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Tour of Egypt and Jordan with the Adventure Company - The Wadi Rum.
The seven pillars of wisdom at the entrance to the Wadi Rum.
The visitor centre at the entrance to Wadi Rum (Wadi Rum is 60km form Aqaba).
I bought some souvenirs here, with the help of the excellent Philipa.
We drive deep into the desert.
Our local guides and drivers, are the direct descendents of the people who fought with Laurence of Arabia.
The popularity of the area, has spread wealth to some extent, and mobile phones and expensive 4x4's are not uncommon.
That said, although 90% of the Bedouin own houses in the towns, they still prefer to sleep in the desert.
There is no doubting, that this Jeep is authentic.
I had expected that we would be roughing it in the desert, but I should have know the Adventure Company better.
The tented accommodation, out in the desert, was pretty elaborate.
As you can see, this tent has a comfortable bed with clean sheets.
I slept soundly all night in here.
We get the fire lit early.
An open fire in the middle of the desert plato, is a difficult scene to capture or describe.
One of the great monoliths, out in the desert.
We sit out in our Bedouin tent, our guide Aladdin, teaches us to play cards (I had purchased some cards at Dahab with different kinds of fish on them, so I donated them to the enterprise).
Obviously most people visiting Wadi Rum want to spend the night in a "Bedouin tent".
I think nearly everybody realises that these tents are not the authentic homes of the Bedouin, but are erected for the tourists.
It is nevertheless a special experience to sleep out in the desert.
Later in the evening, a few of us congregate around the (now much smaller) fire.
We go deeper into the desert our "Indi" Jeep.
The colour of the rock is amazing.
I spend a little time relaxing and enjoying the ambience.
It was fairly cool in the morning, hence, I am wearing my Fleece.
Up to the right, near this green bush, is the famous Laurence spring, Named after T E Laurence, aka Laurence of Arabia.
We wander around some truly amazing rock formations, the like of which I have never seen, anywhere else in the world.
Sadly I didn't get to see any rock bridges, they were couple of hours away by drive, and ours was the short tour.
Our next stop, Khazali Canyon.
This 100m long Canyon, is very thin, but with the light beaming in from above, is pretty exciting to explore.
One of the Nabatean rock paintings, drawn inside the Canyon.
As I leave the canyon, I see a Bedouin, selling souvenirs at the entrance.
A party of school children, were on a trip to the Wadi Rum, and they had left their quilts and sleeping gear with him, while they explored the Canyon.
He sold the souvenirs, from a sort of living room sideboard and one thing that occurred to me, was how he got it there ?.
Wadi Um Ishrin.
There are truly enormous Sand Dunes around here.
Everybody decided to have a race up one of them.
Having done a desert survival course, I know it takes 3 footsteps to cover 1 normal step, when climbing sand uphill so I stay at the bottom and take photo's.
After only an afternoon/evening and a day, we left the Wadi Rum.
There is so much more I would have liked to do there, but I am determined to go back.
As we leave, we see these Camels, living wild in the desert.
