Advice for Wadi Rum Bedouin Camping

We stayed overnight at Bedouin Whispers Camp.  Above is a photo of the camp. The overnight experience includes a camel and/or Jeep tour, plus overnight accommodations and lunch, dinner, and breakfast.

It was very nice and orderly (I would say "clean" but really it was quite dusty). It had plumbing, including flush toilets, showers, and sinks.  However, the restroom was dark, wet, and unisex. There was no electricity (so don't plan on charging your cell phone or blowdrying your hair). It had an awesome dining tent with a fireplace in the middle. You can sleep under the tents or pull your mattress out and sleep under the stars.  But yes, there are scorpions in the desert and, yes, they do climb onto the beds of campers.

I like camping and I'm glad we did this, but this was not my favorite experience of all time.  On the downside was that I didn't pack properly (I did not bring a flashlight, for example) and I didn't get much sleep (due mainly to allergies and a headache, but also partly due to the snoring of other guests). The desert is simply exhausting; there is something about that dusty, dry air that just makes you want to go to sleep--but it's hard to really go to sleep because of the heat and dryness.

On the upside, the people at the camp--including our Bedouin guides as well as the other guests--were all friendly and nice. In addition to giving us a great tour of Wadi Rum, our guides watched out for us at the camp, made sure we knew where to go to watch the beautiful sunset, and cooked us a delicious dinner. Significantly, they "took care" of the scorpion that crawled into Maggie's bedroll.

There were two other families there at the same time we were: a German family and an Italian family. The Germans were from very close to where we lived in Germany--in Northern Bavaria--and we got to practice speaking our minimal German with them. The Italians brought special Italian Easter cake and shared it with everyone on Easter morning; it was delicious and the undisputed highlight of our Easter breakfast for sure!  The desert was really beautiful and we enjoyed the camel ride, hiking, and the Jeep tour.

Here is my advice for Bedouin camping in Wadi Rum:

1.  Most important: Bring a flashlight.  Once it gets dark, it is very dark. The stars are bright and beautiful, but it's tough to see enough to do things like taking out contact lenses and brushing your teeth.

2. Even more important: Bring your own sleep sack and warm sleep clothes.  The bedding is extremely dusty (as you would expect since it is the sandy desert after all) and not very clean.  Also, the blankets we were given to put under us on the plastic-covered mattress were wool; consequently, if you are allergic to wool, you might think twice before sleeping on the wool.  Apparently, I only thought once because I put the wool blanket under my nice cozy fleece sleep sack.  A dumb move since I'm allergic to wool.

3. Pack like you are going to camp in a tent because that is precisely what you are doing.  This means packing things like a flashlight and a sleep sack (see items 1 and 2 above), and it also means packing only what you need in a very accessible way. Don't bring make-up, for example. Bring your own soap and something to wash and dry your face and hands with (although a community towel is provided in the bathroom, all campers for who-knows-how-long have used that towel).

4. Drink plenty of water. And then drink some more.  I think a big part of my problem was that I didn't drink enough water. The camp provides all the bottled water you can drink, so take advantage of the opportunity to drink whenever you can.

5. If possible, wear your PJs under your clothes so you don't have to change.  There is no privacy at all. I ended up just sleeping in my clothes, which worked fine.

6.  Don't plan on taking a shower. Although showers are provided, it is not very convenient to use them for numerous reasons: (1) the showers are co-ed; (2) there is no dry place to put your stuff while you shower; (3) you are there for a limited amount of daylight time and you have no privacy from the other guests; (4) the showers are dark even during daylight and there is no way to distinguish your shampoo from your conditioner from your shower gel.  Just plan on not taking a shower and you will get along better. It's OK; the camels won't notice how bad you smell.

7. Be adventurous and sleep outside even though there are creepy bugs out there. The risk that you will actually be killed or seriously injured by a bug is minimal and it's much yuckier to sleep inside the tent than it is to sleep outside.

