Living in Desert with Arab Nomads in WADI RUM, JORDAN 🇯🇴

I've never heard somebody die from snake or scorpion bite in desert. Martha! Kiara! Kiara! We've 2 Kiara and 2 Martha. Then when its time to eat, it is taken out after being cooked for long hours. So this dish is called Galai and its usually eaten with bread. Its vegetarian. Hello everyone! Welcome you all to a new video. I'm in Aqaba. Aqaba is a very small town in the southernmost part of Jordan. You can see Israel, Egypt & Saudi Arabia from here and we've the Red Sea here. We've Israel here w

ith Egypt & Saudi Arabia on the other side. So, I'm going to go to Wadi Rum from here I've Manoj with me who has a YouTube channel named travelling mantra. We both are travelling together. So, we have done breakfast. There's La Costa Hotel here, which is quite a nice one. The best thing in Jordan are its people. The hostility is amazing & the people are quite welcoming. In fact, its a big hotel and the owner himself sat with us during breakfast to have a conversation and he was making sure if we

needed something and if he got everything. So, we're leaving for Wadi Rum from here. Wadi Rum is also called as Mars on Earth. We'll be exploring it & see what the place has. Lets get into the car & its not very far but just an hour drive. Jordan depends a lot on its tourism They've a golden triangle that includes Petra, Wadi Rum, & Aqaba. This is our car. Is this Om? Om? Oh no! It looks like Om. My mother! Oh wow! Although the population here's just 2 lakh but they've a lot of big food chains

here. Popeyes, KFC, McDonalds. There ain't a mall or theatre here. But they've many food joints. Since we were Indians... So he first spoke in Arabic & we told him we don't know Arabic to which he replied, 'how are you?' We told him we're good and asked what we have in the bag We said clothes! They said, 'Okay Go!' And as you saw the other people including Arabs & Jordanians even Europeans were asked to open bags & were checking what was in it. They didn't ask or check anything from us. It's sai

d they love Indians and hence don't check them. I met Sam yesterday, who is one of our friend here. He told us that they don't check Indians here. They check Europeans and people from other countries. There's another checkpoint ahead. Hello, my friend! Can we help you? No, thank you! I'll just walk! Where are you heading off by walking? Sorry? From Amman to Wadi Rum? Yes! Oh my God! Take care bro - take care! Where are you from? Belgium! Belgium! India! Bye-bye! You'll find a lot of people walk

ing like this in Jordan or traveling. So basically what they do is there's a Jordan trail so people walk throughout Jordan via this. They walk from Amman to Dead Sea and cover Petra, Wadi Rum, Aqaba... So this is a trail which is 650 kms long and it takes 40-45 days to cover by walking. So they wish to cover the entire trail by walking Even though it feels so long by car they're walking with a bag on the back with a hiking stick. They've the courage. Yes! *exchanging greetings* You have a reserv

ation? Yes! With whom? We've a tour guide named Salem! Salaam? Salem! Rum Stars Camp! We had to come here to meet our tour friend. Salem! But I think he's not here & we're not able to reach him over phone. Friend... *greetings* How are you? You good? Great! Are you looking for Salem? Salem! Yeah, he will come! How are you guys? Hey we are good! Welcome to Rum Stars. Thank you! He's coming? He's coming yes, you can park there. Thank you So its good that he has informed here. There's another guy h

ere who asked us to park while he comes. Is he here? Yeah, that's him who is coming. Is that him? Yeah that's him! He's the only person that drives like this. Our brother is here. Hey! Welcome to Wadi Rum! How are you? Thank you! I'm Salem, nice to meet you! Welcome my brother! How are you? Welcome! Good! Nice to meet you bro. Nice to meet you! I'm happy! Nice hair! Thank you my brother! Thank you! What all things should we take with us for the camp? Take your jacket! Okay will it be cold? Yea

