WADI RUM Page 1
General introduction, sleeping and getting there
(You can see MANY more photos of Wadi Rum in the Photo Gallery pages!)

Now we come to it!

I am certainly blasée about Petra, living near to it, and having visited it so many many times. But Wadi Rum is a region that I do not think I could ever become blasée about. It was something of a relief when I realised that nearly all of the Bedouin who live there appreciate it as much as I do! It is beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!!

Having said that, let's try to be a bit factual. While a great deal has been written about Petra, far less has been written about Wadi Rum, and much of that is specialised information. Many tourists to Jordan know little about it, except that it is a place to visit and that it is supposed to be beautiful. So I am giving a lot of space to Wadi Rum on these pages.

• Wadi Rum page 1 :
  Introduction - Sleeping in Wadi Rum - Getting there and away again
• Wadi Rum page 2 :
  What to see there - prices and tours (including horses and camels) - some longer trips in 4x4
• Wadi Rum page 3 :
  Reliable contacts and guides - "ripping off" - Nature Reserve
• Wadi Rum page 4 :
  Trekking and hiking - climbing in Wadi Rum (See also the "Jordan out of doors" section)

INTRODUCTION AND A FEW GENERAL INDICATIONS

First of all a note on drinking water. In general in Jordan I advise tourists to stick to bottled water; although the quality of the tap water is pretty good, you are not used to it and it would spoil your holiday if you got a bug. However, in Wadi Rum the water comes directly from the aquifer in Dissieh, and is very pure. For this reason, mineral water is not supplied by the guides with the food so if you prefer mineral water you should bring it with you. But remember that the water in the jerrycans is likely to be of just as good a quality as the bottled water, and possibly better!

There are a few small shops in Rum Village but which sell only food and drink and rudimentary household equipment. There is a post office, small but reliable, but I do warn you that the post arrives and leaves here only twice a week. There are NO other shops; no bank or ATMs, no pharmacy etc. For any of these you have to go either to Qweirah (about 35kms), or to Aqaba (about 60kms).

There is a small clinic for emergency treatment, where among other things you can find anti-toxin for snake or scorpion bite. (They can be nasty, but rarely more than that!) You might like to check the "hard facts" section under "Health treatment". You will also be interested to know that in Jordan, emergency treatment not needing hospitalization is free.

This note is really for the ladies, but if the men want to read and act on it, fine. It is a good idea to bring plenty of moisturizing cream with you if you are spending any time in Wadi Rum (say more than 24 hours). I use Nivea Soft here, and find I need to put more on every few hours. The air is very dry indeed. A headscarf or an Arab "kefiya" is useful against sun, wind and windblown sand, and I advise also bringing some lip salve and some moist cleaning tissues, the sand sticks to you very easily - even if you don't use any cream.

The new Visitors' Centre

A large and attractive Visitors' Centre has just been opened for the administration of the Protected Area of Wadi Rum and the neighbouring area. It is about 6 kilometers from Rum Village in the open desert close to the cliff named the "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" (see the left hand photo). This is now the normal terminus for tourist transport, and it is here that you should pay your entrance fee in the building in the centre photo. The phone number of the centre is +962.3.209.0600 and the fax +962.3.203 25 86, both from outside Jordan.

This entrance fee is fixed at 2JD at the moment. I understand that in spite of various rumours, it is likely to remain at this price for the rest of 2006. The offices close at 6pm, but the Reception office is open 24/24 hours, so you can still pay your fee even in the middle of the night!

You can see from the photo on the right that space has been left for opening shops or whatever.

The normal procedure is that you then choose the tour that you would like to do (see the photos below) and you go off with the next guide waiting nearby. If you have the name of a particular guide who has been recommended to you, he is only allowed to take you if he can show a written reservation (email or fax) dated 48 hours before your arrival. The reason given for this is that many hotels or operators in various parts of Jordan arrange "tours" with certain of the Bedouin, and take a large commission. The Bedouin who will receive only half of what you have paid (in some cases less) will give you the tour that fits the price he receives. This is unashamed ripping off, and is very difficult to circumvent. No reservations are currently accepted from any hotel.

If you have found a particular guide on the Internet, or if you have heard of somebody offering a programme that you like, you should have no problem provided that you have sent him a prior reservation as described above. If you want to go with somebody without a prior reservation it can be done provided that he agrees to pay a "fine" to the Bedouin cooperative. This fine is 20JD, which is not negligible, so please reserve ahead of time if you can.

You can also proceed to Wadi Rum Village, sleep at the Resthouse there and wander around by yourself. But you do have the problem of actually GETTING there: no provision has been made for tourists who wish to do this, and as I said, the Visitors' Centre is 6 kms from Rum. It is usually possible to hitch a lift from the Bedouin going there, but there are no guarantees about this.

