Amman on Mars: Budget space-travel in Jordan's Wadi Rum

Blog: Jordan's Tourism Board will soon launch a tourist attraction in the country's Wadi Rum valley where several Mars-based features were filmed, complete with rovers, space habitats and space suits.

Narrated

2 min read

The New Arab

17 Mar, 2016

Wadi Rum's spectacular alien-like landscapes have long attracted campers as well as filmmakers [Getty]

Capitalising on the success of Ridley Scott's film The Martian, Jordan is launching a "Martian experience" in its world-famous Wadi Rum valley, where the move was partially shot.

The site is under preparation. It will be a simulation of the film experience, which sees an astronaut played by Matt Damon - a star of Hollywood rather than the Milky Way - attempting to survive on Mars until he is rescued, after being stranded there.

The habitat Matt Damon's character uses in the film will be brought back for the tourist attraction, complete with a rover and spacesuits in which visitors will be able to take photos, according to Tohama Nabulsi from the kingdom's tourist board, who spoke to The Jordan Times.

"Giving visitors the opportunity to live the experience of the very popular film will increase the significance of the location and encourage visitors to stay longer," said Nabulsi.

The Jordan Times says Wadi Rum has been a popular filming destination for other Mars-centred films such as the 2000 features Mission to Mars and Red Planet.

Wadi Rum, known as the Valley of the Moon, was also the filming location for the Oscar-nominated Jordanian film Theeb.

Friendly atmosphere

Earlier this week, The Telegraph ranked visiting Wadi Rum in fourth place on a list of 50 greatest adventures to try in your lifetime.

The valley, located 60km east of Aqaba, was ranked after the first-placed Lost World and Angel Falls in Venezuela, the Classic Trail in New Zealand and the Red Centre in Australia.

The London-based publication quotes British officer TE Lawrence in its description of Wadi Rum, some 328km south of Amman, after he wrote in his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom about passing through the area several times during the Great Arab Revolt.

"Rum the Magnificent. Vast, echoing and God-like," Lawrence wrote.

Wadi Rum was also one of the locations where the Lawrence of Arabia biopic was subsequently filmed.

The Telegraph described the wadi as "one of the world’s most dramatic landscapes".

An adventure there is "a trek that takes on ancient trails through hidden canyons to the summits of several of the biggest formations in Jordan", the paper said.

Wadi Rum is already a great attraction for campers, rock climbers and trekkers due to its rock formations and unique landscape.

But Jordan's tourist sector has suffered a slump as the country came to be associated with unrest and conflicts in neighbouring countries Syria and Iraq.

The risk of terror threats to tourists in the Arab world has made matters worse, but Jordan's government has long insisted the country remains an island of stability in the region.