Trekking in Wadi Rum

This is not the jeep tour. Crossing Wadi Rum on foot means a multi-day traverse with Bedouin guides and camels carrying the water, scrambling through narrow siqs and over sandstone domes, and camping wherever the day happens to end. The desert of red sand and towering sandstone that stood in for Mars in half a dozen films is a very different place when you're walking through it at three kilometres an hour.

What people remember afterwards is the silence at night, closely followed by the sky — with no light for a hundred kilometres, the stars are overwhelming. The days are spent moving between rock massifs, the guides reading a landscape that looks featureless to an outsider and isn't.

A protected-area fee applies and local guides are required, which is no hardship — the Bedouin knowledge is half the trip. Summer is dangerously hot; go in spring or autumn, and pack for winter nights that drop below freezing under that same clear sky.

This is not the jeep tour. Crossing Wadi Rum on foot means a multi-day traverse with Bedouin guides and camels carrying the water, scrambling through narrow siqs and over sandstone domes, and camping wherever the day ends.

The desert of red sand and towering sandstone that stood in for Mars in half a dozen films is a very different place at three kilometres an hour.

What people remember is the silence at night, then the sky — with no light for a hundred kilometres, the stars are overwhelming. Days are spent moving between rock massifs, the guides reading a landscape that looks featureless to an outsider and is not.

Arrange the traverse through a Bedouin operator — a protected-area fee applies and local guides are required, which is no hardship, since their knowledge is half the trip.

Go in spring or autumn, March–May or October–November: summer is dangerously hot, and winter nights drop below freezing under that same clear sky, so pack warm layers for camp even when days are mild. This is intermediate-to-advanced desert walking with scrambling and long days on sand; come fit and sun-prepared.

Camels carry the water, so your pack stays light. Reach Wadi Rum via Aqaba or Petra, and let the guides set the daily line.