8. Although the dinner was delicious and the breakfast was sufficient (enhanced significantly by the Italian Easter cake--which won't be there the next time), the lunch left a bit to be desired and there were no snacks other than tea and water.  Bring your own snacks if you think you will be hungry (and you will be hungry after riding camels through the desert).  But, be careful not to bring sweets that will attract insects and other undesirables.

9. Bring allergy medicine, aspirin, bandaids, and any other supplies you might need.  There are NO shops out in Wadi Rum.  None. You will not be able to purchase anything once you leave Rum Village (and shopping in Rum Village leaves much to be desired--the only stores are small convenience stores).

10. Consider the luxury Bedouin camps if you don't like camping. We passed a "luxury" camp on our Jeep tour; it appeared to have electricity generators, more bathrooms, and private tents. I am not sure how much more luxurious this camp was, however, and so if you don't like camping at all, just drive on to Aqaba and stay in a nice hotel.

The Curse of the Wadi Rum Scorpion

We had been warned that when camping in a Wadi Rum Bedouin camp, one should be cautious about pulling one's bed out to sleep under the stars.  The small stone walls that encircle the tent-covered sleeping areas keep the scorpions out, while there is no such impediment when you are sleeping right on the desert sand under the stars.

But, our Bedouin guide assured us that they had not seen a scorpion in more than three years and we had nothing to worry about.  So, we pulled out our matresses, slept under the stars, woke up the next morning and went to breakfast.  When Maggie went back to her bed to pack up her sleeping bag, she found this in her bed:

Photo by Maggie Scudder

We joked that it must be a sign of good luck to have found it in the morning instead of being poisoned by it during the night. Perhaps it had provided protection from other intruders throughout the night.

But our bad luck had started setting in almost the minute we left our apartment--long before the scorpion wandered into Maggie's bedroll.  

It started with some driver problems. Without going into too much detail, we had arranged for two cars and two drivers because Paul's sister and her family were visiting from the United States. Our drivers seemed to agree on only one thing: that their primary goal was to slow down our trip to Wadi Rum enough to make us miss our camel ride reservation (presumably so they could make another reservation for us for which they would get commission). [The ins-and-outs of tourist drivers in Jordan is worthy of an entirely separate blog post.] The driver problems continued throughout the entirety of our trip to Wadi Rum and Aqaba. But, this was not the worst of the bad luck.

We finally made it to Wadi Rum, but almost as soon as I stepped foot onto the desert sand and climbed up onto my camel (which was awesome, by the way), I started getting a headache.  I'm not sure if it was the beautiful purple flowers that were blooming all over the place or the sand or the camel or the wool blanket that covered the camel or the one I later slept on, but I was pretty miserable with allergies and a headache the whole time we were there. (I had quit bringing migraine medicine along with me because my migraines have become so few and far between . . . but note to self: always pack the Imitrex!)  But, this was not the worst of the bad luck.

After sleeping under the stars at Bedouin Whispers Camp, we spent most of Easter day touring Wadi Rum.  Read about our spectacular experience in Charlie's blog post and watch his video featuring the Camel Cam. 

We cut short our time in Wadi Rum--partly because my headache continued to get worse and partly because just over 24 hours is PLENTY of time to spend in the desert (at least in my opinion).  The desert really was awesome--and I'm glad we went and glad we got to tour on camels and in a Jeep--but it's also dry (duh!) and hot and stark and exhausting.  The Italians who were in the Jeep next to us actually said out loud what I had been thinking all day: "this just isn't our kind of relaxing; we would like to get to Aqaba as soon as possible."

We got to Aqaba (the Red Sea) as soon as possible (which was longer than we had hoped due to ongoing driver problems). The water there is beautiful--the most amazing shades of blue I've ever seen. And clear!  You could see all the way to the bottom. Maggie commented that it looked like a swimming pool with a blue-painted bottom; she was right! As the water got deeper, the turquoise water got darker, but it was still clear and blue. We went out on a snorkeling/dive boat and the snorkeling was unbelievable--the coral was so colorful, as were the fish. I saw a lion fish, which was my primary fish-spotting goal. But our snorkeling trip was cursed by heavy winds. I mean hard, hard wind the whole day. It was just so windy that we called it quits too early and spent the rest of the day on the boat . . . with no snacks . . . and my headache was still hanging on.  But, that's not the worst of the bad luck.  

