Desert · a Vonda Wanderlist
An honest emptiness.
789 places for desert travel, gathered from every corner of the map.
The desert does not pretend to be comfortable, which makes everything in it feel earned: the shade, the tea, the ten thousand stars.
From Saharan ergs to badlands that Hollywood borrows for other planets, this collection runs on scarcity. Water is scenery here, night is the main event, and silence has texture.
via Wikimedia CommonsFirst stop
Wadi Rum, the valley of the moon
Sandstone mountains rising sheer from red sand, Bedouin camps in the lee, and a silence T. E. Lawrence rated highly enough to write down. Sleep out; the desert works the night shift.
✦ March to May, September to November · $$ · Aqaba Governorate, Jordan
“By nine the sand had our footprints; by ten it didn't.”
Chapter I
The great ergs
Dunes to the horizon, camel-train logistics, salt lakes doing mirages at noon. The Sahara's front porches — welcoming, with conditions.
Chapter II
Stone deserts
Chalk sculptures, crater floors, badlands the westerns rented. Deserts that skipped the sand and went straight to geology.
Every place in this Wanderlist
7 places, no itinerary.
Wadi Rum
Aqaba Governorate, Jordan
✦ March to May, September to November · $$
Erg Chebbi
Drâa-Tafilalet, Morocco
✦ October to April · $$
Merzouga
Drâa-Tafilalet, Morocco
✦ October to April · $
Chott el-Djerid
Tozeur Governorate, Tunisia
✦ November to March · $
White Desert National Park
New Valley Governorate, Egypt
✦ October to April · $$
Makhtesh Ramon
Southern District, Israel
✦ October to April · $
Bardenas Reales
Navarre, Spain
✦ March to May, September to November · $