Wadi Rum in Jordan

The Bedouin call Wadi Rum "The Valley of the Moon" and its austere beauty of huge razor-toothed mountains, wind-sculpted rocks and expansive plains do make it seem a place of another world.

Protected area
The name Wadi Rum is often used to describe a general area of desert in Southern Jordan, yet the true area is a 720 square kilometre protected park of untainted nature.

Access is via a park gate and a road that leads to the Bedouin village of Wadi Rum, the last outpost of modernity before the untamed wilderness, the sheer scale of which is both daunting and captivating.

The Bedouin
It may seem harsh and unforgiving, devoid of the necessities for human life, yet people have lived in this land for millennia. To the Bedouin this is still home and in many ways their lifestyle has not changed. Of course, tourism is now an essential part of the local economy, yet they still pitch their goat-hair tents far out in the desert for their herds of sheep, goats and camels to for forage for food. Not as a tourist spectacle, but simply because they are Bedouin.

Inside or out?
There are tourist camps outside the boundaries of the park where facilities tend to be more modern and luxurious than those within the reserve.

This is because tourism development inside Wadi Rum is controlled and camps must abide by rules to ensure they are discrete. However, this means in the park you are assured of an experience closer to that lived by countless generations of Bedouin. It is an ideal place for family holidays.

Read more about activities for families at Wadi Rum