The official programmes on offer are given below with their prices as of July 2006. These prices are those of the vehicle which will normally take up to 6 people. The price is split between the number of passengers. If several people can get together to take one together it therefore works out cheaper for you. You do have the difficulty of actually agreeing on the programme and therefore the price that all of you want to pay.

Warning : first of all no meals are included in the prices, and secondly by no means all the drivers speak English. They are DRIVERS and not guides. A night spent in the desert costs another 25JD/person, including supper and breakfast.

All this is pretty expensive. Although these prices are for the carload which means that they are spread between several people, they include neither food, nor water and most certainly not an overnight in the desert. It is definitely worth noting that a number of guides having their own programmes will charge you lower prices than those indicated here. To take advantage of these cheaper programmes it is necessary to reserve with them as stated above (see the page "Reliable contacts" for their names and contact details). You can also see the page on "Tours of Wadi Rum" which offers on the whole, upmarket prices but for good and generous tours.

These prices are officially fixed and you are not supposed to bargain. You can of course try to find a guide to take you "unofficially" for a lower price, but there are a good many controls out in the desert, and if somebody is found without the written confirmation from the Centre, then he is in trouble. Somebody recently paid a fine of 120JD for accepting tourists outside the Centre, and it is understandable that people are not enthusiastic about doing it again.

Sleeping in Wadi Rum : At the moment the only accommodation is in various tents or camps. Plans are being made for building a hotel near to the new Tourist Centre but nothing has as yet begun.

There are tents "furnished" with mattresses etc. behind the Resthouse costing 2JD/day, they are fairly primitive, but perfectly comfortable for a few days. There is access to the showers and toilets at the Resthouse. It is also possible to pitch your own tent here for a small sum if you wish, obviously in this case mattresses and blankets are not supplied. You can camp behind the Resthouse in Wadi S'Bach and still have access to the toilets and showers for a small fee. The restaurant in the Resthouse is the only one to have a bar. Phone number is 03.201.8867.

There is a small coffee shop not far away, head for the village and take the first turning on the left. The stairs leading there are a climb in themselves, coming down them I often feel that I should really be roped up! This restaurant has been closed for the last year, I hope that it and the other restaurants in Wadi Rum will reopen soon.

The Wadi Rum equivalent of two star hotels are the camps in Dissieh, which are close to the northern end of Wadi Um Ishrin. I recently visited the "Captain's Camp" which impressed me! Real beds, with real mattresses and blankets! The toilet and shower block was scrupulously clean, and there is a restaurant which is a rather successful blend of "desert" and "civilised". Their phone is +962.795.510.432, email rafiq@captains-jo.com. They have a website at http://www.captains-jo.com. The price for supper, sleeping and breakfast is 22JD per person provided you say that you have their address from Ruth. They do not themselves organise any tours, but will put you in contact with reliable guides if asked. I believe the other camps at Dissieh to be much the same. Most of them organise evening entertainment a few times a week. The problem here is that these camps are about 15kms (call is 10 miles from Wadi Rum and people visiting there are invariably guided to the Dissieh area. It is not a good idea to sleep here if you are intending to visit Wadi Rum itself in the same trip.

You also have a camp at "Beit Ali" at Shakriya, which is closer to Rum village than Dissieh. This is a very nice place, with a most attractive "lounge" area, round like a pavilion. Although it is a camp, there are beds and clean sheets! The wife of the owner is English. This camp is well placed for anybody wanting to climb or to ride in Wadi Rum. The phone number that I have is 077.754.8133 fax 03.203.2626, website www.baitali.com.

Beit Ali incidentally is the centre of the hot air ballooning which has resumed recently. The balloons are prohibited from going above the Wadi Rum massifs (considered dangerous because of the air currents), but Shakriya is more open and you still get the magnificent views. The ballooning is organised by the Royal Aerosports Club of Jordan in Aqaba, phone number  03-205.8050/51 mobile 079-574.1441. I warn you that the price for a flight is 400JD for a maximum of 5 people.

These camps are a little way away from public transport ; if you come in your own car or with a taxi, they are adequately signposted. Otherwise if you call from the Visitors' Centre they will arrange for you to be picked up for a small charge.

Photo M.C. Kind

Obviously most people visiting Wadi Rum want to spend the night in a "Bedouin tent". I think nearly everybody realises ahead of time 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, several of them have "amenities" like toilets and showers. Note however, that most Bedouin also possess houses in the village of Rum, even though 90% of them seem to prefer to sleep in the desert whenever they can.

If you want to sleep in a "Bedouin family" tent, this can usually be arranged without any special difficulty. Many of the guides will automatically take you to visit their families in the desert, perhaps to have lunch there, or in any case a glass of tea. The "guest place" of these family tents is to the left when you are facing it, do NOT make any attempt to intrude on any other part of it, this would be the "family quarters". (see the web page "The Bedouin of Wadi Rum") Any ladies may, if they wish, ask to say "thank you" to the women who have prepared the meal, this is seldom refused, but please don't stare around too much. Gentlemen are not normally admitted to the private quarters!

