Wadi Rum

Landscape on drive from Petra to Wadi Rum - shepherds in the field!

Wadi Rum is where the filmed Matt Damon's The Martian and it looks just like Mars.  Huge red rock formations jutting out of the desert with all sorts of interesting structure that your brain sort of struggles to process.  Many formations sort of appear to be dripping as if acid rain rain has deteriorated them similar to what one might see in an Dali painting.

We were meeting back up with our friends on road after our day at Petra and a night with a local Bedouin.  As impossible as it might seem, with our friends leaving Amman and use leaving Petra, we actually connected at a gas station about an hour away from Wadi Rum. We drove to the drop point where we were meeting some other friends of theirs and their friend's brother and fiance. This meant our desert 4x4 tour would include 8 total adults and 8 kids. What a treat!

We board some beat up old pick ups and head out into the desert where they would drive us for a while, stop and allow us to explore before we would drive more. The formations that they stopped at all had something fun to do, whether it means hike, climbs or run down sand dunes.  Just scanning the horizon was a spectacle to see. It's like no place we had ever seen as the colors were so vibrantly contrasting each other!

The Race!

Just a little sand in G's shoe!

Kids having fun posing!

The kids' vehicle

Crazy G climbing

Group photo with our friends from Amman

Kids on a ledge

Children up crazy high with the moon behind them!

Dad showing off with a handstand up top!

Mom & Dad catching a moment

After much hiking and G climbing up anything he can touch we eventually arrived at our camp for lunch where we ate and rested a bit before heading out to another drive ultimately culminating in a fantastic sunset on top of a small rock formation. We sat for about 90 minutes watching the sun go down while the kids tried to start an avalanche by pushing rocks off the top of the mountain we were on. It was an amazing day!

Dad taking it all in

Sunset Panorama

G soaking in the moment

We drove back to camp and had a fantastic meal of ZORB which is a whole mean that had been cooking under ground all day.  Everything had wonderful flavor and was quite tender. Following dinner, the guides played some music and we had a game of capture the flag, which the dads were coerced into participating.  Oh to be young and able to run on a full stomach!

Zorb in the Ground

Evening entertainment

We slept in our tents and the kids decided to wake up at 5AM for the sunrise. They climbed up a 200 meter rock but were unable to see it due to another formation that blocked the view.  Either way though they were quite impressed with themselves for this amazing feat. Thankfully, no one was hurt!

Our desert tents at the base.. Kids climbed most of rock behind tent & as high as the lighter rock at the top!

Shepherds in the desert as we drove around

Our Wadi Rum Camping Group!

Wadi Rum was a fantastic experience and blew our minds.  We wish we had had another night to enjoy the unique beauty further.  Being there with our friends and meeting new ones made it all the more special.