h it's a little cold. So we will come here back before the night? Before the night will we come back ...? You need to sleep in the camp. Yes we need to sleep! You need to stay in desert because there's no connection there. Oh! Now, if I drive you for 5-10 minutes there will be no internet. And will we have electricity there to charge? Yeah yeah there in the camp electricity. But no internet? No internet, you will get it tomorrow morning. So we won't have internet till tomorrow morning so lets qu

ickly talk to our family and take the things we have to. This here is our camp company called Rum Stars Camp! Accommodations and tours! That's their mobile number. And whats your name brother? Ali! Ali. Ali Okla! Ali Okla! Nice to meet you! You too bro! Ali handles his family business & has studied in the US. He's very professional and Salama will take... Salem! Salam? Salem yeah! Salem. He'll take us to the desert. Thank you so much Ali, see you tomorrow. See you at the camp tonight. Oh perfec

t perfect! Thank you! Bro, it was amazing! Welcome bro! Yeah! Salam your name? Salem. Salem? Salem! Oh Salem! Yeah! It was amazing man! So is this the camp or is it...? No-no this is not the camp. Okay! Later... Salem, what was the speed of your vehicle? 100? Yeah! Really? Something like that yeah! He was so fast and drove at a speed of 120-130. He was so fast... So 4 more people joined us who will be going with us to the camp. And we've come here to have food. Maybe! This place is called Lawre

nce House. Oh! This building is Lawrence House. Lawrence of Arabia lived here with my family in tent. he arrived here from Mecca revolution and used to live in Bedouin tents for 3-4 months. We need to go to other place to have lunch too. Okay! I need to cook lunch for you. Okay! You can see this place for 5 minutes & we'll go ahead. Okay! The people here or the nomads or the Bedouins live like this in the deserts. Salem bro, where did you grow up? You were born here in Wadi Rum? Yeah, I grew up

in Wadi Rum desert in the Bedouin tent. Oh! I have 13 brother and sister! 13? Yeah! And when I was 6 years old, my family moved to the village Oh okay! So that it gets easy for us to go to schools. Okay-okay! Families live in 2 places here. Some in desert & some in the village. They live in village so that the children can go to school. Salem, so people are sometimes afraid to come to Arab countries because they think that they will be scammed or cheated. Is it true like...? No! It's in some pla

ces but in the desert here in Wadi Rum no scams are done. Its forbidden as it's written in Quran! Its forbidden! It's not allowed to do that. It's very shameful. So Bedouin people can never do that? Never do that! Yeah! You'll have the best food of your life today. Oh wow! This leaves are very dangerous. When they dry... When they dry like this the camels eat, goat & sheep eat it. But when they're fresh & green the camels and animals don't eat it. Salem brother is finding a place for the carpet

and he said we'll have food sitting on the carpet. Its going to be an amazing experience in the midst of Wadi Rum desert. We'll have food on the carpet. I'm very excited! Wow! Dry - dry! Dry wooden sticks okay. Thank you so much. No problem. I'll eat these ones, no worry. It has dates inside and is a biscuit or cookie from outside. Wow! Eating something like this for the first time. Biscuit filled with dates. If you need just say Martha! Or Kiara! Thank you! We're breaking sticks from here. One

bad things is that there're less sticks because its a desert. And the good thing is all of them are dry ones Look! Generally if we take sticks from a plant it is very wet & doesn't burn. But look at this plant its completely dry and is connected from the roots. Its completely dry! Since its so hot, humid and it doesn't rain all plants that don't need water grow here. And they have dry stems. These leaves are not healthy till they're green so the camels and sheep don't eat it. But they eat it onc

e they dry up. You'll get lost if I leave you. Yeah! I get lost too when I go to the city. Did you like Amaan? No! No? Its very crowded! Even I didn't like it! Yes true. True! I miss this silence when I am in city. Always! Sleeping in the open in the desert. Under the stars with blankets & mattresses. Its quite. What've you put in this? It's a type of spice. I think ginger. Yeah ginger. Ginger! Thank you! So you only drink tea or you also drink water in general? Drink Tea and water sometimes! I

