26 » OpenRoad Driver
usher us past a collection of tents . We have reserved Martian Dome # 4 for our overnight stay on the borders of the desert . Inside , the front windows frame jagged pinnacles and cast eerie shadows on moonlit sands . Sleep quickly ensues in this otherworldly quietude .
WADI RUM ATOP HIGH DUNE : Wadi Rum conservation area encompasses 1,865 square kilometres . A view from atop one dune suggests its sweeping vastness and beauty .
The next day , sunrise unveils the stark beauty of the black mountains rising amid oceans of reddish sand . Following breakfast , everyone clambers into the back of sightseeing pickup trucks and onto comfy padded seat benches . Parading between massive basalt outcrops , our convoy parks below a windswept dune . Our Bedouin guides urge us to scramble upward . After we wade slowly up the shifting sands , our efforts are rewarded by sweeping desert vistas at the top . We stop alongside colossal boulders as a guide points out the camel petroglyphs that served as age-old way markers .
Our desert encounters conclude in a plushly carpeted , woven goat-hair tent . We participate in traditional hospitality , sipping glasses of sweet mint tea and reclining on embroidered pillows . The Bedouin elders describe their nomadic lifestyle , nodding and smiling , as they expound on leadership , clan values and desert adaptations .
WADI RUM SUN CITY CENTRE : Sun City Centre boasts delicious buffet meals in their giant dome . Boardwalks link desert glamping accommodations : Bedouin tents and Martian Domes .
Our five days in Jordan have proven to be extraordinary : day trips to old Amman and Jerash ; buoyant dips in salty Dead Sea waters ; swimming in the Red Sea ’ s Gulf of Aqaba ; ascending Mount Nebo to gaze over Moses ’ promised land , the Jordan River Valley . Even so , the splendours of Petra and Wadi Rum outshine them … and a world of other outstanding stops .
WHEN YOU GO
A week-long wilderness hike on the Jordan Trail takes hardy trekkers south from Petra to Wadi Rum , a protected desert reserve . Check out trafalgar . com for a shorter tour with a broad overview of Jordan .
Consider a Nile Cruise with Trafalgar ’ s Jordan extension at uniworld . com