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Private journeys · 6 desert landscapes

Journeys timed to the hour the desert turns red.

Atlas House plans private journeys through the world’s terracotta landscapes, and builds each day around sunrise, sunset and the light in between.

Explore the atlas Begin a correspondence

Plate I Wadi Rum, Jordan

29.58° N, 35.42° E

18 October · 06:57 local time · Sun 3° above the horizon

I · The hour

At noon, the desert is beige.

Overhead sun flattens the colour out of rock and sand. A few hours later the same place is unrecognisable. Move the light through a real day in Wadi Rum to see it happen.

  1. We drive out in the dark so you are on the ridge before the sun is.

  2. Low sun rakes across the sand. Every ripple throws a shadow; this is the hour for walking.

  3. The sun is overhead and the colour drains from the land. We spend it in shade: lunch, a long rest.

  4. The sandstone warms from ochre to rust to red. We plan the day so you are somewhere quiet for it.

  5. The rock holds its colour after the sun has gone. Dinner is laid outside; the stars come later.

Local time in Wadi Rum (UTC+3) on 18 October. Sunrise, sunset and the sun’s height are calculated for the place and date with NOAA’s solar equations. Your journey is planned on your own dates.

II · The atlas

Six landscapes, each with its hour.

Choose a month to see which landscapes are in season and when the sun sets there.

When are you travelling?

Plate I

Wadi Rum

Aqaba Governorate, Jordan

A protected desert of sandstone and granite mountains rising from red sand in southern Jordan, inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 2011 for both its landscape and its rock art.

The hour
17:48 The sandstone walls turn from ochre to rust to red in the last half hour before sunset.
Sunrise and sunset
06:39 · 18:08 on 15 October, local time
Best months
Mar–May and Sept–Nov
Coordinates
29.58° N, 35.42° E
Open plate I: Wadi Rum

III · A journey

Nine nights in Jordan, drawn around the light.

A sample route. Every journey is drawn from scratch for your dates and pace.

30° N31° N32° N35° E36° EN50 km1Amman2Dana3Petra4Wadi Rum5Aqaba
About 310 km between stops, as the crow flies

  1. Days 1–2

    Amman

    Arrive, rest, and walk the old hillside streets as the city turns gold.

  2. Day 3

    Dana

    South on the King’s Highway; the Dana valley at last light from the village edge.

  3. Days 4–5

    Petra

    Enter the Siq at opening time, while the rock is cool and rose and the paths are empty.

  4. Days 6–8

    Wadi Rum

    Three nights at a small camp. First light on foot, the flat hour in shade, the red hour on a ridge.

  5. Day 9

    Aqaba

    Down to the Red Sea for a swim before the flight home.

In every journey

  • A private guide and driver from arrival to departure.
  • Days set to the sunrise and sunset of your exact dates.
  • Small camps and houses, chosen for which way they face.
  • A written proposal, priced on request, with every cost itemised.
Ask for a route like this

IV · Correspondence

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