Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Little Petra Bedouin Camp $$
( 079-5300135 or 077-6331431;
www.littlepetrabedouincamp.com
; per person JD25,
half board per person JD40, minimum 2 people)
Hidden in the mountains on the road
between Umm Sayhoun and Little Petra this secluded complex brings a touch of urban
chic to the rural retreat. It offers camping in style with army tents that sport proper beds
with mattresses, and full-length wood-rimmed mirrors. Dinner is prepared in a cave and
served with finesse in a variety of dining areas, including romantic caverns. The camp is
signposted just off the main road to Little Petra.
CAMP
DAVID ROBERTS (1796-1864)
Stand in certain parts of Petra and Little Petra and it's almost impossible not to imagine striped-robed Arabs from
the 19th century lounging languidly in the foreground. Sit in the cafes and hotel lobbies of Wadi Musa and you'll
see the same characters and landscapes writ large across otherwise-vacant walls. And who do we have to thank for
this 'picturesque' peopling of ancient Petra? The culprit is one David Roberts, artist, Scot and much-beloved topo-
grapher of the late Romantic era.
Given the continuing popularity of his images with tourists, it's safe to say that Roberts had the common touch.
This may have had something to do with his seven-year apprenticeship as a housepainter, or perhaps his stint as a
scenery painter at the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh. Whatever the reason, his compositions are full of human interest
- an unloaded caravan, friends waving across a wadi, a quarrel between traders cast against a backdrop of exagger-
ated landscape.
Roberts visited the region in 1839 dressed as an Arab, in the tradition of Burckhardt just two decades earlier, and
travelled with a caravan of 20 camels and local bodyguards. Petra was the high point of his journey, despite having
to cut short his visit due to trouble with local tribes. On his return to Britain, his watercolours, magnificently inter-
preted in lithograph by the Belgian engraver Louis Haghe, were exhibited in 1840 and won instant critical acclaim.
Roberts' images have now passed into the visual vocabulary of one of the world's most treasured sites. For a
shoemaker's son with no formal art training who began life painting houses, that's a formidable legacy.
Getting There & Away
Some hotels in Wadi Musa organise tours to Little Petra. If not, a private taxi costs about
JD20 one way or JD30 return, including an hour's wait.
If you're driving, take the road north of the Mövenpick Hotel and follow the signs to
'Beda' or 'Al-Beidha'. Turn left at the junction from where it's just under 1km to the car
park.
