Meeting the Bedouin

Wadi Rum has been my first encounter with the Bedouin way of life, and it's interesting to see how much things have stayed the same as well as how things hae changed.


The Bedouins are Arab tribes who have been based in this area for thousands of years. There are inscriptions on rocks all over the place, and some of these have apparently been dated back to as early as 5000BC, so the Bedouins' claim to be one of the modern world's original tribes has at least some truth to it. I've also heard that the area is home to possibly "the world's first map", a plan of the area carved into stone which is around 5000 years old. What we were doing in Britain then?




The Bedouin tribes have been primarily nomadic herdsmen, living in large but movable tents, but with an element of agriculture when the rains have been good. Now though, while they still raise camels and some sheep, their villages are more solid and have concrete houses.


It seems that those Bedouin that have houses still spend some time out in the desert though, and while some members of the family I stayed with work in tourism and the army and are based in the village of Rum (above), the younger members still herd camels that they use for meat, milk and hair to make their tents.


I did not see a woman in my whole time in Rum - not even any little girls - and the Bedouin have very conservative views about what a woman should do and wear. This meant long sleeves and trousers in company, which was not much of a hardship, but also led to shocked stares when they found out I'm a 36 year old unmarried woman, and plenty of offers of marriage to help me in my dire situation ... however, there is a school in Rum village and some girls do attend, and I was told that they don't get married until their late teens. I'm hoping that after a few visits to Rum, and when I get use to the Bedouin form of colloquial, I'll have a chance to meet and talk to some women myself.

Other aspects of the outside world are also creeping in, some of which I was glad of, like the four wheel drives to take me over large stretches of soft sand, and the gas lamps that meant that we did not have to use up precious wood for light. On the other hand, the inevitable march of American culture seems to have reached every little nook and cranny of the world, including Coca Cola and the eponymous baseball cap ....