Mt Nebo, Madaba, Lawerence of Arabia's Wadi Rum

Trip Start Feb 01, 2005
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Trip End Dec 31, 2008


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Where I stayed
Al Zawaydeh Camp

Flag of Jordan  ,
Thursday, November 6, 2008

First stop on today's travels was Mt Nebo from where Moses was said to have spotted the promised land. He then died and was believed to be buried on the mountain but no tomb has been identified. Naturally there were spectacular views across the Jordan Valley, Dead Sea and Jericho in Israel and we were told you can see the spires of Jerusalem but it was a bit hazy to make them out. There were also good views back in the direction of Amman. There was a Christian Church on the Mountain with beautifully preserved mosaics. No guide again but hey we are quite good at working it all out anyway.

On to Madaba where there is a historically important mosaic that covers the floor of a Greek Orthodox church. It is a map of the holy land constructed in AD560 and once contained more than 2 million pieces! Quite a bit of it still survives after being unearthed in 1864.
01 Mt Nebo - Moses
01 Mt Nebo - Moses
We then drove on into the desert which began to look more and more like Lawrence's Arabia the closer we got to our desert camp. Just before sunset we arrived and were put in the hands of our very comical Bedouin camel driver for a camel safari. After getting us onto the camels and heading off, he commenced to yell at the top of his voice into his mobile phone! He was quite elderly and didn't have much English but we communicated well with signs and gestures and he told us that he had been in the army by demonstrating his marching.  Avan had borrowed our drivers (at his insistence)  binoculars, which fell out of his pocket onto the sand. Our Camel Driver swooped onto them, gave them a cursory clean, and indicated if he could use, then gave us what he thought a hilarious account of what he could see, to our non understanding bemusement.   It was magical watching the sunset then lurching back to camp on our camels.

Our camp was fairly empty with only one other couple from the Netherlands and a family from Amman. Avan was coerced into a game of soccer with the two little boys (sport is an international language). During the game the ball disappeared between the tents, and when the boys returned they excitedly dragged me off to show me a dead cat near our tent. I later mentioned the cat to the Bedouin owner who tried to convince me the cat was mearly resting (I think not) anyway next time I looked it was gone 02 Mt Nebo - Monastery
02 Mt Nebo - Monastery
 .  The night turned very cold and the Bedouin's fed us a lovely meal of dips, bread, salad then chicken and potatoes cooked under the ground. Later we sat around a campfire before putting on all our clothes and heading to our very rough tent which couldn't be zipped up against the chill desert air.

Next morning after a simple breakfast it was off on a jeep tour of the surrounding mountains and desert made famous in the filming of Lawrence of Arabia.. Later a lunch of Bedouin food and tea and then we were off for the 3 hour drive to Petra.

Just before ending our day our driver took us to 'LittlePetra". This was where the camel drivers camped with their camels before they headed into the city of Petra to sell and trade their wares. It was complete with communal dining halls carved into the rock with painted frescos still visible on the ceilings and no barirers to stop you exploring. It was a little foretaste of what was to come.....
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