do climbing and run around in the desert Run? Do Bedouin people drink alcohol also or no? No! Its forbidden? Some people drink but I never drink Smoking is also forbidden but some people smoke. And drink? Drink! But for me I never... never drink I never drank and I never take something. Okay. Like drugs something like ... So this dish is called Galai and is eaten with bread. It's a vegetarian dish. And... it has tomatoes, some capsicum, onions, with some oil. I have taken a break after breaking

some sticks and burning the fire. Let's drink this tea given by me to Salem. Bedouin tea in Wadi Rum. They put mint leaves in the tea so it gives off a good and different taste. In this desert... the fun of eating or drinking something just doubles. It's a huge desert with area over 720 sq km. We've border of Saudi Arabia that side. There are many wild animals. We have desert fox, wild wolf, we have mountain goat. We have sheep. We have hedgehog. We have snakes and scorpions. And how we protect

from the snakes and scorpions you know we... when I was a child around a year old my mom caught the Scorpions and barbecued it in the fire Then ground it to make it soft & mixed it with oil Then she used to put it all over my body & put little bit in my tongue or mouth to protect me from other scorpions. If any Scorpions bite me, I'll be okay. And this not just my mom did but has been done by people from a long time. The old people do it... Scorpion vaccine! Yeah! And everyone knows it work. I

t works till now & we've been bitten many times but have been fine. I've heard... Nothing go to my blood! The Scorpions very different & wild here in Wadi Rum. Yeah! They are yellow and black ones. It's very poisonous. Yeah yeah! But okay I didn't say that to scare you Summertime it's hot! It gets 40-45! It gets very hot during the day & the days are very long. Unlike winter with short days. So they don't come out in the day. I've never heard someone die from a snake or scorpion bite in the dese

rt. Really? I never ... So what if a snake bites you? What do you do? If you got bitten by a snake. Yeah! So what do you do, what is the first thing you do? You go to hospital or what? No hospital. Really? I mean now there are hospitals in Aqaba. Okay The life is now easy but in the past the life of my father & my mom it was very hard life. No cars and people used camels. But we could still protect us from the snake Yeah how do you protect... We held dangerous snakes & cut the head of the snakes

. Okay! We then barbecued it and fry it with oil to make it soft. Okay! And after that it's put on the body & little bit in the mouth. Really? To protect from snakes. If snakes bite you, you'll be okay you know. You don't need the hospital. It's like a vaccine. You take a small dose of it & your body gets immunity to... yeah. Yeah! This is how my family keep themselves protected. Also when we've headache, or pain in stomach, fever, so using the herbs collected from the mountains we use it to tre

at headache, for stomach, or for cold. Amazing! So because the snakes and scorpions here are very dangerous so its quite dangerous in the desert and afraid of snake or scorpion bite. Although they're hibernating during the winters and don't come out but its more dangerous during the summer because they come out due to the heat Since its cold during the night they aren't seen and they can bite people sleeping in the tents. So to stay protected from it he told me, like there's a scorpion they will

take one and roast it on the fire or barbecue. Will roast it! After roasting it they will grind it with Meddler to make its powder just like remake chutney. Then they add a bit of oil in it and will rub it on the entire body. They also put a bit of it on their tongue. So they say if you do this and if a scorpion ever bites in the future you won't die from it & will be okay. They consider it but I am not sure how scientific ut us. They consider you get immune if you do this and nothing will happ

en if a snake ever bites you in the future. There's no hospital here and the nearest one is in Aqaba which is 80 kms away. There's Saudi Arabia's border here. It's a desert area and the Bedouins live here. You'll find Bedouins here and till the Saudi's border. Its not like you'll find them frequently but stay far off as they're nomads. Don't know how much truth this holds but maybe it works as a vaccine or maybe the venom of the snake they roast gets diluted. Instead of being completely diluted

