Alia and I today went for a drive with Atef’s dad to Ma’an to visit his sister, Alia’s Great Aunty. Ma’an is about 25 minutes from Wadi Musa. It is a cultural practice that during the month of Ramadan that men visit their close female relatives and give them a small gift of support, usually money and/or meat/chicken.
The drive to Ma’an heads out into true desert country and this led to me learning my new Arabic word for the day Sahraa’ which means desert . Incidentally the Sahara desert of North Africa is named from the plural Arabic word for desert. Which then got me thinking that when we refer to the The Sahara as The Sahara desert we are really saying The Deserts desert!
These photos (taken whilst driving) show the typical landscape on the drive.
When looking at these photos its hard to imagine that anything would grow other than the spindly weeds, yet in the middle of this harsh environment you come across patches of green. Underground water is utilised to grow crops of tomatoes and watermelons.
Being able to access the underground water is the difference between successfully growing crops whereas on the opposite side of the road the landscape is barren.
We stopped to look at some camels at one of the Bedouin camps. Alia is fascinated with all animals and the camels were no exception. Perched in Grandpa’s arms she pointed from one to the next and I’m sure that if they had more friendly she would have been more than happy to pat them.
Middle East Moments 
Lovely pictures!
Thank you Suzanne. 🙂