After a good night's sleep following our first adventurous day in Wadi Rum, it was up early for a breakfast of eggs, tomatoes and flatbread cooked by the camp's chef, Mo, who stayed at the camp with us overnight.
After fixing our keffiyeh (headscarf) for us, it was time to head off in the 4x4 with Sabah (our luggage was left at the camp but was taken back to Wadi Rum Village for us). Our destination today? Jabal Umm ad Dami, Jordan's highest mountain, which sits along the border of Saudi Arabia. This part of Wadi Rum is less frequented - we didn't see any other 4x4s on the way and the terrain was even bouncier than the day before. However! We did pass by some camels which belonged to Sabah's dad; he's a proper nomadic Bedouin who moves around the desert with his caravan.
There were a few people when we arrived at Jabal Umm ad Dami, including a Bedouin friend of Sabah and his guest who we teamed up with to ascend to the top. Standing at 1854m tall, you thankfully don't start the climb at the bottom but it's still a slog up there. Part of it is the heat - the reason why you tend to start earlier on in the day - but part of it is quite a steep scramble.
I've seen various assessments of the hike online - some say that it will take you 2.5 hours to get to the top, whilst others suggest anything between 60-90 minutes is about right - we did it in 80 mins with frequent breaks. I'll take that! I am pleased we chose to do something a bit different in Wadi Rum, though at times during the climb I may have been cursing booking it! The view was incredible, and we now can say we've climbed the tallest mountain in Jordan.
Once we were back at the car, it was time to head off to a shady place for lunch, before it was time to have a quick look at the white desert side of Wadi Rum. This time instead of 'mushroom rock' there was a 'chicken rock' - I can see the chicken and the egg, can you? - and by there it looked like I might be able to have a go at sandboarding but I had zero momentum, unfortunately. Finally, it was time to meet our cameleer and camels to ride back to Wadi Rum Village.
Saying goodbye to our marvellous hosts,
Wadi Rum Magic Tours, with a bit of a sore bum and legs(!), we didn't have far to travel to our next night's accommodation. Knowing that we'd be tired after our adventure in Wadi Rum, we didn't want to drive straight to our next destination. Instead we headed to
Zeina Luxury Desert Lodge, where we had a Martian bubble tent booked for the night.
Honest opinion? We didn't like it. Sure it sounded cool but we missed the warmth and the hospitality of the Bedouins, and it all felt a bit inauthentic after the time we'd just spent in the actual Wadi Rum desert. We got told off for not replying to their messages and not meeting them at the Visitor's Centre - we had no signal in the desert so didn't even seen the messages until we connected to their WiFi, plus were already registered there so didn't need to do that - and it was all just really overpriced for what it was (we paid 155JOD; this did include dinner, breakfast and water).
I will say that the dinner buffet exceeded my expectations - the flavours were so scrumptious - though the breakfast was average. We had a good night's rest there, yes, but we didn't linger the next day. Our time in Wadi Rum was over and it was time for us to drive on to our next town, Wadi Musa, the home of Petra. x
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