PHOTOS OF JORDAN
Wadi Rum : off
the beaten track around Wadi Rum
See the
Wadi Rum pages for full information on Wadi
Rum
These are "thumbnail" pictures. You can click on them to open a larger version.
Wadi Rum within about ten kilometers of Rum Village is pretty well frequented by tourists. Few of them have the luck to be taken further afield - or have the knowledge to ask for a visit going further into the desert.
Here are a few places that can be visited if you have more time than most people, and if you can find a guide willing to take you there.
Nogra
The area known as "Nogra" (often spelt in several different ways) is to the west of Jebel Khasch and north of Wadi Saabit. It is a long valley, shaped a bit like Italy when you look at a map (see the map in the section "Jordan out of doors") which is remarkable for its white sand. This sand is very soft, and I think that nearly every time I have been there we have had problems in driving. It is a lonely place, with a beautiful view stretching out in front of it.
The mountains behind it are part of the Khasch massif, which nearly cuts the whole area in two. But, in fact there is a very narrow valley in the western part of Nogra (known as "Wadi Nogra") through which one can get to Wadi Saabit. It is so narrow that the map (drawn up from a satellite photo) doesn't show it at all. This is not very practicable for vehicles, not even a jeep, because the sand is really very troublesome. It does however make an attractive afternoon's hike for those who walked the Khasch in the morning.
People taking the path along the ridge of the Khasch (see the web page "Tours of Wadi Rum") come down from the mountain in Nogra, on the left hand side of the left hand photo beneath.
It used to be popular with the Bedouin as a camping place. This is less so nowadays, since the supply of water in the "Bir" ("well" in Arabic) has all but disappeared.
There is a great tumble of rocks in the centre of the valley, you can see part of them on the right hand side of the first photo and here is a larger one :
This is where the bir is to be found. It is a great crevice in between the rocks, and any rain falling on any of the hills around runs into it. Normally this provides enough water in reserve for the flocks for several months. Alas, this is no longer the case, little rain has fallen in Wadi Rum for a number of years.
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However the deep marks in the sandstone where ropes pulled up buckets of water are still clearly to be seen there.
The road to Mudawarra
Mudawarra (pronounced with the accent on the second syllable - "MuDAwarra") is to the south east of Wadi Rum and in contrast to the dryness everywhere else, has a lot of water. There is even a lake there where emigrating wildfowl can rest, and there are many trees, including - I was startled to see - a grove of very old cedar trees near the village of Ghal.
It is otherwise not very interesting scenery, the rocks are black granite and there is an uniform flatness - if you are taking a riding holiday in Wadi Rum, a gallop on the mudflats at Dissieh is memorable!
But if you take the desert road to get there, things are different. You start off along Ghor al Ajram, in front of Jebel Khazali, Jebel Raka and Jebel Burdah. The small rock formations that make the beauty of Rum are left behind, the sides of the valley become darker and flatter. "Boring", you think.
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And then you come over a small ridge into the valley of Wadi Mhask. You are over the great aquifer of Dissieh, which is now supplying most of Jordan with its water, and which is the source of the water of Mudawarra.
The valley seems green in comparison to Wadi Rum. The numerous bushes are higher than my head, and there are a good many fair sized trees.
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To the north the cliffs are heaped up with great sand dunes, while those to the south are rocky and sharp edged - just about as unlike the sandstone as can be! There are dozens of blind valleys, some of them tiny, some of them several hundred meters deep. The tracks of many wild animals can be seen in these little valleys, including those of ibex and of wolves!
These mountains around Mudawarra are reputed to shelter a great many ibex; they are less accessible to Bedouin hunters than those nearer to Wadi Rum, and the rough granite is more difficult to climb than sandstone.
A number of camels drift round, not easily seen to an unpractised eye, their colour being so close to that of the sand. Usually they were tucked under a tree. "They like eating the thorny branches", I was told.
Every time I visit Wadi Mhask (and I enjoy going there very much) I find myself regretting that Wadi Rum is no longer like this. Just as it is destroying the traditional life of the Bedouin that live there, the lack of rain is destroying a landscape that must have been even more beautiful with more greenery.
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Revised Nov 2003
