After about 20 minutes of walking, my newfound hiking buddy and I crossed paths with a group of locals who asked where we were coming from (we still had yet to see a single other tourist on our hike) and we told them Little Petra. They shook their heads and said; “oh, that bad, no, no, you cannot go this way, police, police!” Well, we both had been warned about the locals trying to scam us, and chalked it up to some elaborate scheme, just nodding our heads and continued hiking. After all, they let us into the park, so we had to get out somehow, right? Another 20 minutes later we came across another group of locals who told us the same thing and even tried to get us to watch a video on their phone while joining them for tea at their tent. We declined and kept walking, shaking our heads at the obvious scheme in play. However, after another 5 minutes of walking we found ourselves in an opening in the canyon and lo and behold, there were smoke mortars being fired across the sky (smoke, not explosives), locals running from them and police were everywhere! My hiking partner and I stopped in our tracks, a bit unsure of what to do next. Luckily there was a policeman ahead of us who noticed us walking in and motioned for us to come to him. We speed walked to him and he proceeded to escort us to an area where all the police cars were, including a tank or two. He then began excitedly talking with his colleagues as my hiking partner and I told them where we had come from and how. All of the policemen seemed to be in disbelief that we had hiked in from Little Petra. We showed our punched tickets and explained we were simply hiking out of the park. After a few minutes of discussion, the police escorted us into one of their vehicles to drive us the rest of the way out of the park. As this seemed it would be the end of our visit to Petra for the day, we pleaded with them to stop at the famous Treasury and Siq to take a few quick snaps. They actually agreed and it turned out that one of the men in the vehicle was the newly elected Minister of Tourism in Petra, who sincerely apologized for the situation, gave me his card and told me that if I needed anything while I was in town to call him. To clarify what was going on readers: evidently the local people (Bedouins) have been causing problems for many years by living unsanctioned in the park and ripping off tourists. The government has been trying to remove them for 7 years and the newly elected Minister had rallied the police to peacefully force them out that day.
After the police car dropped us at the main entrance of Petra, my hiking partner and I had a great laugh about the adventure we had and were happy we got to see all of the park, albeit in a rare way! While it was my hiking buddy’s only day in Petra, I had actually planned on visiting the Park for a second day, so I was not too worried that the park was still closed when we got dropped off at the main gate. Even though I had most of the day now free, I had plans to solidify for my visit to Wadi Rum to occupy my time.
Wadi Rum is about 2 hours from Petra by car and although there is a bus company that operates between the main cities in Jordan (JETTBUS), for whatever reason their system would not let me actually book a ticket online. I had booked my ticket from Aqaba to Amman, but the Wadi Rum route would not show up in their system. Not wanting to spend more money on a private car, I was determined to take a bus to Wadi Rum. My hotel informed me that there was a smaller local minibus, but it left at 6 am and they were not sure about the JETTBUS schedule, as it might not be running due to the low tourism levels. I had read online that the JETTBUS left at 11:30 am, a much more acceptable timeframe, especially since I wanted to try to squeeze in another Petra visit the next morning. So, as I had the rest of the day free, rather than just take my hotel’s word for it, I decided to walk up to the bus station and inquire directly about a ticket to Wadi Rum. The gentleman at the bus station assured me that yes, there was a JETTBUS the next day leaving at 11:30 am and I could just pay the driver cash directly for a ticket. There was also a ‘helpful’ taxi driver who also assured me that this was the case (and of course if I wanted private transportation he was at my service). All things seemingly in place, I then headed back to my hotel for a late snack and some rest for the night.
Once back at my hotel, they asked how my day went and I proceeded to regale my story to the receptionist at the front desk, (who balked at the Minister’s card I showed him) and informed me that sadly Petra would also not open until 10:30 am the next day (it usually opens at 7 am), so I likely had my one and only shot at visiting the park before I had to leave. Needing a bit more sleep, I just chalked it up to the travel gods and headed off to bed.
The next morning, at 10:45 am, after breakfast at the hotel, I asked them if their shuttle could take me to the bus station, located next to Petra’s main entrance. They asked me if I was taking a taxi to Wadi Rum and I said that no, I would be taking the 11:30 am bus. Again, they said they were unsure if it was actually running; I figured if it wasn’t, well, I would simply have to suck it up and take a taxi, but dang it I was going to try to catch that bus! After dropping me at the bus station, the station attendant asked which bus I was there for, I told him and he and indicated that yes, there was a JETTBUS, just as promised, sitting there in the lot. I then walked up to the bus driver, confirmed it was the bus to Wadi Rum and asked if I could pay for a ticket directly to him, in cash. He nodded, saying yes and asked me to wait 15 minutes (as it was only 11:15 am at that point). So, I went and sat down at a little café located in the bus station. After a few minutes, the man who ran the café asked me to come speak on the phone to the JETTBUS manager. I explained my situation and he told me to pay the driver cash directly and send a copy of my ID via WhatsApp for the bus manifest. I knew this was a standard requirement from booking my Aqaba to Amman bus fare, so I said ok and thought that was that. After 10 more minutes I walked over to the bus to pay my fare and to my surprise, the bus driver looked at me and said, “NO.” What? I had just spoken with this man 15 minutes ago! Then, the café gentleman walked over and started a heated conversation with the driver and proceeded to call the bus manager on the phone, who started arguing with the driver as well. Next, the taxi driver from the previous day heard the commotion, walked over and got into the argument too! At this point there were 3 men yelling and arguing, meanwhile, I’m sitting there in the middle of it all, having to explain and re-explain the scenario to various people at various points in the argument. After about 5 minutes of this, the bus driver starts to walk away and says, “bye, bye” to me. I stopped him in his path and said; “NO, that is not right.” The other gentlemen were still in heated discussion and then a passenger (there were only 2 other passengers on the bus) came out of the bus and said, listen, my wife didn’t show up, can’t she just use her ticket and pay me? The bus driver seemed amenable to this, but then the entire group started arguing again. I proceeded to pull out the Minister’s card from the previous day, showed it to them and said, “listen, if this is a problem I can call my friend.” Immediately, the entire group stopped, looked at me and said, ‘ok’ and I got on the bus, paid my fare and we were off! Needless to say, I’ve kept that gentleman’s card in my wallet ever since!
