Wadi Rum Desert Adventure, Jordan

24 cze Wadi Rum Desert Adventure, Jordan

Wadi Rum represents an unearthly landscape. People call it The Valley of the Moon. No wonder. It is raw in its beauty, yet magical: filled with yellow and red sand dunes contrasted with the dark colour of the gradient base of the mountains. At night millions of stars illuminate the dark sky. This is a fairy-tale place.

The Beginning Of Adventure

The adventure started at the Visitor’s Center where we hired a guide with a 4×4 jeep. The back of the car had benches covered with comfortable and colourful cushions. On our way to Wadi Rum we were passing by a small local village. We stopped at the tiniest gas station I had ever seen. The guide took some gas, and we headed into the adventure: Wadi Rum Desert.

Desert Clothes

The clothes in the desert are important. Not only they have to protect from the hot arid climate, winds and strong sunshine, but also cover parts of the body as the Bedouins do. It is important to wear in a conservative manner to respect the Arabic customs. The best are light-coloured and loose clothes made of cotton or linen with long sleeves. The headwear protects the head and neck from the harsh sunshine, wind and sand.

Drink Tea And Be Happy

After driving an hour in the desert, there were camels resting in front of a big bedouin tent. The guide invited us to meet some local Bedouins and drink tea. Tea is important in the desert as the day is hot, and it relieves the pain and stress. Bedouins drink tea 5-7 times a day.

Bedouins

In Arabic Bedouin, the Bedou means desert dweller. The Jordanians consider the Bedouins pure blood, original population of Jordan. The nomadic Bedouins who still drive their herds of goats, sheep or camels across the desert for grazing, camp in one place until the food in the area is all eaten by the animals. Many Bedouins have pickup trucks to drive the tourists or transport their animals and other necessary things. They have modern gadgets, like Internet and mobiles but still lead the traditional Bedouin way of life.

Sunset Gazing

The last stop even amplified this amazing experience. Wadi Rum desert has towering high cliffs and stunningly shaped mountains. The guide drove us to the mountaintop full of flat rocks. After 20 minutes of waiting the sun started to go down. The symphony of colours was just fabulous! Soft orange light and hues of pink covered the desert and its mountains with a soft veil giving a subtle expression leaving everybody’s mouth wide open.

There is something meditative about the desert, its serenity and breathtaking views. I will keep its red sand dunes and the sunset gazing in my memory forever.

Vocabulary

unearthly –  seeming not to belong to this earth or world (nieziemski)

valley – an elongated depression between uplands, hills, or mountains (dolina)

dune – a sand hill or sand ridge formed by the wind, usually in desert regions or near lakes and oceans (wydma)

bench – a long seat for several persons (ławka)

cushion – a soft bag of cloth, leather, or rubber, filled with feathers, air, foam rubber, etc., on which to sit, kneel, or lie (poduszka, oparcie)

cotton –  a soft, white, downy substance consisting of the hairs or fibers attached to the seeds of plants belonging to the genus Gossypium, of the mallow family, used in making fabrics, thread, wadding, etc. (bawełna)

linen – fabric woven from flax yarns (len)

sleeve – the part of a garment that covers the arm, varying in form and length but commonly tubular (rękaw)

relieve – alleviate (łagodzić)

dweller – permanent resident (mieszkaniec)

graze – to feed on growing grass and pasturage, as do cattle, sheep, etc. (paść)

gaze – a steady or intent look (patrzeć się na)

serenity – the state of being calm (spokój)

breathtaking – thrillingly beautiful, remarkable, astonishing, exciting (zapierający dech w piersiach)