Wadi Rum is a valley cut into sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan, near the border with Saudi Arabia and about 60 kilometers east of the port city of Aqaba, and is the largest wadi in the country. The valley has been inhabited since prehistoric times and carries petroglyphs, rock inscriptions and ruins left by successive cultures including the Nabataeans, alongside distinctive iron rich sandstone formations with sheer vertical mountains separated by wide alluvial valleys. UNESCO inscribed it as a mixed World Heritage Site in 2011 for this combination of cultural and geological significance, and the protected area today draws large numbers of visitors for hiking, rock climbing and camel trekking, and has also served as a filming location prized for its Mars like desert scenery.
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