After leaving the amazing ancient lost Kingdom of Petra, our next stop in Jordan would be in Wadi Rum, the desert so famous you’ve already seen it even if you hadn’t realised it at the time.
So many movies have been filmed here, like Dune, The Martian, Aladdin, Prometheus and quite a few Star Wars films too.
It’s so easy to see why too because this place is just incredibly beautiful and unlike anywhere else you’ve ever seen or visited.
To get to Wadi Rum from Petra, we hired a taxi who took us all the way to the entrance of the desert and left us at the car park, where we met up with a driver from our camp who would then take us to the camp.
We then jumped into the back of this truck with our luggage where we got sandblasted as we drove though the desert.
We did have a choice of whether we wanted to stay inside the car or outside but honest, the absolutely beautiful views across the desert made us choose to sit outside and we’d do it again.
It’s so worth it.
So, first things first – let’s set up camp. And I mean this kinda literally.
The hotel options in Wadi Rum are relatively limited, but in a great way.
You won’t find any huge towering blocks here.
Instead, some of the best places to stay in Wadi Rum are these luxury camp tents where you have air conditioning, full working bathrooms with toilets, showers and hot water.
It’s amazing.
It leans into the natural vibe of the environment you’re in while still managing to keep you comfortable the entire time.
We stayed at Memories Aicha Luxury Camp which we would definitely recommend basing yourself in.
It’s set at the foot of some incredibly tall mountains and that view is just so amazing.
The backdrop is stunning, the view of the mountains in front is stunning, it’s just all exactly what you’d be looking for when you pictured a stay in the desert.
Memories Aicha Luxury Camp was all still relatively new when we visited but already quite amazing.
They also laid out plans to have things like a swimming pool installed and so much more.
I just remember narrowing down our list to like 3 camps and this one kept calling to us, ergo why we booked it and as soon as we arrived, I knew we’d made the right decision.
Food was also included so the first thing we did as soon as we arrived was to drop our stuff off and go grab lunch.
After lunch, we tried to decide on plans for the next couple of days, all of which we managed to do via our hotel.
As the sun would be setting soon, our hosts recommended we go explore the desert on camels and so that’s what we did.
We also went out later that night too on a different experience but I’ll tell you more about that later on in this post.
Anyways so, before long, a local guide showed up with the camels and riding a camel is nothing like riding a horse.
For starters, they are so much taller and they actually sit down for you to mount them before pulling you up.
If you’re gonna fall off the camel, this is the point when it’s most likely to happen.
And so off we ventured into the desert.
Now its worth noting that you’re never moving at a particularly fast pace.
Your camels aren’t galloping anywhere so it all feels easy and manageable.
You then stop off for a break to feed the camels and also to take in your first sunset in the desert.
And that sunset is just magnificent.
Like absolutely gorgeous.
After the sun had set, we headed back to Memories Aicha Luxury Camp on time for dinner which is hosted in this huge dome.
We then headed outside for teas by the fireplace before getting ready for our night time desert activity.
Now being a desert with very little light pollution, Wadi Rum is one of the best places for gazing at the night sky.
And so that’s what we set off to do with a guide from our hotel.
It’s all pitch black and so surreal walking around in all that darkness in the desert.
Our hosts did have torches with them so you don’t have to worry if you’re not as keen about walking around in the dark.
After a while, when we got to stop to take in the night sky and do a bit of stargazing, at which point the torches kinda came in handy for these photos.
I can’t take any credit for it though because the idea actually came from our guides who clocked our cameras and suggested playing around with the lights.
With that, we headed back to our tents for a well-earned rest.
We just assumed when we first got here that we wouldn’t do that much on the first day but it somehow managed to provide enough to do to start to really fall in love with how incredibly beautiful and amazing Wadi Rum is.
It also got us excited for our full day exploring all the major sites at Wadi Rum which we would be doing with a driver tomorrow.
Will share all about it in this post here.
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