By Ian Stalker

 Islamic Tourism: Did Lawrence of Arabia share his desert retreat with things that go bump in the night?

 Well, if Wadi Rum is home to phantoms, ghosts and other spectral beings, tour guide Ibrahim Abdel-Haq hasn't come across them, despite what he tells those he leads in a dramatic area of sand, cliffs and gorges that T.E. Lawrence himself called "vast, echoing and God-like" and inspired him to write his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom.

 Abdel-Haq likes to tell temporary desert-dwellers out on a night time Wadi Rum hike to a vantage point that faces a somewhat distant mountain of rock about one of his clients who failed to return promptly from a night time stroll into a gorge leading into the facing mountain and how he subsequently went out to look for him, only to encounter a strange apparition in the gorge that spooked him.

 The tardy tourist was later found by Abdel-Haq and, the guide recounts to his groups, upon being asked by his desert-savvy host, "Did you see what I saw?" acknowledges he, too, spotted what  Abdel-Haq labels Danny the Beast.

 The story quickly intrigues groups, with intrepid volunteers wanting to cross to the facing rock face and enter the gorge, perhaps hoping to spot Danny themselves.

 Abdel-Haq limits the exploratory group to a couple and, after they set off,  confides to those who stay behind that the story is a lark and the gorge doesn't exist, leaving them to snicker at the thought of their fellow travellers baffled as to why they can't locate the chasm.

And a further surprise may be in store for the would-be ghost busters, as Abdel-Haq may hide in the darkness beneath a sand-coloured blanket, making animal sounds as they approach after having given up trying to find the gorge.

Seeing fellow travellers sent on a wild-ghost chase is far from the only attraction of being in Wadi Rum after nightfall, with tourists finding themselves under starry skies in an often awe-inspiring environment that has seen little development.

A lodging option for travellers is The Captain's Desert Camp, which has visitors overnight in large Bedouin tents located at the base of a towering cliff. They'll be entertained by Bedouin musicians and eat Bedouin food as part of an experience that enables foreigners to temporarily share a lifestyle that dates back centuries.

Four-wheel-drive safaris are available in Wadi Rum, leading people riding in the backs of open-air vehicles through a region criss-crossed camel-borne trade caravans long ago. Guides will tell people of the region's history and of wildlife that lives in a desert environment.

And, of course, if Abdel-Haq is their guide, they may get the low down on Danny the Beast, which Abdel-Haq says never fails to pique interest.

"They always say, ‘Let's see what he's talking about and off they go," Abdel-Haq reports.

More information on The Captain's Desert Camp can be found at http://www.captains-jo.com/ or by e-mailing rafiq@captains-jo.com.