Wadi Rum

The most common way to explore the desert is with a jeep tour followed by a night in a Beduoin camp. Camel rides are also popular. We, on the other hand, had signed up for a 2 day trek with some scrambling involved. Now we didn't actually have much idea what 'scrambling' was in the Jordanian sense, but we were soon to find out.

Our first walk was through a canyon, or at least that's what we were told. I have this strange idea that canyons have two steep sides and a flattish area at the bottom that you can walk along, or a river may flow. This wasn't that sort of canyon. When our charming guide, Abdullah, stopped the car we appeared to be staring at the side of a mountain. There were a number of cracks and fissures, but certainly no obvious entrance. Undeterred Abdullah pointed straight up one area and told us that's where we were going.

Within 15 minutes of climbing, scrambling and trekking up the slope our thighs were burning, we were out of breath and not quite sure why we hadn't stuck with the jeep tour. Scrambling apparently involved climbing walls that made us long for rock climbing shoes, and at times a rope would have been nice too. Abdullah liked to joke and tease us that we were about to head up particularly impossible looking rock faces, telling us we would have to climb like Spider-Man. It was for this reason that when we reached a point that the track most definitely ended, with a sheer drop of around 3m, and he made the same comment I chuckled quietly. Then he put his hands on the rocks on either side, of what now seemed a gaping chasm, and with arms and legs outstretched made his way to the other side. After swallowing the lump in my throat I decided to trust my body and follow suit. We quickly came to look forward to the Spider-Man cry as it undoubtedly led to something fun, and something we would never attempt without the guide.

Our next surprise was later that day on our way to lunch. He asked us if we would like to walk before lunch. After we agreed he pointed to a far off mountain, told us there was a canyon and that he would be in there. We were left somewhat dumbstruck alone in the middle of a desert with a vague idea of where to go.

This became the theme for the next two days, with either scrambles that he would lead us on or walks that we could do alone. The hike I had most been looking forward was up to a rock bridge. Given the difficulty of the previous days walks we were slightly apprehensive when he packed a rope that morning. Nevertheless we followed him up the mountain, quickly catching up to a Polish couple who were doing the same trek. It was just before the rock bridge that the rope was considered necessary as we had to ascend about 5m straight up.

When it was time to head back down we managed to convince Abdullah to take us the way that was "a little bit harder". Saying good bye to the Polish couple who were a little less comfortable with climbing and heights than us we ventured onto our new route. It was, indeed, a little bit harder. Then we came to a fabulous viewpoint. The mountain dropped away beneath us and the scenery was breath taking. At this point Abdullah pointed to a crack in the rockface below us and told us that was where we were going. Compared to the short climb we had used the rope for earlier this was mammoth! He pointed out where the anchor points were for using a rope, and then proceeded to make his way down the crack. For about 40m we carefully made our way down the cliff, moving one limb at a time and holding on for dear life!