Following the footsteps of Col T E Lawrence of Arabia in Wadi Rum, near Aqaba Jordan

Col. TE Lawrence was in Wadi Rum in 1917 during the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Turks. The king’s mounted troops passed through Wadi Rum on their way to conquer Aqaba and some units returned to use the area as a temporary base before moving north to Damascus. The discovery of a Nabataean Temple in 1933 briefly returned the spotlight to the desert. A French team of archaeologists completed the excavations in 1997. One of the haunting images in Seven Pillars of Wisdom, (the book or the famous movie) is the trek through the desert by Col T E Lawrence and his young Arab assistants to show the British Forces that the it was possible to attack the Turks from the desert. It was a brutal walk. One which stays in the viewer / reader’s mind always and when given the opportunity to see the famous wadi, who can refuse? 

We were on a day trip from Petra to Wadi Rum to Aqaba (yet another historic town where the audacious Sheikh Auda Abu Tayi overwhelmed the Turks). It was an end March morning when we left Petra for Wadi Rum – a drive of 30 minutes. Petra was 9 deg.  Here slightly warmer but still cold and windy with the sand hitting you in the face. 

Wadi Rum translates as "Valley of (light, airborne) sand" or the "Roman Valley"—the latter due to the propensity of Roman architecture in the area. It is also known as the Valley of the Moon – as its a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan. It is the largest wadi in Jordan.  In the 1980’s, for tourism purposes, one of the rock formations in Wadi Rum, originally known as Jabal al-Mazmar (The Mountain of the Plague), was named "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom" after Lawrence's book penned in the aftermath of the war, though the 'Seven Pillars' referred to in the book have no connection with Rum. 

There seems to be a fixed route taken by the tourists.  You reach Wadi Rum from a tarmac road off the main Desert Highway. The road is flanked by fields of watermelons and then after crossing the Hejaz railway line, the scenery changes totally. It is spectacular as you reach the mouth of Wadi Rum. We passed a police post and the junction for the small village of Diseh and continued to the visitor centre. This is where all visitors to Wadi Rum report before proceeding further into the valley. We pay our fees here. In Jordan, everything is frightfully expensive as the minimum rate for anything, especially tourists, starts with JD1 =  US$1.45.  Even if you don’t have time to spend a whole day at Wadi Rum, it is worth coming as far as the visitor centre. We did around 60 kms off road after paying the fee and entering the Wadi. 

From this attractive complex which has many decent shops selling handicrafts, visit the museum and watch a short film about the desert. Beyond the visitor centre, a group of antique beaten up off-road 4WDs with their Bedouin drivers await the next fare in rotation. The tarmac road continues for seven kms to the village of Rum. The village, wedged between the towering dome-capped pillars of Wadi Rum, has a scruffy transient feel – exactly the sort of place you'd expect a nomadic people to live in. 

The first sight, after the ticket complex, is of the massive very impressive Jabal al-Mazmar.  You hit it head on and then go around it. To penetrate the desert beyond the village of Rum, you have various options - a 4WD trip from the visitor centre or book a camel or be prepared for an exhausting hike through soft sand. Beyond the village of Rum, the tarmac runs out and numerous tracks take over, slithering through the soft sand of Wadi Rum to an open area of converging valleys. From here, tracks lead to various points of interest such as rock bridges, desert mushrooms and yardangs. Most 4WD and camel tours make a circular route through the intersecting wadis of the area before returning to the visitor centre. Outside this heavily visited area is a portion of desert known as the Wilderness Area. It is forbidden to take a 4WD into this protected zone. They claim you can hike there but I don’t know. 

We came to a rock formation along which some 4WD‘s were parked. There was a hill where I could see some people standing. The approach was a long gentle slope. Easy, I thought. I jumped off my vehicle and started climbing. Suddenly I realised half way through that my feet were getting bogged down into the soft sand.... it was a real effort to lift one foot after the other. I was so near the top, yet not there. Within 20 feet of the top, I nearly gave up. Then, getting my willpower together, I just leaned forward against the slope and wind and reached the summit. The wiiiind! It was amazing. I had to bend to ensure my belongings stayed with me. Suddenly a whole group of vehicles arrived and I watched people of all ages trying to climb the slope.... few steps forward, a few steps back! The wind did not let up and neither did the sand. After taking a few photographs, we left for the next stop. 

There are many chiselled rock formations in the area, where the wind has whittled away the softer parts of the sandstone, leaving the unusual strange forms of harder rock behind. The most striking of these formations are the natural bridges that arch from one rock mass to another. You can see several of these bridges around the area, but there are three famous ones known as Burdah, Umm Fruth and Little Rock Bridge. 