it gets slightly diluted which is why they rub it on their body & put slightly on their tongue. I think its immunity develops in the body. Like when we take a vaccine for any other disease that disease itself is given to us in small quantity or given in its dead form. So maybe they also take a weak form of snake or scorpion's poison due to which the body generates antibodies for it and builds up immunity. Hence, if a snake ever bites them they don't die from it. Hey Salem, what are you preparing

now? Cheese, eggplant... Eggplant! Oh this is eggplant. This is cheese. Wow! Finally our food has come. Looks delicious! So you eat this food in the deserts? Usually Bedouin people? In the past no vegetarian food was there No vegetarian? Yeah because nothing grows here. Yeah-yeah! you cannot grow these in the desert yeah. People eat lamb. Lamb yeah! Or milk & yogurt from the goat and sheep. Camel milk! You eat camels as well? Yeah we eat. We don't drink the blood of any animals. Okay. I don't e

at camels because I love camels. Can you marry a girl of your own choice or your family finds the girl for you? My mom finds my wife! Okay. Mom's always right. One day my grandfather had beaten up a camel & then the camel wanted to kill my grandfather. So my grandfather was ... luckily he was not sleeping where he used to sleep the camel came & sat on that place at night but luckily my grandfather was not there so he was still alive. He sat on it? Yes, he sat on top! Camels don't forget even aft

er 5 years... Same thing happened here. The guy used to kick him so the camel started to follow him. Yeah! Felt good after eating. Eating in such a peaceful environment feels different! We could hear everything like we could even hear if we ate something. Its that peaceful! And it actually feels we're not on Earth but some other planet. It is called Mars. Mars on Earth! So, it's actually true & it really feels so. We're leaving from here to go to a Mushroom rock nearby. We're going to a Bedouin

tent now. We play music with this. No battery! It's made from wolf skin. This skin here's of wolf. Wow! This is a Bedouin tent. We make this black coloured because of the past traditions and as there were no cities around. Okay. And they used to collect hair of the black goat tied it & made a tent. And wood from the trees were cut, ropes were made from them The ropes were also made from the camel hair. Like we make ropes from coconut in India so what these people do is they make ropes out of ca

mel hair as coconuts aren't found here. They use goat hair to make their tents and they wood from the plants or trees around. So these are their camels. I found them small in size as compared to the ones I've seen in India. Near my village! To prevent them from running they've tied them with these bags full of sand. Look they've tied bells to them. You know what a Goat does is it hits its head when it gets angry. They're going away. Their heads are very strong. Why are we same? We are same - we

are same. I'll first give it it to you, you give it to him. Salem gave me 5 Dinar and we were about to give him but he said he'll pay instead. So he gave us 5 Dinar & asked us to pay that to him. I told him we have it and we'll pay him but you saw how he was forcing. He said no-no, we are same. Its great! Thank you! You're welcome. The experience has been great till now This is a mushroom. Its natural & is a mushroom shaped rock Seeing it feels as if it's human made. and humans have set it but i

t is naturally formed. Don't know how its set like this on top in this position and looks like a mushroom. Hence it's called mushroom rock. This is their canyon of Wadi Rum. We're walking here in peace. Walking here is a different kind of adventure. Its completely peaceful without any internet connection. There're some tourists here definitely. Its great vibe! Look they're taking that and going up. Don't know what that is, let us ask! What is this? Sand boarding. It's like snow boarding but we u

se it in sand. So you take it up and then you slide down? Yeah! Not he! You can do ! How much is the price for this? Free! Free? Yeah! The last girl came very slow but she came quite fast. She's also a girl. I've taken off the shoes but it tickles a lot at the feet. We won't reach if we walk slowly. Let's walk fast. I think we won't reach if we go fast too. Everyone's going so quickly. I'm finally here. It feels like my feet are burning. You'll get the fast one. I have to be careful right? Yeah!

