Sunset on Mars

Like little Simba tottering up to the edge of the cliff, unaware of the territory that awaited him, we too were stunned by the landscape of Wadi Rum. Scrambling over to the top of a rocky outcrop to witness the sunset, we got more than what we had hoped for.

Gigantic sandstone mountains thrusting out of the scorched land, carved eons ago by the sea into canyons, towers & arches were spread across miles. A golden haze hung around their craggy edges as if it were a dreamland. No wonder, Wadi Rum is often said to have Mars-like landscape.

Having driven through the red sand dunes and the rocky wilderness all through the day searching for stone-age petroglyphs and nomadic Bedouins on their camels, the evening view had a numinous repose to it. Even the nearest souls were perched imperceptibly far on another ridge.

The sunset was sheer magic. As the sun lowered through this stratified bastion of sandstone, the sky transformed from blistering blues to raging reds and psychedelic pinks, overwhelming all our imaginations of a perfect sunset.

We stood speechless within the boundless vista as it recounted its story of resistance and abrasion, of weakness and strength and of movement and adaptation and somewhere along sharing a lesson or two on life.

“It’s the Circle of Life and it moves us all, through despair and hope, through faith and love, ’til we find our place on the path unwinding.” Until then, “Believe in yourself and there will come a day when others will have no choice but to believe with you.” (Quotes from Lion King)

Ref: 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/world-heritage/wadi-rum-jordan/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wadi_Rum