Getting there and away again

The Resthouse in Wadi Rum

The buses coming from Aqaba are a bit uncertain at the moment. There used to be an early bus at 6.30am, this no longer seems to be running. There is sometimes a bus going to Wadi Rum at 11am. This depends on how many passengers there were in the other direction in the morning! If there were a number of people an extra bus was laid on for them, and this is the one that would come back at 11am. There is another one at 1pm (the most popular one) and the last one goes at 3pm. But this is the Middle East and any schedule is variable. (In fact, as I discovered recently the schedule is even more "variable" than that. Last time I wanted the bus from Aqaba to Wadi Rum, we waited nearly an hour for two ladies to return from the hospital! They had told the driver that they would be coming back with him and he insisted that he couldn't go without them. All the passengers were distinctly restive when we finally left!) This might change for the spring season, but if there is nothing earlier than 11am you can always take another bus going north and ask to be put down at the village of Rashdiya - often called the "Rum Intersection" about 30kms from Aqaba. If you have a reservation with a guide, he will usually come and pick you up there, otherwise there are plenty of cars heading for Rum in the morning, somebody will offer to take you. They will probably ask for payment: 4 or 5JD for the carload is the standard asking price.

Note that people are NOT allowed to "take you" from the Highway itself - I have no idea why not! Anybody waiting for you will wait 20 or 30 meters down the road leading to Rum, and if you should find somebody at the bus stop offering a lift, he will invariably ask you to cross the road and get into his car there! If you can, try to persuade him to take your bags at least!

There is a daily bus from Petra and the same bus returns to Petra afterwards at about 8.30am, usually arriving in Petra around 10.30 or 11.00. A bus also leaves for Aqaba at 7.30am and if there is enough demand at 8.30am. These are the only buses that go right into Wadi Rum.

The buses that actually go into Wadi Rum go as far as the Visitors' Centre, which is the official terminus for all except local traffic going to Rum Village. Beyond Rum, you would need a 4x4 to get very far.

Tourists wanting to visit Wadi Rum must descend from the buses at the new Visitors' Centre and pay their entrance fee. The buses don't usually wait for anybody doing this (understandable since it would take 10 minutes or more), so if you decide against taking one of the tours on offer you have to make your own way to Rum Village (see higher up under the discussion of the Visitors' Centre.) The Resthouse (tel. 03.201.4240) is open until 10pm.

To leave Wadi Rum, for any destinations other than Aqaba or Petra, or at any other times of day than early in the morning, you should make your way to the Rashidiya Junction, and look for a bus going north or south as the case may be. A number of buses go from Aqaba to different destinations to the north, you should have no great difficulty getting to Rashdiya. There is no regular service taxi run to or from Wadi Rum. If you are sufficient in number to fill one up (or if collectively you pay for any empty place) you can get a taxi to bring you from Aqaba or from Amman, but you absolutely cannot count on any service taxi departure from Rum.

Rashidiya on the Desert Highway is 30kms from Rum; if you are asked to pay to get there, then between 3 and 5JD is a reasonably fair price, a taxi would charge 5JD for that distance. A number of minibuses regularly go past in both directions. Going south is easy, all the buses go to Aqaba. For other destinations, if the first bus you stop isn't the one you want, then ask if there is a bus to wherever soon. Almost always the drivers know this sort of thing and will tell you at once. It is usually possible to hitch here as well - again you might well be asked to pay something, you should offer anyway. It is very easy to get around like this, except at the end of the afternoon when buses are rarer, but if you are a bit mistrustful of yourself you can always ask the Wadi Rum Resthouse to call you a taxi, which will probably come from Aqaba, so you would have to wait for a while. It is, of course, possible to order a taxi in advance. You can also usually bargain with one of the Wadi Rum drivers who would take you at least to Aqaba if required. The usual price of a taxi from Rum to Aqaba (or vice versa) is around 12-15JD.

Your guide is usually quite happy to arrange a taxi for you, or even take you to the Highway. He  might or might not charge you for this latter service.

Remember, however, that far fewer buses run in the afternoon, and none at all in the evenings.

There is some talk of running a passenger train from Aqaba to Wadi Rum on the present goods railway. In that case a new passenger station would be built close to the Visitors' Centre. For the moment, this is just talk, but see www.jhr.gov.jo

"JORDANJUBILEE" is now available as a book, which is much more convenient for reference if you are travelling around. You can buy it online if you wish by clicking on our securized site, or it is on sale in a number of places in Jordan

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©Ruth Caswell 2002