We went out to Rum with our Danish friends Nancy and Per, and we were joined by two English women. Our guide was a local Bedouin called Obeid. Obeid was wonderful. A small but surprisingly strong man, with an ear-to-ear grin brighter that the desert sun. He took us for a long drive, then he cooked us a dinner in front of a tent, then he arranged for his family to come and visit us, then he took care of us while we slept under the open sky, and the next day, he took us for a lengthy camel ride and then to his home. Where we discovered he had a satellite TV and an Internet connection.
For any further info, here are Obaid's details:
Name: Obaid Nasser Al-Amamreh
Address: PO Box 14, Aqaba, Disi, Jordan
Email: wadirum_disidesert@yahoo.com
At the beginning of the trip.
Tracks in the sand. We saw only one other car during the whole afternoon.
On one of the red sand dunes in Rum. The sand is so fine, and so dry that Obeid's snow white thobe stayed snow white no matter how much he mucked about in the sand. And he mucked about quite a bit. Including giving me a sand-taxi ride.
There are hundreds of Thamudic inscriptions on the faces of the mountains in Rum. They date from about 5th century BC to the 7th century AD. Most drawings show camels, but there are also drawings of lions and ostriches, which once flourished in Jordan.
Nancy is getting dressed up for the desert.
|
page 6 of 12
Silvija Seres, July 2002