About 30,000 inscriptions decorate Wadi Rum’s sandstone cliffs. They were made first by tribes from Southern Arabia and later by the Nabataeans who settled in Wadi Rum around the 4th century BC. The two tribes lived peacefully side by side, honouring the same deities of Lat and Dushara. For overnight stays, there are several Bedouin campsites with rudimentary facilities within Wadi Rum and the neighbouring Diseh area, on the edge of the reserve but I would not recommend any unless they have been checked out. We saw many places where tourists were going single file on camels with their Bedu guides. 

I don’t know the exact location but we came across this place where the faces of Lawrence and Auda have been etched in the stone. Seemed pretty accurate and luckily there is no one to start charging fees for photography! But there was a small coffee place nearby.

There are many Rock Bridges –

“Burdah Rock Bridge - a very popular natural feature in Wadi Rum.  The largest of Rum's three arches precariously perched about 80m above surrounding rock. There’s a precipitous hike to the summit”.

“Khazali Siq - the favourite canyon in Wadi Rum   an easy siq to explore is the narrow fissure that cuts into Jebel Khazali. You can explore on foot for about 150m, far enough to appreciate the cool shade and to see inscriptions made by the ancients who used the siq for the same purpose. Look out for drawings of ostriches, pairs of feet and a woman giving birth. You need ropes and a guide to penetrate further and 4WD transport to reach the siq”.

“Jebel Rum Mountain in Wadi Rum.  The western flank of Wadi Rum is formed by Jebel Rum (1754m), which towers over Rum village. It is a popular destination for scramblers and climbers who tackle parts of the ancient Thamudic Way to the summit (guide required – ask at the visitor centre). Similar pathways, once used for hunting ibex and collecting medicinal plants, link one massif to another throughout the area, giving limitless scope for hiking, scrambling and climbing”. 

As we proceeded towards the exit of the Rum, we saw a surreal scene. A series of round huts which we were told had been built for a movie The Martians and were now transformed into 5* accommodation for foreign visitors. The wind had built up and we were soon enveloped into a sand storm lashing our car. 

The final halt was symbolic and brought back happy memories of the book and movie. It was the railway line which had been blown up by Lawrence’s irregulars. Here were a train engine, a coal van and couple of passenger coaches along with a station building in which you could not enter as it was locked! We ended our tour at a small cafe and had a cup of Arabic coffee which was so strong that we left it as there was neither sugar nor milk available!  

We ended up at the visitor centre and had a walk amongst the shops selling interesting Bedu artefacts and trinkets. A great three hour journey for me into a historic region. I just loved it as I was transported into Lawrence’s dreams for Jordan. 

Visuals of Wadi Rum in Lawrence of Arabia from 1962 started Jordan's tourism industry. Wadi Rum is home to the Zalabia Bedouin who work with climbers and trekkers and have made a success of developing eco-adventure tourism. The area is one of Jordan's important tourist destinations, and attracts an increasing number of foreign tourists, particularly trekkers and climbers, but also for camel and horse safari or simply day-trippers from Aqaba or Petra. Its luxury camping retreats have also spurred more tourism to the area. Popular activities in the desert environment include camping under the stars, riding Arabian horses, hiking and rock-climbing among the massive rock formations. All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) and Jeeps are also available and new camps have opened that offer accommodation for tourists. Dima and Lama Hattab coordinate an annual marathon in the region called Jabal Ishrin.

Filming location

The area has been used as a background setting in a number of films. Filmmakers are particularly drawn to it for science fiction films set on Mars.

The Location Managers Guild recognized the Jordanian Royal Film Commission with its LMGI Award for Outstanding Film Commission in 2017 for its work on Rogue One, which filmed at Wadi Rum. The RFC was previously nominated for its work with The Martian.

·         Lawrence of Arabia – David Lean filmed much of this 1962 film on location in Wadi Rum.

·         Red Planet – Wadi Rum was used as the surface of Mars in this 2000 film.

·         Passion in the Desert – The area was also used for scenes in this 1998 film.

·         The Face – BBC Film, Rock climbing in Rum, featuring Wadi Rum pioneers Tony Howard and Di Taylor.

·         Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – represented as being in Egypt

·         The Frankincense Trail – scenes from train, and aerial filming too

·         Prometheus – scenes for the Alien Planet

·         Krrish 3 – the song 'Dil Tu Hi Bata'

·         May in the Summer – a film by Cherien Dabis presented at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Long shots of Wadi Rum set the mood for the film, it's a place where the main character finds peace away from the world and within herself.

·         The Last Days on Mars – filming for exterior shots representing the surface of the titular planet for this 2013 film.

·         The Martian – filming for the Ridley Scott film began in March 2015, for shots that stood in for the surface of Mars

·         Theeb – Filmed mostly in Wadi Rum, as well as Wadi Araba

·         Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, used for scenes set on Jedha.

·         Aladdin

·         Star Wars: Episode IX

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