If you follow me on Instagram, you must have seen that Anush and I recently were on a 2 week trip to Israel and Jordan. Check out my Tel Aviv Travel Guide here if you haven’t already. After Tel Aviv we headed inland to crossover to the beautiful country of Jordan. I will be sharing a full detailed travel guide later this week to Jordan where I will be covering details on how to cross over (if you are going from Israel), travel tips to Jordan and our exact itinerary details so that it would be helpful when you are planning your trip to Jordan. To start off first, over the next couple of posts I will be sharing details into the 3 major spots we covered during our trip to Jordan – Wadi Rum, Petra and Dead Sea. Just fyi, for our entire trip we booked a private car and driver with STI Jordan. This is the best way to get around from one place to another as a tourist in Jordan. I will touch base on this in my travel guide as well.

Jordan has always been very VERY high on my bucket list, I even mentioned it in this blog post earlier this year and I am so thrilled we got a chance to visit it. Jordan is an incredibly beautiful country that has so much to offer. Of course the main reason it was on my list was cos of Petra, but after watching The Martian, Star Wars Rogue One and other amazing movies that have been shot in Wadi Rum I knew I had to visit this mysterious red planet as well! I can speak for both Anush and me – after the beach, I think the desert is our absolute favorite place to be. Wadi Rum is known to be one of the most stunning deserts in the world and seeing it in person I can assure you that is 1000% true.

Wadi Rum means “Valley of the Moon” and is a protected desert wilderness in southern Jordan. Wadi Rum is known to have been inhabited by several prehistoric human cultures in the past including the Nabateans but perhaps Wadi Rum shot to fame once it was connected to the famous British Soldier T.E Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) who passed through here several times during the Arab Revolt.

Wadi Rum is a stupendous, magical and untouched landscape that you really need to experience atleast once in your lifetime. It is known for its red-pink colored sands, stunning natural arches, mountains, and prehistoric rock engravings. When we were were here we totally felt like we had been transported to a whole different planet, its beauty is so outerworldly its so hard for me to write it down in a few words. We really loved the feeling of serenity , tranquility and being one with the universe in this breathtaking place.

The Rum territory is still home to about 5000 Bedouins (local nomads) who now live in villages across the desert. I highly recommend staying overnight in the desert to really experience the true Bedouin lifestyle. The best way to experience living in the desert is a desert camp and we chose Sun City Camp for our stay. Let me start by saying that this was most certainly the highlight of our trip ! This camp is beyond incredible and is located in the most beautiful valley in the desert. As for accommodation options – you can choose from either the traditional Bedouin tents (which have a standard option, royal suite option or a family suite option) or the unique signature Martian Dome tents. We opted for #themartian experience and it was one of the most unique and memorable stays I have had in my life!

This is glamping at its best – the Martian Tents are all built by the same crew who designed the tent for the actual Martian movie, so you know you are getting the real deal ; an authentic “Mars on Earth” kinda experience. They all have panoramic views of the magical desert, a spacious bedroom with AC (sooo needed if you are going in the summer!) and a clean bathroom. Each Martian Dome tent also has its own private patio with beanbags which is a perfect spot to relax in the morning while catching the beautiful sunrise or stargaze in the night. And a little tidbit – I was super excited to find out that Elon Musk actually stayed at Martian Dome no 1 (the same as us :)) during his visit to Jordan!

The camp is equipped with a large lounge tent and a dome dining area where guests are offered freshly cooked meals in buffet style. All our meals were superb. My fave was the dinner were they cook the food in a “Zarb” which is known to be an ancient Bedouin cooking tradition where the food is cooked underground in earth ovens! After dinner there was entertainment around the common lounge area where we got to witness local traditional dance and music. I must also mention that the staff at Sun City are so hospitable and friendly, they went above and beyond to make sure we had the best stay.

At Sun City Camp, you can enjoy a wide range of fun activities that might interest you – they have camel rides, jeep tours in the desert, hot air balloon rides, stargazing and more. No visit to the desert is complete without a fun camel ride!

We also did the sunset jeep tour which takes you for 2-4 hours exploring the vast desert. Its an adrenaline filled exhilarating jeep ride that would treat you to jaw dropping sceneries at every single turn. Here are some stunning memories from our jeep tour:

The tour ends with what Wadi Rum is most known for – its EPIC sunsets! This sunset that we witnessed here was one for the books – like so unreal I had to pinch myself to realise I wasn’t dreaming!

All outfits : c/o Spell Designs 

And Wadi Rum in the night is a whole other world! This place is known for its marvelous nightsky. The camp organizes night stargazing tours in the night too, but we opted to stay in and enjoy the starlit night sky from our Martian dome. I kid you not , we could actually see the outline of the Milky Way with our naked eye !! The whole experience of being in solitude under a sky full of stars, with no sound except the gentle desert winds was so surreal – something we will cherish for years to come.

Overall we had the most memorable experience here at Sun City Camp and Wadi Rum, and highly recommend it to anyone visiting Jordan in the future! Thanks for stopping by. xoxo

Jyo

**This stay was in collaboration with Sun City Camp but all thoughts and opinions are my own.