Today started before dawn and by time the sun was just beginning to rise, I in flight over Wadi Rum in a hot air balloon. Hot air ballooning is the oldest method of human-carrying flight. The first manned hot air balloon took place in 1783. Today, was the first time any member of team ProjectExplorer had ever been in one. While I played it very cool, I was most definitely a bit nervous.
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The reason for our sunrise departure time is due to the cool air in the dawn hours. The science of hot air ballooning is simple: warmer air rises in cooler air. Essentially, the hot air of the balloon is lighter than the cool, morning desert air. When we arrived at the launch site, the crew was already at work filling up the balloon. A few minutes later, we climbed into the giant wicker basket and before we knew it, we were high above the beautiful Jordan desert. It was from up there that I got my first glimpse of vast landscape of Wadi Rum.
After landing and disembarking the balloon, we loaded our gear into Ali’s jeep and headed deep into the desert. Located in southwest Jordan, Wadi Rum is a series of desert valleys that stretch for about 80 miles from north to south. One cool thing about touring expansive landscapes by jeep is the amount of ground that you can cover, and Ali certainly helped us to cover a lot of ground.
After racing over the dunes of Wadi Rum by jeep, we opted to explore some on foot (which is much harder than you might think)! Climbing a sand dune proved to be extremely challenging. I kept sinking deep into the soft, red sand.
Wadi Rum’s desert landscape is punctuated by giant monolithic rockscapes that rise to heights above 5,000 feet. As we passed these foreign looking rock formations, I began to feel like I was on the surface of another planet. Strangely eroded and oddly shaped, some of the mountainous rocks looked like they were dripping with melting chocolate or hot candle wax while others were sharp and jagged.
In the evening, Ali took us to his favorite place to view the sunset, where the mountains stretched out as far as the eye can see. We watched for over an hour as the sun punctuated the brilliant red tones in the sandstone before it disappeared on the horizon.
Sun-burnt & sandy,More of the desert landscape: The Desert Castles.
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VIDEO: Around Wadi Rum | |
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VIDEO: Hot Air Ballooning |
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VIDEO: Deflating the Balloon | |
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RELATED VIDEO: The Arabian Oryx returns to Wadi Rum after 7 decades of extinction. |
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