- Oct 12, 2016
- 2 min read

Petra by Day, Bedouin Camp by Night

I know what you are thinking…

I don’t really seem like the camping type. In fact the last time I attempted to camp it went badly wrong, so badly that I ended up in a mud hut in the middle of nowhere in Kenya.

This time I made sure that there were at least beds.

We drove up to the Rock Camp in Wadi Musa after exploring Wadi Rum.

Everything was going well until it started to get dark. The directions to the camp were given with google coordinates, perfect if you had a working 4G connection, but we did not.

I remain adamant that my navigation skills were excellent and the pre-downloaded map on Michael’s phone was the weak link, but even with my terrific navigation skills the lack of lights / signs of civilisation on the road was worrying.

Tensions ran high as we drove further and further away from Petra into the darkness, but eventually we came across a tiny illuminated sign that confirmed we were going in the right direction.

When we finally arrived at the camp we were warmly greeted by Ishmael, the camp manager. who prepared traditional Bedouin food for us.

The setting for dinner was very atmospheric with a lovely camp fire and twinkling fairly lights attached to the rock-face behind us. The camp itself was very rustic but the experience for one night was great.

We rose bright and early the next morning to make our way to Petra before it got too hot.

Petra is absolutely incredible, everyone needs to put it at the top of their travel bucket lists right now.

The walk down from the visitors centre was about 2km, winding through red rock before Petra’s famous Treasury suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

I managed to fit in some shopping within the first 10 minutes. I bought a white headscarf as my hair is a magnet for the sun. It turned out to be quite a good tactic for keeping cool, worth noting my fellow dark haired friends.

After the Treasury we got a mule to the Monastery. I had absolutely no idea what I signed up for when I got on that mule.

I thought we were just going to trundle along for 20 minutes and suddenly the Monastery would appear out of nowhere, in similar fashion to how we found the Treasury.

NOPE!

After 15 minutes of trundling the mules then took flight up a massive, seemingly endless, set of staircases. Up and up we went, with me clinging on for dear life.

I felt terrible for the poor mule for having to haul me up there. Not an experience to be repeated, at least for me.

The Monastery however, was breathtaking and the views around it were fantastic.

By this stage it was getting very HOT. I turn into a bit of a rage cage when I am overheated so I was silently cursing everyone who came near me as we explored the rest of the ancient city.