Page 17 - Wish Stream Year of 2017

Exercise HASHEMITE CADET
OCdt Swainston
EX HASHEMITE CADET was an incredible experience in the beautiful landscapes in and around Jordan. Six Officer Cadets and
I found ourselves embarking on various treks through the desert and naturally formed wadis. The team embarked on an arduous and chal- lenging trekking experience in the
with a small current. With the intense heat on our backs we trekked through to the end of the wadi. At the end, we reached a large waterfall. The exped leader decided it was unpassable, so there was only one way to go: backwards. So, we turned around and trekked back down the
intense heat of the Middle East.
Jordan has, visually, some of the
most impressive and difficult moun-
tains and wadis to trek. The team
consisted of myself OCdt Swain-
ston, OCdt Edwards, OCdt Rob-
inson, OCdt McColl, OCdt Sharpe,
OCdt Schillkowski and the crown
prince himself, OCdt Hussein. After a five hour flight, we were enthusiastic that we had finally arrived in Amman, the country’s capital. Due to the late time of arrival, we had a short drive to a hotel situated on the Dead Sea to get some sleep before the week ahead.
Our first stop was the Wadi Mujib, which is a long wadi which has water sections and rocky narrow passages to navigate. We had to don life jack- ets as some parts were shoulder deep in water
wadi, which was equally as beautiful. Half way through the wadi we were cooked a traditional Jordanian dish on an open fire, showing us how the Bedouins survive in remote parts of the desert.
Once the Wadi Mujib was completed,
we moved onto the next challenge, which was Wadi Rum in the desert; a vast land- scape where films such as ‘The Martian’ were filmed due to it looking so vast and red in colour much like the planet Mars.
With an early start, we made our way through the extraordinary desert across to Wadi Rum.
a vast landscape where films such as ‘The Martian’ were filmed
SANDHURST 15