By Graham Howe
February 22, 2008

We stayed overnight at Taybet Zaman on the King's Highway. The hotel resort styled as a traditional Arabian village with adobe dwellings, cobbled alleyways, souqs and hammam (baths) has won environmental awards for its vernacular architecture.

A canyon in Wadi Rum

Perched on the mountainside, the views of the Wadi Arabia are stupendous. We fall asleep and awake to the hypnotic chant of the village muezzin calling the faithful to prayer, resonating to the sounds of the holy land.

An antiquarian bookseller in the handicraft souq at Taybet Zaman sells old Arabian classics like TE Lawrence's The Pillars of Wisdom, old sepia photographs taken by Victorian travellers and reprints of the journals of early Western travellers to Arabia. He also sells old Iraqi banknotes bearing the immortal image of Saddam Hussein. "The money is worthless but American tourists go crazy for these," he says.

Our Palestinian driver reckons, "Iraq was better off under a strongman like Saddam - or Fidel in Cuba and Chavez in Venezuela." While negotiating corners at speed, he shows us a ghoulish image of Saddam in a shroud he carries on his cellphone - as well as pictures of his own children. Noticing our surprise, he adds ruefully, "They say you should never talk religion or politics to guests." Right said Fred.

The Deir, Petra

We ascend 850 stone steps up a rough stairway through a narrow gorge to the Deir, a hermitage carved out of the rock-face with a magnificent façade twice the width of Westminster Abbey. Coming to the high place of Petra, we gaze out over a lost city of magnificent tombs and temples hewn out of the multi-coloured rock 2 000 years ago. The green trans-Jordanian plateau lies at our feet far below.

The locals set up souvenir stands, bars and coffee shops at every step of the way. Bedouin jewellery, purses, bags, fossils, rocks, clay amphoras, "old Roman coins", bottles filled with coloured sand, camel carvings. "Hey mister, you pay one dinar (R10) for anything you want! Look for free. Buy from me!" Petra is a bustling souq - the same as it ever was - selling tourist trinkets instead of frankincense at the tombs.

"Come back for happy hour. Buy one beer, get one for free!" shouts a tout at one of the sundowner bars set up beneath a rocky overhang. The tourists turn red in the sun while waiting for the city of Petra to turn pink at sunset. We leave reluctantly. You could spend several days exploring an archaeological site spread over a vast area.

"Bad news," announces our glum driver at breakfast the next morning. "Someone made bad accident for me last night. I was not in the car when it happens."

Tayseer is the picture of innocence. The way he tells it, he was sitting in a restaurant when someone drove into his parked car without stopping. "Lucky for us I'm a mechanic," he adds, looking on the bright side. "My friend will drive you today while I fix the car. When we get back to Amman I will fix it properly."

Panoramic view of  Wadi Rum

Travelling deeper and deeper into the past, we are swept along on the King's Highway towards Wadi Rum, near Aqaba in the far south of Jordan. The vast national park covers 720km2 - a desert landscape of sheer granite massifs at heights of 1 700m, narrow canyons, secret passageways through fissures, weathered rock bridges, sand dunes and ancient Alameleh rock drawings.

Lawrence of Arabia, carved into a rock  wall in Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum is forever linked to the legendary exploits of TE Lawrence, who used the canyons as a base during the Arab revolt against the Turks of 1916-1918. Lawrence's house and spring are two of the many tourist attractions at Wadi Rum today.

Out in the mirage of the desert, there is a thin line between fable and history, fact and fiction, the man and the myth.

Film buffs will recognise many scenes filmed by British director David Lean, who shot his myth-making film, Lawrence of Arabia, here.

An Oxford scholar who did his thesis on crusader castles and was fluent in Arabic, TE Lawrence was liaison officer between British intelligence and Feisal, son of the emir of Mecca. In his book Seven Pillars of Wisdom (inspired by the seven-sided massif at the gateway to Wadi Rum), TE Lawrence describes the unique landscape of the area.

The ruins of Azraq

He writes, "Of Azraq (a crusader fortress) as of Rum, one said 'Numen inest'. Both were magically haunted… Rum was vast and echoing and God-like."

Visitor's Centre,  Wadi Rum

In the parking lot of the Wadi Rum visitors' centre, Bedouin guides queue in rusty old pick-ups to take visitors on a 4x4 trip into the desert. These days the locals herd tourists instead of sheep and goats. You can overnight in a Bedouin tent and bellydance the night away.

