Home » Jordan » Overlanding across Afica in our Land Rover Defender: Jordan

20th july - 2nd august

Overlanding across Afica in our Land Rover Defender: Jordan

Andy Lees
2006-05-14 17:38:55

Displayed times (last time: )

again, then free again. which was all quite exhausting, so we picked a nice spot, flipped the rooftop tent and made camp. it was our first desert camp and it was as idyllic, desolate, ruggedly beautiful and as romantic as we'd imagined. we watched the sunset and lit a fire as the full moon rose behind the cliffs.

the next day was more fun in the desert, exploring the gullies and canyons and marvelling at the anthropomorphic patterns on the rock faces. we found a shallow cave to shade us from the heat of the day, where, sheltering like ancient nomads, we plugged in the laptop and worked on the web update.

after on we found ourselves in the dunes again - stuck again. after several laborious extractions, we let some air out of the tyres and it seemed to do the trick. exhausted again, we made another camp. we'll learn.

aqaba - 2nd august

we arrived at the port cum beach resort of aqaba. at the northern tip of the red sea, aqaba's promotional literature promised clear turquoise seas and dazzling coral reefs. driving out of the desert, this was certainly something to look forward to.

the barren, dusty, windswept coastline wasn't quite what we'd hoped for, though perhaps what we'd suspected. the fringing coral reefs however, in water clear enough that we could see them from the road, still held promise.

when the sun had died down a little, though not the wind, we swam out with snorkels and masks, carefully picking our way through the deeper channels of the shallow reef plate. once we reached the deeper, seaward side we were delighted with what we saw; vibrant healthy coral, encircled by a stunning variety of fish. the only shame was that the fish competed for our attention with sunken coke cans and beer bottles, but the litter could, just about, be overlooked.

in the evening we barbecued on the beach; the lights of jordan, israel, egypt and saudi arabia all visible from where we sat. whilst we ate, some local girls threw stones at us. we wish they'd understood the torrent of abuse we gave them.

during the night our barbecue was stolen from underneath the land rover. we decided it was definitely time to leave jordan, and went to get a ferry ticket immediately. thankfully we got the last two for the boat that would leave that night. i was getting hot and bothered in the town and small things (and people) were beginning to annoy me.

we decided to take advantage of our free afternoon and aqaba's duty-free prices and relax by the sea-front with a cold beer. it wasn't very relaxing though as another stone was then thrown at us, i really lost my temper (which had been mis-placed for a while anyway), more insults were traded and a young lad came very close to getting thumped. after this we moved directly to the ferry port, without stopping to pass go.

the ferry left three hours late for its three hour journey, giving us plenty of time to reflect on our stay in jordan. both wadi rum and petra were the sort of unforgettable experiences that inspire our passion for travel. thoughout the country we were genuinely welcomed and enjoyed sharing a cup of tea and a chat with the people we met. this makes it all the more regrettable that our trip was bracketed by harmless, but memorably unpleasant missile attacks and that jordan's natural beauty is so often degraded my needless littering and lack of care.