Staying in a Bubble Tent in Wadi Rum, Jordan
/Have you ever wondered where the movies Martian, Transformers and Lawrence of Arabia were filmed? Wadi Rum is the answer - a Mars-like valley in southern Jordan. The whole landscape makes you feel like you’ve been transported to another planet. The red sand, giant rocks and the crisp starry skies are the stuff of dreams. To get the full experience of Wadi Rum, you can stay at glamping sites tucked away in the extensive desert - managed by Bedouins. We travelled to Jordan in November 2019 and stayed four nights in four different locations - the Dead Sea, Wadi Rum, Petra and Amman. Staying in Wadi Rum was definitely the highlight of the trip.
We prearranged a taxi ride with a local Jordanian man from the Dead Sea to Wadi Rum. The journey took 4 and a half hours down a straight and dark single carriageway. Avoiding families of wild camels along the way…
We finally arrived at the Wadi Rum Visitors Center (basically a car park in the desert), where we were greeted by two Bedouins. For those unsure of the term - Bedouins are groups of nomadic Arab people, who live in the deserts of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and the Levant. They are interesting characters and they certainly don’t know how to drive slowly over sand dunes. With music blasting from their laptop, we were huddled in the back of the truck - following a non-existent track. After a very bumpy 15 minutes, we arrived at the Wadi Rum Night Luxury Camp.
At this point, it was around 10pm. It was pitch black and eerily quiet. I stepped out of the truck and couldn’t do anything but look up. The stars were out in full force, completely lighting up the sky. The only other time I’d seen stars like this was in Tanzania, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. They felt so close to us, like the sky was heavy. It was incredible.
There were two rows of bubble tents that provided the only light. The main camp lights had been turned off before we arrived, to give the guests a full view of the stars. This was our tent. There was so much to take in and it didn’t help that it was so dark outside. We could see the outline of the huge rocks towering up behind us. I couldn’t wait to see it in the daytime.
We had missed dinner, however, the owner rustled up a huge spread for us. I had my worries about being vegetarian in an Arab country as they’re known for being avid meat-eaters. But that wasn’t an issue here, I was given a delicious vegetable curry and lots of veggie sides. Luckily the owner’s wife is Indian, so he used to having veggie food prepared. It was just what we needed after a long day of travelling.
After dinner, we headed back to our little bubble. We turned the lights off and just marvelled at the sky. No photo or explanation can ever justify these moments. It was magic.
With the bubble tents being see-through, there were curtains around the beds for privacy. This also meant that we woke up with the sun… at 6am. It was freezing!!! We stepped out of the tent with 3 layers on and watched the sunrise over the rocks.
The best place I’ve ever woken up. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was everything I hoped for - and more.
The bubble tents all had their own bathrooms - shower and toilets included. Surprisingly the water was warm too!
We had breakfast around 9am and the temperature was already starting to rise. We went for a walk around the camp which gave us time to relax and appreciate how far we had travelled. The scenery was nothing like we had experienced before. The clear skies and the silent landscape was very surreal.
Here’s a collection of my favourite photos from that morning - enjoy!
Given that we were in the middle of nowhere, (even though it was 5-star accommodation) there was no signal or WiFi. We asked one of the Bedouins to drive us back to the Wadi Rum Visitors Center so that we could contact our taxi driver. The Bedouin drove us back through the wilderness of the desert, and of course, we asked him to stop multiple times for pictures. The Bedouins couldn’t do enough for us!
After using the WiFi (a Bedouin’s hotspot) for 15 minutes, we headed back to the camp. We still had a few hours to kill before having to leave for Petra. We decided to go for a walk through the desert, just to stretch our legs a little bit. Here’s another collection of photos - we couldn’t get enough of the scenery!
We walked around for about an hour - by this time it was around 25 degrees. We were given some free lunch by the Bedouins and they organised our trip back to the Visitors Center. We were sad to have less than 24 hours at the camp, however, it’s a place that will be impossible to forget! We gathered our luggage and hopped into the back of a truck. We had our final ride through the desert and of course we took more pictures!