"Good disco. Happy hour. Dancing girls," tempts Tayseer, who seems keen for us to stay. I guess you could call it Bedouin and breakfast.

Abdul Kareem, our thoroughly modern community guide, is dressed in a white galabiyya and a red-checked kaffiyeh (head shawl). He explains, "My family have lived in the desert for two hundred years. My grandfather knew Lawrence of Arabia. We only keep 10 'goots' (goats) now. Water is too little. Tourist tips are too big!"

Seven Pillars of Wisdom

After driving to the massif known as "The Seven Pillars of Wisdom", he shows us old rock paintings of camel caravans and new carvings of Lawrence of Arabia in the maze of canyons at Wadi Rum. How things have changed since Lawrence rode the range. He wrote his own epitaph, "The dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible. This I did."

We take the desert highway back to Amman, relieved to get back in one piece. It is the fast route from the resort town of Aqaba on the Red Sea to the capital 330km north. The Desert Highway follows the old route of the Darb el Haj, the Muslim pilgrim's route from Damascus to Mecca. Constructed by the Ottomans in the 16th century, it was also known as the Tariq al-Bint (the Maiden's Way) after an Ottoman princess who reputedly preferred it to the King's Highway. Shaking the sand out of our eyes and shoes, we head back to the city.

Graham Howe was a guest of American Express, Egypt Air and Egypt & Beyond. 

Contact Cecelia Amory at Egypt & Beyond, a specialist in Johannesburg who arranges tours of Jordan. Tel: 011 678 6165, email: cecelia@championtours.co.za.

Fact File: If You Go

Visas

EU and South African passport holders need a visa to visit Jordan. Apply through your travel agent, a visa service or directly to the Embassy of the Kingdom of Jordan in Pretoria.

Getting There

Air Egypt flies between Johannesburg and Cairo with frequent onward connections to Amman, Jordan. Flying time: Jhb/Cairo: Eight hours. Cairo/Amman: ninety minutes. Most major European airlines operate direct flights to Amman.

Time difference

Jordan is one or two hours ahead of South Africa, depending on daylight savings.

Currency

One Jordanian dinar = R10. One Jordanian dinar = 1000 fils. ATMs in all towns.

Getting around

Taxis and buses operate between Queen Alia Airport, Amman and the downtown area. All major car rental companies operate in Jordan, an ideal self-drive destination with modern freeways, roads and two main north-south highways. Take international driver's license. Road signage in Arabic and English - drive on the right side.

Language

Arabic is the national language. English is widely spoken at hotels and tourist sites.

Best time to go

Ideal: Sept-Oct in Autumn or March-May in Spring. Also during cool winter months, Nov-Feb. Summer season from June-Aug can be very hot. Winter rains, Nov-Feb.

Accommodation

Most major hotel groups operate hotels in Amman and major tourist sites at Petra and the Dead Sea. Hotels range from five-star hotels and spa resorts to one to four star hotels, resthouses, inns and campsites. Excellent Arabic and international cuisine.

Drinks

Best stick to bottled water. Jordanian beer and wines are excellent; imported wine and spirits are expensive. Duty-free allowance of one litre of spirits or two litres of wine.

Tipping

A tip (10-15% of the bill) is expected for any service in Jordan.

Animal Welfare Tips

On visiting Petra, tourists should avoid hiring transport by horse, donkey or carriage through the stony, uneven Siq (gorge) and on the ascent to the Deir (Hermitage). (In any event, the Siq and Deir are best walked on foot to see the sights). These beasts of burden are cruelly abused with crude whips made of electric cable, overloaded, underfed and not given enough water or rest. Report any animal abuse to The Brooke Clinic for Horses in Petra – info@thebrookejordan.org or 962 321 56 379.

Getting Info

See www.visitjordan.com, email: info@visitjordan.com. Contact the Jordanian Tourism Board, Century Park Hotel Complex, Amman, Jordan. Tel: 962 6 567 8444. Also see www.wadirum.jo.

Contact Cecelia Amory at Egypt & Beyond, a specialist tour operator in Johannesburg who arranges tours of Egypt and Jordan. Tel: 011 678 6165, email: cecelia@championtours.co.za.

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