The bus ride was smooth and soon I arrived at the entrance of Wadi Rum park where my campground host met me. To gain entrance to Wadi Rum, there is a small park fee, waived with a Jordan Pass. From there you must either have campground reservations in the desert or choose to stay in the very small ‘town’ just outside the park; however, there is really nothing in the ‘town’ other than the most basic of accommodations and I personally would not really recommend staying anywhere but a campground.
After a lot of debate and research on which camp to stay in, I choose the Wadi Rum Quiet Village, due to the fact it had tents with private bathrooms, showers with hot water and WIFI and was advertised to be away from other camps. Choosing a campground from online research was not easy as most of them look similar and it is quite hard to tell just what you are getting. I didn’t want to pay upwards of $200/night for a luxury camp, but wanted something mid range that provided an actual bed and basic amenities. Again, I lucked out due to low tourism with a great last minute rate, less than half what it would normally be at $40/night including dinner and breakfast. When you book a camp stay it is normal to add on things like a camel tour, quad bike and/or jeep tour of the area. As it was early afternoon when I arrived I booked a 2.5 hour jeep tour of the desert, which turned out to be a private tour with just me riding in the back of a pickup truck, gazing at breathtaking scenery with multiple stops at awe-inspiring canyons and rocks in the desert, making me feel a little like “Josephine of Arabia.”
After the tour it was time to check into my tent for the night and get ready for dinner. My tent was actually huge with 3 beds and a full ensuite bathroom, clean and just enough for a night (or two) in the desert. Dinner was served community style in a common area of the camp, where they had an indoor and outdoor space, heated by fire. The meal was chicken and vegetables, cooked in the traditional Bedouin way (in the ground), served with rice and Arabic salads. It was actually delicious! After dinner, everyone gathered in the tent for a little local music and tea. As the camp only had 5 other guests it was a pretty early night and I slept well, falling asleep listening to the quick desert rain and light winds that passed through during the night.
The next morning I woke up to views of camels surrounded by the morning mist and had a great breakfast served in the community tent before I set off to travel back to Amman and catch my flight to my next destination. My trip back was smooth and uneventful – I took a taxi from Wadi Rum to Aqaba, about an hour away and then a 4 hour bus (yes JETTBUS) ride to Amman. As my flight was booked on Royal Jordanian Airlines I was also able to catch the $4 shuttle from the main bus station to the airport – score!
Final verdict – how did Jordan rate on the ‘Outlaw scale’?
FOOD: Very good – I am partial to Middle Eastern food and I loved the selection of vegetables and meat and there was a huge variety of restaurants and cuisine to choose from. There seemed to be a considerable lack of seafood, but I didn’t mind it and was happy with meat and vegetables as a staple. However, like everything else in Jordan, it was expensive!
SAFETY: Everyone I encountered was very friendly, helpful and honest. I didn’t feel any level of discomfort traveling alone as a woman and while I kept my dress conservative I also didn’t encounter any instances where I got harassed significantly. Sure there were men who REALLY wanted to talk with me, but it was easy enough to brush them off. The only place I was warned about was Petra and even there it felt pretty harmless to me.
LANGUAGE: Arabic is widely spoken and most I encountered did speak at least some English so it was fairly easy to get around without a translator and some basic hand pointing gestures.
THINGS TO DO: Very good – there are a lot of outdoor activities and things to do to keep one occupied, even some things I did not get to try due to the winter season and traveling solo. Given the chance, I would do a repeat of Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea as those were simply tops on my list as well as Petra (if there were limited tourists).
TRANSPORTATION: I used Uber, taxis and buses to get around, but there’s definitely a lack of public transportation in the country, which was a bit disappointing. Renting a car is common, but I did not trust myself well enough in a Middle Eastern country, especially during a time of war, to drive around alone. I did encounter a lot of security checkpoints in my taxi and bus rides and while they simply waved us on, I’m glad I chose not to drive myself.
MONEY: I only had to use cash to pay for my taxi services/tours to Petra and the Dead Sea, but those could have easily been done online through another tour company. Credit cards are widely accepted in country.
VALUE: Medium/Low – Jordan was extremely expensive to visit, with most prices at the levels of more expensive USA cities. While it is worth it, keep budgeting in mind for a future visit.
OVERALL: This was a great country to ‘get my feet wet’ in the Middle East, a region of the world I’d not yet visited prior to this trip. Would I repeat it? Perhaps for the Dead Sea and Wadi Rum, but there are plenty of other deserts on my list, so maybe I’ll just keep the Dead Sea from the Israeli side on my list….
TRAVEL MILE COUNT: ~550 – Amman to Dead Sea and back, Amman to Petra, Petra to Wadi Rum, Wadi Rum to Aqaba, Aqaba to Amman
TRAVEL METHOD COUNT: 5 taxis, 3 Ubers, 2 buses, 1 flight, 1 camel, 2 jeeps, 1 police car!
TRAVEL CASUALITIES (Items lost): 0
UP NEXT: After 48 years I’m finally visiting the place my father grew up – Egypt (or the ‘motherland’ as my family calls it) – leggo pyramids!!