November 9, 2015 – Wadi Rum
In the middle of the summer of 2007 and perhaps at the hottest time of the year to visit Jordan, I travelled across the border from Israel into Jordan where I would travel by car from the southern border crossing at Eilat crossing back into Israel at Beit She’an, which is north of Jerash.
I was travelling with a good friend from Israel who had been my guide the year before together with a retired Jordanian Captain, whose name was Ali and who would guide us over a weeklong trip.
Our first stop, after walking across the border at Eilat, would be to drive to Wadi Rum which is also known as “The Valley of the Moon.” The valley is cut into the sandstone and granite rock located about 60 km east of Aqaba and is the largest wadi in Jordan. Today the area is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Center and has become an extremely popular place for tourists to visit.
For many people, the area is best known from the film “Lawrence of Arabia” starring the Academy Award winning actor, Peter O’Toole. Based on the true story of the British officer, T.E. Lawrence, he crossed this area on several occasions during the Arab revolt of 1917-18.
For me, it was the first time I had ever spent any time in a large desert area which looked very different than the deserts located in Southern California and resembled more like what I imagined a desert to be – an area filled with rolling sand dunes and planes filled with rippled sand formed by the power of the wind. The temperature during the heat of the day could get well in excess of 110 degrees Fahrenheit but would cool down to a comfortable temperature in the evening.
We would spend the first night sleeping under the stars in the middle of the desert with no signs of civilization any where near us for miles. In every direction that we looked, there was nothing but sand and occasionally some patches of green plants. It is hard to imagine how people survived out in this heat for long periods of time even with camels to take them from one place to the next.
On a clear night with no moon, the stars would light up the desert creating an image that one would expect to see in a planetarium or in a movie. What was perhaps surprising to me was that despite being in the middle of nowhere the ability to get cell coverage and be able to receive emails on my blackberry (this was before I had my first iPhone!) seemed inconceivable.
Although I had a sleeping bag and a thin pad to sleep on, the hard rock below me did not make for the most comfortable night’s sleep but despite this, the memory of this trip and images of the desert are something that will remain with me forever.
You may ask what it is that prompted me to write today’s post given that my trip to Jordan took place more than 8 years ago. Perhaps, in part, I have watched with great dismay the ongoing fighting that continues to exist in the Middle East with fighting in some cases taking place over what is a relatively small peace of desert land in the middle of nowhere. The fact that this land may on one level seem barren and uninhabitable raises the question of “who cares”. Having spent a period of time in Death Valley in the middle of the summer two years ago and having spent time in Jordan in the summer 8 years ago, there is a beauty that exists in this places which is hard to explain until you have spent time there. There is a peace and calmness that exists in the desert at night when you look out for miles and miles in every direction and see nothing but sand and more sand. There is a beauty in watching the sunset in the lateness of the afternoon and there is something breathtaking when you stare at a sky filled with stars that feel like you could reach out to them given how close they appear when there is no interference from the brightness of city lights.If you look more carefully, there is life that can be found in the desert. Plant life grows. Animals survive.
You can read in the book “Start Up Nation” how the Israelis were able to farm fish in salt water springs found in the middle of the desert. For each person they will see something different when they go to the desert. The expression that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” could not be a truer statement. For each side of the conflict in the Middle East, even the barren desert has a special place in the hearts of each of the Israelis and Palestinians. For them, it is a part of their own heritage that they want to hold on to with some individuals not wanting to give up a grain of sand even if to do so might, one day, lead to the possibility of peace. Perhaps one day each side will see a different kind of beauty and one that allows both sides to exist together and this dream may become a reality. One day!
“All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”
T. E. Lawrence
(Photos taken in Wadi Rum – July 2007)
