Wadi Rum Riding with the Bedouin
Ride through the Wadi Rum Desert with me and my Bedouin guide, Atallah Swalhen. This video features the desert's beautiful expanses. The Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan is called ‘The Valley of the Moon’. Having ridden the lunar landscapes of Iceland as well as the dramatic landscapes of America’s Southwest, I found the Wadi Rum to be a mix of the two. It’s much more diverse than the moon with its variety of pink, red and white sandstone formations, which are striated with lines of black, pockmarked with crevices and decorated with 2500 year-old petroglyphs.
The desert is stunning with surprisingly diverse scenery. There are areas of rocky sand mixed with large dunes, prickly green shrubs and imposing mountain monuments rising up to bright blue, cloudless skies. Dramatic… beautiful… and I wouldn’t want to ride there without a guide, as weaving through those canyons, I would certainly get lost. You might want to get lost, as the desert is wonderful and peaceful, but not during the midday heat. I quickly learned from my Bedouin guide to always be on the lookout for shade.
Watch more Jordan footage in Equitrekking's two Jordan episodes, Jordan: Wadi Rum, Aqaba & Jerash and Jordan: Petra, Royal Stables & Dead Sea. Check your local PBS listings for dates and times. Take an EquitrekkingTravel.com equestrian vacation in Jordan and ride with the Bedouin, including Bedouin guide Atallah Swalhen on his Arabian horses on the Jordan Bedouin Trek & Classic Tour, which includes Petra and the Dead Sea!
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