And if I have to slow it down what should I do? Put your feet In the sand? Yeah! Okay! Look at our driver. He's also amazing! Salem you should sign the next Fast and Furious movie. Yeah you deserve to be there. Crazy man! It was better than a roller coaster because I was standing right here. Yes it was quite easy its just a little steep in between I think you can do it because on top it's very beautiful. So you should go! Yeah I'll go next. You are a big man my friend! Big man! After climbing

on that rock we're heading to the sunset point. After that we'll go to our camp and this is going to be our last destination for now. Is this the Sunset Point? But where's the sun? Sun is in a mysterious place. Sheesha! Double Apple! Just tobacco! Ahn very strong? I want to try can I try? Yes! So this is their local hokkah with local tobacco. Its ... can you hold please? Yes! In India also we smoke raw tobacco like this. Thank you brother, whats your name? Yusuf! Yusuf thank you so much. You're

welcome. Are you. a Bedouin? Yes, I am Salem's brother. My brother. All of you people... everyone is so nice. We're cousins and related. Oh! Everyone is so nice. This is their local tobacco. Look! You're my guest! Yeah! I don't ask for money as money Is not everything in life. Yeah, very true. In life your heart should be clean. Yeah very true. Who thinks and be happy about everyone. Yeah! This is the good thing in my life. I'm enjoying a lot. It feels as if I'm sitting with my brothers in Har

yana. This is the sunset for which the place is popular. We've climbed on the top. It feels as if we're not on the Earth. Look! Good present. Love you! Thank you brother And keep this with you. Yeah I'll keep it with me. So we're sitting with the Bedouins and were enjoying We felt affinity. And Salem brother is wearing an Indian flag as Manoj brother had some with him. He's wearing it here. It feels great seeing our flag ... something we love. Salem himself said that he wants to wear it next to

my heart. Thank you so much brother! We love Jordan. You people the best. Welcome-welcome. You're always welcome in India. You're all like my family. Oh thank you so much Everyone is so nice here. I'm enjoying a lot and they feel so close. Jordan and the people are so nice. And I would highly recommend everyone to come to Jordan and have a tour with Salem. The best guy in Jordan! The best guy! Its been 9 days an we didn't see a single man angry and no-one has talked to angrily. Had a lot of fun!

thank you brother. Thank you! They also keep hookah with them just like us. They drink it whenever they find wood to burn fire. They've packed it back in the car. How was the Sunset? Very nice! Although the sun wasn't visible. Very mysterious. Yeah This place doesn't look like it's earth. Looks like we're on Mars! It was supposed to be nice but ... How was the sunset? We hope for the sunrise! You're staying here right? Yeah! As the sun wasn't visible we didn't get a good view of the sunset. We

're finally going towards our camp where we'll spend the night. Its started to get dark! Its 5:15 and ... we're getting in the car because it is getting dark. It gets dark by 5! Let's go to the camp. Its getting cold and I'm feeling cold and I just have a thin t-shirt with a half T-shirt. Martha! Martha! Kiara! Kiara! We've 2 Kiara and 2 Martha. Do means two. Uno means one. Two means what in Italian? Due! Due Kiara and Due Martha! These are our camps. We'll spend the night here. It was super col

d and I felt so cold in the car. That's the food zone There are bathroom and toilets there. That's the area for bonfire & to sit. There're rooms here. Let's go to our room. This is the room where we'll sleep... oh this is huge. This room is for 3 people but here only Manoj bro & I would be there. They've given a personal room. They've tiled the floors. It's very clean. Amazing! The blanket quality also seems nice. It should be manageable but they've great facilities. It's not manageable but amaz

ing. We'll have fun! We'll make a hole inside and we will be preparing fire and when the fire becomes a little low we put the food inside and we leave it for about 2-3 hours. This is our traditional way to cook food We make vegetarian food & chicken. There are chicken inside. There are potatoes and other vegetables. And everything is fresh everything is locally from here. Grown? Yeah even the chicken we cut them every morning. It's dinner time even though it's just 6 pm. So like we do in India i

