with them.  To be sure, Wadi Araba isn’t as scenic as Wadi Rum but it’s much closer, has many fewer tourists and since I mostly wanted to sleep under the stars and a full moon I didn’t really care about the scenery.

Lunch: cheese, hummus, tuna and some unidentified meat.  We tore off pieces of soft bread and used it to pick up the food.

Fayed enjoying the water while Audi plays the flute in the background

After our hike we stopped for tea with some guys that Audi and Sami knew

I think these flowers are oleander?

A Bedouin family washing in the stream

Playing with the super macro setting on my camera

Goats are funny

So that is how I found myself on an expedition into the Wadi Araba desert with four Bedouin guides and one Belgian woman.  I met Sami about 9 am and while he went for supplies I hung out at his family’s house drinking tea and observing the Bedouin life.  Now is as good a time as any to return to the history of the local Bedouins so here is some background.  As we learned earlier, in the 1980s the Jordanian government removed the Bedouins who were still living in the caves in Petra and put them up in free housing near the village of Wadi Musa.  The houses are all quite large with lots of rooms as the families are big with lots of kids.  There are still 25 families that live in the caves and though I saw Sami’s personal cave I get the impression that pretty much everyone splits their time between the Bedouin village and their caves in the hills of Petra.  Sami said that the families are still allowed to remain in their caves as long as they’re not in the main tourist part of Petra and since the city is so large it is easy to find places far enough away from the tourists.  All the local Bedouins were given jobs within Petra mostly as tour guides, donkey drivers and the women and children sell jewelry and other goods.  Further, the men are likely to conduct longer tours and treks for tourists.  For example, the following week would find Sami and his friends on a 7-day trek with a group of Australians.

The moon over the mountains in the desert

Interestingly, the Bedouins all speak multiple languages: Arabic, English and their own dialect for sure but often French, Spanish and German as well from working with the tourists.  Even more interesting is that the vast majority of them are completely illiterate…they can’t read nor write in either Arabic or English.  This is starting to change as the younger kids attend the Bedouin school but Sami is 25 and says he’s never attended school.  He says he never wanted to attend school because afterwards you have to get a confining job and he wanted to be free and work in nature.  I wanted to point out that Ali (our jeep driver) could read, write, attended University and still ended up being free and working in nature but instead I said nothing.

So back to the desert trip.  While Sami and Ali were off getting supplies, I hung out drinking tea with Sami’s mom and sister.  I so wanted to take pictures of the house but it just seemed too rude.  The houses are quite large which really accentuates the fact that there is nearly no furniture.  There was a TV with stand in the main room but other than that the house was empty save for some gaudy silk flower decorations and a few family photos.  When they want to sit down they grab a thin mattress to sit on and everyone sits on the floor and drinks tea or eats.  I suppose if you never had furniture in a cave why would you need it in the house?

Sunset in the desert.  Unfortunately I never got a decent shot of the moon once it was dark.

Sand dunes

More sand…

By mid-morning we set off for the desert and our first stop was near some free-flowing water where Sami and Ali built a little dam to create a small swimming hole for everyone to cool off in.  Now, I imagine if you grew up in the desert then this body of water would seem like a reasonably significant swimming hole though to me it was little more than a puddle.  Since it was only big enough for one of us at a time I opted to just stick my feet in.  Still, it was cool and refreshing and we had lunch there and took an afternoon hike and relaxed into the afternoon on our little mattresses.

By late afternoon, we headed out again towards the sand dunes where the guides said the best sunsets are to be seen.  The sand dunes were fun to play in…kind of like snow but  warmer.  We climbed up them and slid down them and generally had a blast waiting for the sunset and for the guides to make dinner over the fire.  After dinner we sat around the fire drinking gin and orange soda before falling asleep on our mattresses under the full moon and the stars.  It was surprisingly warm in the desert at night…I expected it to be cold after the sun went down but it was probably 2 am before I needed the blanket.  We were up early the next day as Chantel (the Belgian woman) needed to catch a flight and I needed to meet Celestino as we were sharing a taxi up the King’s Highway to my final destination:  Madaba.  One last post from Jordan and we will finally be all caught up.  Stay tuned for the last and final post here on the Mini-Extravaganza…

Ali the university-educated-Jeep-driving Bedouin.  Any guesses on his age?  42 if you can believe it…Bedouin life can be harsh

Our meal made over the fire…chicken with tomatoes, potatoes and onions.  Yummy.