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11-day hiking tour to Petra and Wadi Rum
‘Rum the magnificent… vast, echoing and Godlike… a processional way
greater than imagination… the crimson sunset burned on its stupendous
cliffs and slanted ladders of hazy fire down its walled avenue…’
Those
were the words used by Lawrence of Arabia to describe the timeless,
silent and vast place of Wadi Rum. And not without reason. Wadi Rum is
one of the most impressive places of Jordan, a place where you can dwell
for days without meeting anybody besides maybe a Bedouin family sitting
in its goat’s wool tent in the rose-red desert sand. And sometimes the
odd family of camels. Apart from that you are surrounded by sky-high
cliffs of rose-red sandstone rock.
What
better way is there to experience this natural beauty than the way people
have been doing this for centuries? From the Stone Age on people have
been crossing Wadi Rum on bare feet, and sometimes on camel back. Our
11-day wisdom trail offers you a unique chance to leave all the stress of
everyday western life behind you and find peace and quietness once again.
Imagine yourself being a spice merchant, travelling through the desert to
your next trading post. Experience the friendly hospitality of the
Huweitat and the Mzanah, the Bedouin tribes who have lived in Wadi Rum
for centuries. Enjoy the taste of their traditional Arabic meals. And
read the inscriptions left behind as silent evidence of cultures gone. “Whoever walks the desert is no longer the person
he was.”
Your program:-
Day 1
Flight to Amman and transfer to your hotel in Petra, where you will have
dinner and stay overnight.
Day 2 In
the morning a local guide will escort you into Petra and show you the
highlights of the Nabatean city. You will enter the city through the Siq,
the narrow gorge and be rewarded with the most astonishing and dramatic
monument in Jordan: the Treasury. You will also visit the theatre, the
tombs and façades and the colonnaded street. In the
afternoon you may wander around in Petra and explore the area for
yourself. You may climb the stairs to the Monastery and admire the
splendid view over the Wadi Araba. Or walk all the way up to the High
Place of Sacrifice and see the obelisks which are believed to represent
the most important Nabatean gods, Dushara and Al ‘Uzza. In the evening
dinner will be prepared for you at a campfire in the prehistoric site of
Little Petra, accompanied by traditional Jordanian folklore.
Day 3 -
10 Early in the morning you will be
transferred to Wadi Rum by bus or
jeep. You pass the seven pillars of wisdom, from which the world-famous
book of Lawrence of Arabia derives its title. The Wisdom Trail will start from
the visitor’s centre. The program will offer you a great variety of
activities in the open air. On the first day you will hike through one of
the famous canyons of the Wadi Rum area, the Wadi Umm Ishreen, Arabic for
‘mother of twenty’. By the way, ‘wadi’ is the Arabic word for dry
riverbed. You will see Lawrence of Arabia’s house as well as Thamudic and
Nabatean inscriptions made centuries ago. You will walk through an area
with giant sand dunes. Your campsite will be at the base of Jabal Barrah. On the next day you
will cross the Barrah Gorge, a deep and narrow canyon stretching out for
kilometres on end. In the campsite at the end of the canyon you can enjoy
a well-deserved rest near the campfire. On day 5 you will continue the
hiking tour to Jabal Burdah and climb one of the famous rock bridges in
Wadi Rum, sculpted into the sandstone rock by the wind and rain. The
Wisdom Trail continues to Siq Nanghrah and next to Umm Adaami, the
highest mountain in Jordan (1830 meters). On the next day you will climb
the mountain, a marvellous
experience. On day
8 you will walk to the red sand area, a place where you can contemplate
the silence on top of the sky-high
sand dunes, beautifully set against the
eroded rocks. The next day takes you to the Sunset Area to watch the
crimson colours of the desert sunset and enjoy a traditional Bedouin
dinner accompanied by traditional music and dancing. On the last day you
will hike back to the visitor’s centre, from where the bus will take you
to Amman. This last night you
will have ample opportunity to explore Jordan’s capital, enjoy dinner in
one of the many restaurants and visit some of the highlights of the
city.
Day 11
You will be transferred to the airport and fly back home.
   
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