Camping in Wadi Rum, or basically sleeping in it. Can it be good, being overnight in a desert?
Few years ago, I visited Jordan and also Wadi Rum in summer. Most people are just staying a night. I decided to stay four nights, but how was it?
What and where is Wadi Rum?
Wadi Rum is a desert region, near the port city Aqaba. It is one of the most famous tourist destinations, one of the reasons is that Petra, one of the world’s wonders, is found not too far away.
Most people come to Wadi-Rum, to sleep a night under the stars. Not having much light around you, because you are in a desert in nowhere, it helps to get great results!
The desert is not only covered in sand, you can also find many mountains out of Sandstone, which are all over the place.
What is Wadi Rum famous for?
Wadi Rum is famous for its beauty, which was presented in some movies. For example, The Martian was filmed in this desert. When I went it was the movie, which everyone talked about. Due to this movie, the desert got more international attention. The number of tourists went way higher.
Now even movies like Star Wars or Dune were filmed in this desert and a high amount of tourists are visiting this place every year.
There are still a small number of Bedouins living in the region, besides the one working in the camps. It was always a place where different cultures lived, which you can see, when looking at the mural paintings from back then.
How does sleeping work in the desert?
Most people are choosing one of the many options, by going to a campground. There are many different options, depending on how much you want to spend. Starting with little huts out of metal, over huts out of glass to look into the sky at night, to a luxury resort thing.
I heard from one person that sleeping with your own equipment is durable, but during that time I didn’t own a tent. Now the situation would have been different.
I chose to go into one of the cheapest places, which was fine for sleeping and waking up not too late, due to the heat in the morning. With around 10 different huts, this place was surrounded on the one side, by mountains and on the other with wide-ranging desert.
How to get to Wadi Rum?
You can get there with a rental car and park that is usually outside of the desert, because you are most likely getting picked up from the entry of the national park.
Jordan is also a great country to do hitchhiking, so that could be a cheaper option to do so. Quite a few people I know did that already. The Jordan population is really welcoming and super friendly, so even hitchhiking for a woman by herself is no problem.
I was actually picked up from Aqaba by the owner of the camp, because he was buying food in the town. Perfect for me.
The 50 km ride was interesting, by going out of the city and slowly getting into the desert. After a while we went off the street, to go off road to reach our destination after a while.
In the desert, you need an off road-vehicle, otherwise it could end badly for you and the car.
Important information, before getting into the desert
It of course always depends where you stay, but it is possible that food is not included in the stay, for my stay it was like that. The food was not expensive, but when you want to save money, then you can just bring some food with you, same with water.
There will be no shops nearby, so you just have the options of taking your own things, buying it at the camp or skipping meals.
- Take long clothes, important for the night and also can help during the day, to handle the heat better.
- All of your clothes are going to stink, at least after four nights.
- When you are doing a walk at night, be careful you can’t see distances well anymore. Things are further away, then they look.
- There is in general not much to do and not really signal, so just try to relax.
- It is possible, depending where you are staying, that not much water or electricity will be available.
- Flies can be everywhere, which could be disturbing the peace during the day.
Best time to travel to Wadi Rum?
Generally speaking for the Middle East, don’t be like me, travel there not in summer, when you don’t want to suffer. It can be easily over 40 degrees.
For a trip specially to Wadi Rum, a desert, you should maybe not travel there in winter, because at night the temperatures are getting cold, which is fine in summer. I would say travel there in spring or autumn. You will be able to handle the day well, without being afraid of doing stuff and being outside.
If you like it really hot and prefer that, then of course, that could be an option, but I personally don’t recommend it.
Difference between night and day
The difference between the night and the day is clear, it is dark at night. Next topic.
No, there are big differences during those periods of the day.
The temperature difference at night is way more than if you would be in a city.
During the day it can be really hot and you can do stuff, like doing a tour inside the desert. You can try to explore the area, which is more possible in summer, in the early morning, or in the evening, when there is still light.
In the camp, where I was, the guests were during the day just staying inside the main hut, in front of an air conditioner, to handle the heat.
At night, the feeling of distance disappears. You are seeing a mountain in the distance and want to go there, it doesn’t seem far. After an hour of walking, the mountain is looking the same as before. You don’t understand what you are doing. Especially when you are with other people and you are talking, you can go way further than you should. The problem is that you need to go all the way back, which can be hard in sand. So when walking in the darkness, try to only walk as far as you can go back as well.
At night, you are able to see a crazy night sky, when lucky, you can even see the milky way which is amazing to see. Often it can also happen, that you are having a bonfire, with the hosts of the camp. A bonfire makes the experience even better, by having a peaceful surrounding around you.
How was my experience?
Without knowing that it is not normal to stay longer than two nights, I booked four nights. After arriving in the camp, I joined a tour, because the others convinced me of it.
The time in the camp I really enjoyed. On the first day I was more likely in the big hut, where everyone was. I needed to find something better, because that was just terrible with the flies.
I was taking a mattress and went to one of the mountains, where I was from that moment on laying underneath, on the mattress. There was a little bit of shadow and I could watch everything going on.
From touristic cars passing by, over to Bedouins going with the camels through the desert. I was able to handle the heat quite well, because I was covered and some wind also came by.
It was really enjoyable and the first time in my life where I was deeply relaxed. Every day, there were new people in the camp. On the first night, I was taken up a mountain to watch the sunset. The days after I did the same for people, I was getting along well with them. It was a great ritual each day, seeing the sunset with an amazing view.
The locals were fasting, due to religious reasons, from the second day on, I was joining them. It was out of interest, how it would be like and also by doing nothing, there was not much hunger.
My experience at night
The night was always my favorite. Starting with the temperature dropping, more motivation to do something was there. The locals were preparing the dinner, which I always bought, to cut the fasting, after the sun went down.
After finishing the food all together, on two of the four nights, we had a bonfire. During the bonfire, the locals were also playing music with all of us together. Doing that underneath the stars felt special and everyone enjoyed it fully.
When slowly the people went to sleep, I sometimes went for a walk, alone and with others. It was great, using the time to get a better connection to the place. For me a really special place, always staying positive in my mind.
Even though it was night, you were still able to see everything. Just because it was night, didn’t mean that it was dark. Due to the stars and the moon, the night was quite bright and great to see. It’s generally great to be outside of cities, where you can find really special places.
I was actually sad when leaving for the airport, because I felt really good, but also happy. I never felt that about a place before, I was happy that I was experiencing it and sad to leave.
Summary
Back then I was traveling differently, but I would do this trip always again. Jordan and especially Wadi Rum is a really nice place, you don’t find it everywhere. That is probably also a reason for many movies getting filmed there.
I can totally recommend it for people, who like to just don’t do much for a couple of days and experience something different from the daily life. For people, who really need to do much stuff all the time and power through, it is then maybe not the place to go, besides doing a daily trip maybe.
In the camp, at least in summer, everything is slow paced, the area is looking amazing and it is also perfect for taking nice pictures. You can get into little sand storms, but that is also normal in a desert. With the mountains you will find something unique in it and still are able to explore a little bit. The view won’t change a lot though.
My highlight of Wadi Rum is not the desert itself, it is the night sky. With being really far away from the next city, light pollution is not a thing here. When you are lucky and experience this with a bonfire and self created music, it is even better.
I would love to hear your experiences about this place, or questions. Share it with me in the comments.
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