Then, when we got back from the boat, I had to rush to meet my driver (because the boat was late), so I couldn't even wash off the salt water.  I had to get back to Amman to go to work on Tuesday and the rest of our group would go on to Petra the next day.  I met my driver and we headed out for Amman.  My driver was the slowest driver in the history of driving, so the trip that should have taken only 3 1/2 hours took 5!  All the while, my headache was getting worse and worse. Miserable. But, that's not the worst of the bad luck. 

I brought home a lot of extra stuff besides my own stuff--the snorkeling gear and everyone's dirty clothes, etc. from the previous three days. So, the trunk was full of bags and stuff.  When I got back to my apartment in Amman, my building-guard/helper helped me get the bags out of the trunk and bring them in.  

And, here's when the worst of the bad luck occurred: Maggie's backpack was missed and was left all night on the sidewalk.  By the time I realized it was missing, I went out and searched for it and it was gone. Stolen. And, with it her journal which contained all her thoughts, souvenirs, letters, and everything else from our entire year away.  A lot of her clothes and things were in the bag too, but all that can be replaced.  The journal can't be replaced.  I am just sick about it and, of course, she is too. What a horrible thing to have happen when she has spent the entirety of our time abroad collecting all of her memories, not to mention the photos and letters she brought from home, in the journal. I'm pretty irritated at the driver for driving off knowing the bag was there (when we called to see if it was still in his car, he said he had left it on the sidewalk for the guard to pick up; it would have been helpful if he had told the guard or me that it was there), but I take responsibility for being careless and in a hurry to get inside after such a long drive. That was, by far, the best journal ever. She has been SO creative with it all year, including everything from original drawings to small souvenirs to photos and ticket stubs.  Tragic!

Photo by Maggie Scudder

Easter in The Holy Land

Mosaic at St. George's Greek Orthodox Church, Madaba, Jordan

"Since once again, Lord -- though this time not in the forests of the Aisne but in the Steppes of Asia -- I have neither bread, nor wine, nor altar, I will raise myself beyond these symbols, up to the pure majesty of the real itself; I will make the whole earth my altar and on it I will offer you all the labours and sufferings of the world."  ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

My sister sent that prayer to me after I commented on her blog post that, although we are here in the Holy Land at Easter, it doesn't seem much like Easter.  For one thing, unlike in the United States, here we are not inundated by commercial reminders of the season. There aren't endless aisles of chocolate bunnies and pre-filled, cellophane-wrapped Easter baskets. I haven't seen a single Peep!  I haven't even seen an Easter lily. There are small reminders here and there: small sections of Easter candy in remote corners of the grocery stores and a few linens decorated with bunnies and eggs in some of the linen stores. But Easter is just not "in your face" like it is in the U.S.  In addition, although there are churches here, we don't see them much; they don't stand out with tall steeples like in the U.S. and especially in Europe.

Moreover, instead of waking up on Easter morning to candy-filled Easter baskets and rushing to get ready to go to church to hear the Hallelujah Chorus, we are deep in the desert, at Wadi Rum, waking up after sleeping under the stars at a Bedouin camp.

But, I can't think of a better place to be. That prayer I quoted above seems perfect for this Easter morning. I have my iPod with my Easter playlist, which includes the "Hallelujah Chorus" and "Jesus Christ is Risen Today." I even have Starburst jelly beans (thanks to Paul's sister who is visiting from the U.S.) to get my early morning sugar rush. What more does one need to celebrate Easter in the Holy Land?!?!

I hope you have a peaceful Easter. In honor of the Day, here are few more pictures of Christian holy places:

The spot where John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, Bethany Beyond The Jordan

A baptismal fountain, decorated with a beautiful mosaic,
near the spot where John baptized Jesus in the Jordan River.

Sculpture at the top of Mount Nebo, where Moses viewed the Promised Land