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Bedouins in the dessert.. (JORDAN)
Having visited Jordan, we could not leave without spending a night with one of the best known nomadic population of the country; the Bedouins or better said “the Dessert Dwellers”.
These people of the dessert have learnt to survive the dessert’s harsh climate and have mostly settled all throughout the south and east of the country.
The first thing we noticed when we arrived at a Bedouin settlement was the dark goat hair tents., known otherwise as the “house of hair”. Even though Bedouins are characterized as nomads constantly wandering in the dessert in search of water and food, this was only partly true for the Bedouin community we visited.
Ours had both settled down cultivating their crops but were ready to move when needed. So basically, they had combined both the nomadic and the settled lifestyles to some degree.
What struck us, was that the Bedouin based his life on herds of goats and camels. If grazing areas are exhausted, we learn that it was time for the Bedouin to move to another spot.
Spending our night with the Bedouins was ever so pleasant due to the fact that the Bedouin culture is based on great hospitality such that it is a part of their creed (because of the harshness of dessert life) to never turn away a traveller. We were not turned away, on the contrary, we were overwhelmed by hospitality so much that every half hour we were offered tea, and afterwards were welcomed by a meal prepared in a special way. In fact, the main sign of hospitality is offering food and tea which is made on fire. Food constituted of vegetables and meat, yet the procedure was a complicated one because was not grilled over fire but placed on stones which sorrounded the flames.
We could have conversed all night with warm and talkative Bedouins but noticed that they had started to get sleepy and had a hard working day of grazing their goats and camels the next day.
Retiring to our tent which is owned by one family each, we fell into a deep sleep. Let us warn you, it was a very very cold dessert night.