The camel drivers

These “ships of the desert” are still ridden in Jordan, with this image taken at the fabulous UNESCO World Heritage site of Petra. This earlier post shows some of the traditional cave homes of the Bedouin at Petra.

Lawrence of Arabia’s tree

This lonely tree is in the spectacular Wadi Rum, Jordan: location for much of the filming of the 1962 classic, Lawrence of Arabia, and the real T.E. Lawrence passed through Wadi Rum many times. Our Bedouin guide – pictured in this earlier post, photographing the desert sunset – was happy, for a small fee, to show us ‘special’ filming spots!

The view

The “view” was meant to be from this clifftop lookout across the Jordan valley toward Israel. As it was too hazy to see anything at all, I sat down with the owner of what seemed like this last “shop” at the edge of the world, had some of the refreshing sage tea he offered me, and bought a little silver pendant – which I still treasure.

Where Old Meets New

I took this photo of our Zalabia Bedouin guide in Wadi Rum, Jordan – Lawrence of Arabia’s base of operations during the 1917-1918 Arab Revolt. It’s nice to know that even though our guide lived there, and must have seen it thousands of times, he still found the desert sunset special enough to capture it with his cellphone …

Cave Homes

In the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, many Bedouin still prefer to live the traditional way – in cave homes.