To hike or almost to climb in Wadi Rum was a little hard for me, mostly due my bad condition because I not train much or so, but I did it one day also, right above the village. It was funny and wonderful view from there up. There on Rumm Mountain are several natural springs ("Ayn ash-Shallalah).
To save baby camel and his mother
On one my trip through the desert we met a man who wanted to move baby camel and his mother to another place so that they did not get infected with sick camels that occurred to any flu or so.
But the man had not pick up so it was a little difficult how to do. We had pick up so we could load on the baby, though it shouted and opposed being loaded on. The man had to tie his leg, then it was a bit easier. Mom was worried and watched how it went. Then she jumped after the car until we reached the place the man intended to move them to. He helped the baby to jump off the car, mom was so happy to have him near her again. And then they both ran away, happy just like them.
To cook bread in the desert
One day I was going to Bedouins camp and be with them a little. It was very nice there around, far away in the desert. In the evening, food began to be cooked, including to bake a bread.
To make bread in the desert was one other really interesting thing to look at. First, you did the dough of course.
Then made a plate of it and put on the fire. And turned from time to time so it was evenly baked on both sides.
cover it with ash
When it was well cooked and cooler, you broke it into pieces.
Meanwhile you cooked a chicken with onion, carrots, peppers and tomatoes. Bread bits were then mixed in and dinner was ready. And so good.
Shobak
One day I was going to see this other crusader castle. The first one I saw on my earlier trip it was Karak, so now it was time to see this also. In Arabic it calls Shoubak or Shawbak. It was built
in 1115 so now it is not much left, but it you can imagine how it was before.
" Originally called 'Krak de Montreal' or 'Mons Regalis', it was named in honor of the king's own contribution to its construction (Mont Royal)"
We drove from Wadi Rum towards Ma'an, but then turned to left taking one small road which is more interesting and exciting than highway. We passed nice villages, it was Friday so many men were driving and going to the mosque.
I like this landscape, it is beautiful on some way, in my eyes.
Then we began to approach the castle which was on a hill surrounded by other hills.
It was actually too hot for me to get up so I decided to enjoy watching the castle from below. And maybe it was a good idea, for later I read that it's nicer to see it from the bottom than above. If he wasn't one who was lazy to go up and found on this an excuse not to go up.
We continued through the landscape which was wonderful and eventually we arrived to Little Petra.
Nabateans temple
Right over from Rest house in village Wadi Rum is Nabateans temple worth to visit. It was erected around the first century BC and was in use in the first half of the third century AD. The ruins include a temple, several villas, and building complexes.
Above the site are several natural springs from where Nabataean aqueducts carried water down to two built cisterns. A second canal system came from 'Ayn Abu Rumayleh, down through the temple hillside to the eastern complex and its baths.
The ancient site at Wadi Rum apparently was occupied from very ancient times. It was the meeting place for several nomadic tribes. Later, the Nabataeans built a temple on this site to the God Allat. Inscriptions around the temple and at the springs were left by various workmen, Masons, sculptors and architects.
Abandoned ghost-camp
During our jeep hikes we have passed a deserted camp so we stayed there watching what it was like. It could be fine, it was a little hidden, surrounded by mountains all around.The camp looked like that anytime will appear some ghost ☺
A poor camel and strange lizard
Sandstorm
I experienced a lot of sandstorms of different strength, mostly in Morocco. But such sandstorm as in Wadi Rum I never experienced before. Incredible it was. It lasted right long, maybe an hour or so. Nothing was visible, but we drove anyway, slowly, very slowly of course. I would not like to be outside. But it was exciting to see it and enjoy actually also.
French fortress
During our trips we were even doing "cultural" trips like this to find a French fortress. It was not in Wadi Rum but around Disa, near Wadi Rum. The fortress is well maintained but now it is used only for movie makers and game like "the Desert Forges". It was actually not an ancient palace but built around 1997 just in purpose to use it later for movies and games, as mentioned already.
It was wonderful there around
Nabataean city of Humeima
It is located about 30-40 km from Wadi Rum towards Ma'an, but on the other side of the highway. It was founded by the Nabataeans, and survived only into the Byzantine era. Then it was Muslim conquests and the Abbasid family maintained a large house and a mosque here. And there are even a ruins of Roman fort, but not so much left, of course.
Desert stone circles or desert kites.
Desert stone circles come in a variety of shapes, like "Wheels" and no archaeologists still not know what it would have for purpose ; Kites (stone structures that forced animals to run into a kill zone; Known to the local Bedouin as the Works of the Old Men.); Pendants (lines of stone cairns that run from burials); and walls (mysterious structures that meander across the landscape for more than a mile — or up to several thousand meters — and have no apparent practical use).
A regular cistern, long and deep and was covered over at one time.
There
it was also a strange, large swimming pool, approximately 17 meters by
27 meters in size, and 1.5 meters deep. (This would hold approximately
688.5 cubic meters of water).
The pool was fed by a small aqueduct on the north end (14 x 10 cm), and paralleled by two other small aqueducts.
I want to thank so much Dan Gibson for all his information about Humeima and also for his two pictures of the swimming pool above, which I missed at my visit there and mistakenly thought that what actually was cistern there was a swimming pool."Dan Gibson, a Middle Eastern historian, explained his reasons for believing this was an ancient swimming pool. Perhaps the oldest of it's kind in the world. After having surveyed dozens of Nabataean cisterns and pools, Gibson explained that all Nabataean cisterns were deep, narrow and covered. This was to preserve water. This pool, on the hand, is shallow, wide and open, with steps. To all intents and purposes it does appear to be a swimming pool. Gibson is working on a paper that examines this pool and several others in Nabataea, to explain his theory of why the Nabataeans would be attracted to building swimming pools in the middle of the desert."
Animal farm
In a wonderful place in Wadi Rum, my friend's family had an animal farm with sheep and goats and camels and donkeys so we visited them a couple of times.
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| The mother |
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| Her child followed me all the time☺ |
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| toilet and wonderful view |
