I lived with a nomadic desert tribe for a day — here’s what it was like to sleep in a cave
This desert tourist really walked the walk.
Caitlin Redden, from Phillipsburg, New Jersey, was visiting Petra, Jordan when she was invited to stay with a nomadic desert tribe for a day — and nearly triggered a missing person’s search.
“I arrived at the park in Petra at 6:30 in the morning because I wanted to beat the crowds and get Instagram pictures,” she said in a TikTok video.
The world traveler was admiring the treasury when a local man approached her and offered to show her the best spots to snap some photos.
As the pair continued to talk, the man shared that he was a part of the local Bedouin tribe and extended an invitation for Redden to visit his family cave in the middle of Petra.
“Of course, I said yes to the opportunity,” the adventurous woman said.
“Before anyone came at me, he did not have creepy vibes and he was being very genuine,” Redden noted.
So the nice Bedouin man led Redden back to his cave and introduced her to his family.
The Bedouin are a tribe of Arabic-speaking nomadic animal herders of the Middle Eastern deserts who typically migrate into the desert during the rainy winter season and move back toward the cultivated land in the dry summer months, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.
“It was so much fun and they were honestly so kind and genuine,” Redden said of her time with the tribe.
While with the family, the American traveler watched how the Bedouin people cooked their food, relaxed and even accompanied them on a trek to see other members of the tribe.
“They then decided they wanted to give me a tour and take me even further into Petra so they gave me their donkey, Shakira, and I had to lead the donkey all the way through the mountains,” Redden recounted.
“We ended up doing a three-hour trek to one guy’s cave by the light of the moon and when we got there, we watched some Bedouin TV and started making dinner,” Redden said, sharing that she talked about American and Jordanian politics as they ate.
After dinner, Redden “absolutely passed out” in the cave and ended up staying over, which was fine by Redden — but it worried the hostel workers where she was supposed to sleep for the night.
When she woke up she immediately called the hostel and learned that a friend she had made at the hostel had nearly called the police to search for her, but she quickly calmed everyone and assured them she was safe and would return later in the day.
Redden then discovered that the man she was staying with lost his donkey so she walked with him as they tracked the animal’s prints and then ran into the man’s cousin who cooked them breakfast and showed them some of the ancient coins and trinkets he’s found on his journeys.
The group then got in a car and drove through a dried-up riverbed to continue looking for the lost donkey.
The man soon ran into his aunt as well, and they ultimately decided to give up on the missing animal. Instead, they acquired another donkey and a mule to visit a Petra monastery, culminating Redden’s time with the Bedouin tribe.
“I slept in a cave and almost got the police called on me,” Redden said summarizing her unique visit. “I felt like I got my own private tour of Petra.”