n Rajasthan. they bury the meat in the ground and it cooks slowly. First they put fire and when it blows out or gets low meat is put in it. It can be of anything but they've put some chicken and vegetables. So it cooks very slowly for long hours. Then when its time to eat it's taken out after hours of slow cooking Then that slowly cooked flesh or whatever food they have tastes different. So they're digging the ground & taking it out. You smell it... We can smell the food as soon as the cover was

removed. This is a blanket and they had covered with this. Wow! Amazing! We do it in India too in Rajasthan. This is different food here. There's rice and we brought chicken and vegetables.. I think this is yogurt. Some curry. Maybe raita (curd). Salads. Hummus and everything. As you're in touch with people from different cultures in different parts of the world. Have you ever thought to live their life or maybe live in the other way? Maybe live in cities in some other country. Live a modern li

fe like other people. You know some Bedouin people tried to do it but they returned back to this lifestyle. Its happened you know for a year or two People go and come back very fast. So once a Bedouin always a Bedouin. Yeah! Like I am Bedouin-American, I studied in the US but I came back. Its very hard my friend! It's very hard I like this peace. Sometimes when I go to city I get headache because I'm not used to the environment. I am not used to the cars, buildings so I always get a headache so

I go back to the desert very fast because I am used to this weather. You know when later everyone will sleep you'll hear nothing. Its very quite. Very quiet place! And I am not used to the city if we go there we come back very fast. Good morning everyone! Its the next morning I'm outside the camp and everyone has gone actually and its just me, Manoj brother and some people waiting for us. These were all the camps. And there's the common room where the fire was put. Here they buried the food that

you saw at night. These are the washrooms All the facilities were there and there's solar panel here for geyser and hot water. Food was buried there & he's the chef. Let's go back to our car and go to the city. We've reached the village and we'll get down here. Good morning Salem! Good morning! How are you? I'm good. Bye Kiara! Bye Marthi! Bye 2nd Kiara and 2nd Marthi! It was a lovely experience and how was your experience by the way? It was good! Good - good. Yeah see you guys! Bye! Welcome to

India. Bye! Bye - bye! Finally I've got back in network but internet isn't working here too. Maybe it works outside the village or maybe it isn't working temporarily because yesterday it was working when we came. Anyways the journey was amazing and it was a great experience I can't express the fun we had in words. We were cut off from the world without our phones and I saw so many stars outside the camp where I saw. I didn't record as it was very dark. It was very peaceful so if I spoke anythin

g it would've been heard far off so I didn't make any video at night. We woke up & its going to be 9 am We will have tea and leave for Amman. If you want to experience the deserts of Wadi Rum then I'll highly recommend the company I toured with as its a very professional and amazing company. They have balanced both modern and traditional culture hence offering both. Like they have camps in deserts, etc This isn't a sponsored video but my own experience was great. If you check online or on bookin

g.com you might get some cheap options too for these dessert camping here. You might get it for 5-10 JD too. But don't take such risk as some people ... everyone gets greedy seeing money. Even the good ones fall in greed trap. So when you come here they might tell you the amount was only to come here or for the village tour. They might demand 90 JD separately for the desert tour. or 100 dollars! Chances of this is high so book with a good tour or camp company I did it with Rum Stars camp My expe

rience was great. It was great & the company is trustworthy. You'll get professional experience. You can stay for yourself in the desert. Salem was with us from this company and is a very professional guy. You can hire him too. I'll put all the information in the description. Salem whats your Instagram? rum_b... Okay I will write it in the screen okay. Thank you! So you can contact Salem too and ask him for the tours, etc from him. He is a great guy. Very professional and very down to earth! Thi

s is the company's office. We'll leave after having tea. Let's end the video and you might not feel the level of experinece just through the video as to feel it your physical presence is important. That peace is important. So you'll feel that on coming here. Anyways I hope you liked the video. Thank you so much for watching. Hope you stay in good health and you've a great day. Goodbye!