+962 77 50400 18
[email protected]
“The Valley of the Moon”, depicted as Mars in several Hollywood feature films Wadi Rum is an Arabian fairy-tale waiting to be discovered. Home to nomadic Bedouin tribes, Wadi Rum is a a quiet getaway of stars, sand, and sun; a perfect complement from Amman’s epicenter. Once inhabited by the Nabataeans of prehistoric times, Wadi Rum allows you to get lost in large landscapes and horizon lines. The calmness of the desert is sure calm your spirit and de-clutter your thoughts. Wadi Rum is waiting for you.
This site is one of Jordan’s UNESCO world heritage sites.
Lawrence of Arabia and the Arab Rebellion
Millennia ago, it was an area rich in springs and wells, and in fact the Greeks and Romans spoke of its pine forests, vineyards and olive groves, now disappeared but which allow the visitor to get an idea of how different the landscape was here.
But the best sign, never better said, of the civilizations that lived here or paraded are their petroglyphs (drawings engraved on the stone) and inscriptions on the rock. It is estimated that there are about 30,000, some of which are most fascinating. The first tribes to do so probably came from Arabia, known as Zamudis, who made inscriptions in the Zamudic language, and the Nabataeans took the baton: this people, who had their ‘capital’ in Petra, left here testimonies of their worship of divinities such as Dushara and Allat.
There are also numerous burial mounds in Wadi Rum, indicating that this was not simply a place of passage, but that there were permanent and stable settlements. In addition, the importance of hunting in this nature reserve is demonstrated, as well as the extraction of minerals in the time of King Solomon
But without a doubt, Wadi Rum is so famous today thanks to the ‘promo’ of one of the most successful films in Hollywood: Lawrence of Arabia. The film narrates the participation of Thomas Edward Lawrence in the Arab Rebellion of 1917, a key character in that historical episode for Jordan, although he may have been disproportionately exalted to take advantage of his media and tourist pull.
Be that as it may, this British archaeologist, writer and soldier soon joined the cause promoted by King Hussein bin Ali, whose great aspiration was to create an Arab state independent of the Ottoman Empire. He fought in the armies of Emir Faysal and felt one more (and dressed as such) of that epic that is considered the germ of the later Arab state of Jordan.
His great contribution was, in fact, the book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.
Contrary to what you might think, there is a lot to see in Wadi Rum. Despite being a desert, the rich history of this place means that there are also corners worth visiting from an archaeological, artistic and ethnological point of view. Not surprisingly, this place was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2011.
Most things to see in Wadi Rum They are natural, especially geological, as they are like whimsical formations in granite and sandstone. But there are also man-made ‘works’ worth dwelling on. We group them according to their theme
Many more air routes, especially regular ones, offer the Queen Alia International Airport of Amman, although its distance from this nature reserve is much greater: almost 300 km, which is about 3 and a half hours by road. This is a list of places, distances and routes that will serve as an orientation if you are going to schedule your trip on your own: