Meet at the group hotel in Madaba. A single group transfer from Amman Airport to the group hotel in Madaba is provided. This transfer is normally in the late evening and a representative of our local agent will accompany the group on the 30 minute journey to the hotel.

Today we set off by minibus for the morning's drive southwards to Wadi Rum. The Desert Highway runs alongside the railway line which was famously blown up by Lawrence of Arabia during the Great War. We will meet our Bedouin hosts at the Visitor Centre in Wadi Rum and transfer our baggage to our 4-wheel-drive vehicles, before walking into the village to a house where our lunch has been prepared. Here, we will meet our guide and drivers. Lunch is likely to consist of salad dishes, pasta and tuna, with sweet tea and biscuits. Lunch over, we will walk through the village and make the half-hour hike up to 'Lawrence's Well' in Wadi Shelaala. This is a great place and has the only running water that you are likely to see during your time in Jordan, as well as fig trees, gardens and grinning Bedouin kids and their goats. We will spend a little time in this peaceful place, before continuing our walk on a wide and rocky ledge across the face of Jebel Rum. The great expanse of desert on our left side is called Ghor al Ajram and was the place where all the tents were set up for Abu Tayi's 'party' in the film Lawrence of Arabia. As an introduction to Wadi Rum, this short walk cannot be bettered. After 2 hours or so, this route takes us down to the desert sand at Abu Aina. Spring water has been channelled into troughs here and the camels that roam around the desert during the day come to drink here before returning to the village or to the desert for the night. Here, we meet our transport for the half-hour drive to our camping place at the mouth of Wadi Um Ishrin. At the entrance of this valley a large dune has built up and our camp is hidden behind this. Tea and biscuits will be served and there will be chance to do some exploring before dinner. This is also a good opportunity to select the place where you would like to sleep, under the stars or in your tent as you prefer. You can find plenty of private spots if you wish, or you can remain near to the campfire. As it gets dark, around the campfire you will meet the team of helpers, learn their names and exchange banter with them. An important part of this holiday is to get to know something about the extraordinary people who are the Bedouin of Wadi Rum.

After breakfast, we will board our vehicles for the short drive to Jebel Burdah, which leads through Khor Al Ajram, a wide valley with magnificent cliffs and high sand dunes. On the way to Jebel Burdah, we pass a particularly fine and very old rock inscription which shows a camel caravan. This morning's objective is the Burdah Bridge, a well-known landmark which is reached by way of relatively easy scrambling across open rock slabs. Our guide will show us the best route through a maze of blind alleys and dead ends. There are some steeper sections and you will need to use your hands at times. A jumble of rocks leads to a small plateau, through a valley and then over a steep slab. From here, we turn a corner into a hidden gulley that provides us with a wonderful view of the bridge above. Obligatory photo stop. We then climb a short, steeper wall and here the guide will use a climbing rope to safeguard our passage. Above, we will cross the dramatic Burdah Bridge - another fantastic photo opportunity. There are magnificent views from here, extending over the whole area of Wadi Rum. We have the option of descending by an alternative route, again crossing wonderful open slabs and culminating in a steep groove which is best descended on your backside, with the climbing rope at hand for reassurance (crossing the bridge is optional!). Back on the desert floor after a 3-hour round-trip, we meet our vehicles and have lunch in the shade. Fruit juice and tea/coffee will be waiting for us. Lunch is usually a lighter meal than supper, very often heavier on vegetables than meat. After a siesta, we set out to walk for a couple of hours through desert canyons to our next overnight camp. This takes us past some impressively eroded cliffs and by way of a second rock arch that forms a part of Jebel Um Frith. At camp, jugs of water will be available for those who want to find a quiet corner and wash off the desert dust.

The day starts with a half-hour transfer southwards to Jebel Khasch. Here, we start out hiking through an interesting rocky valley with some sparse vegetation, before negotiating easy rocky slabs as our route twists and turns to the plateau area beneath the highest rocky piles of this massif. We will choose a prominent summit as our high point (1700m) and enjoy views which extend on all sides across the desert landscape. Descending towards the west through another rocky valley, we will effectively made a traverse of Jebel Khasch which takes around 4 hours. There are some great rock colours, blues and purples, as we finally reach a sandy wadi and meet up with our vehicles for lunch. After lunch, we descend an impressive wadi, where we may see Sinai or roseate finches (the national bird of Jordan). This walk also takes us through an ancient Bedouin cemetery and into an area of red rocks and red sand. There is a choice of camping places in this area which each afford good sunset views.

There are even better views today, as we set off to tackle Jebel Um Adaami, the highest mountain in Jordan, which lies on the border with Saudi Arabia. This is quite a difficult drive for our 4-wheel-drive transport, but an enjoyable one for the passengers. Especially memorable is the wide and lonely Wadi Saabit, close to the mountain. Notice the deep stream bed in the centre of this valley - it shows just how much water used to fall in the Wadi Rum area. Arriving at the start of the day's walk, we can see a Nabatean dam on the left as we head up into a sandy valley. Still in use by the Bedouin, a long line of stones (now set in cement) directs as much water as possible into the shaded reservoir under the cliff. At the end of the valley we climb up a gulley onto the mountain and this is the only difficulty in the ascent. The rest of the path is a stoney one, leading to the cairn marking the summit. Here, we are right on the border and can see far into the Saudi mountains. Make sure you have plenty of film with you! The Bedouin guide might even brew a cup of herb tea on the summit, using materials gathered on the ascent. After this 3-hour round-trip, we will drive back to our camping place of the previous evening for lunch. The afternoon's programme is a 2-hour walk across the desert, through an area where we are likely to see Bedouin camps and grazing goats and camels. On this evening, we may choose to spend the night in a Bedouin tent, close to Um Sabata. Anybody who wishes can sleep outside on the soft sand, otherwise we spread our mattresses inside the tent which is twenty or thirty metres long. One option tonight is to have a traditional Bedouin dish of chicken or lamb, cooked in an underground oven. These ovens are often improvised in the desert, dug out and lined with a metal drum, before a fire is lit inside and the oven heated for a couple of hours. The meat and vegetables are placed on the embers and sand heaped high over the oven. A couple more hours and the dish is ready. The cooks will start this dish before we arrive, but you can see the finished product being brought out.

This morning we leave Wadi Rum and head to Petra. We make our entrance to the Petra site through the atmospheric chasm of the Siq, which brings us out at the magnificent monument of the Treasury. We have the whole day with a guide, exploring the different sites of this huge city, before we transfer to our hotel in Wadi Musa.

Today we start our trek to the top of Jebel Haroun (1270m), also known as Mount Aaron. Our route takes us on zig-zagging paths and between rugged cliffs to reach the small, white-painted mosque and shrine at the summit. It's a hike of approximately 7 kilometres, with 370 metres of ascent and will take us close to 3 hours to reach the top. The views here are legendary and we spend some time, admiring the shrine, reputedly, the burial site of Moses's brother, Aaron - with its Hebraic inscriptions. We retrace our step down Petra and have another chance to do some exploration, before we walk out through the Siq and return to our hotel in Wadi Musa.

The holiday ends after breakfast. A single timed transfer (3hrs) to Amman International Airport is provided. If you would like to extend your visit in Jordan to visit the Red Sea, the Dead Sea or Jerash, please contact our team of adventure travel consultants.