Off we went. We drove toward Be'er Sheva, heading South the whole time toward the Negev. More on the Negev in a moment, but first... Camel crossing signs!!!
And art!
We never saw any camels crossing the highway, but we certainly saw herds of camels on the side of the road. As for the art, I'm not to sure. It's possible that the art was created by the Bedouin communities. Bedouins are Arab nomadic peoples, and at one time, were the only inhabitants of the Negev. They have inhabited the Negev for thousands of years, and it wasn't until the more recent past that their lands began to be taken away from them, and the modern standards of living began to be forced upon them. Sad story. In any case, many Bedouin villages are seen doting the Negev, and these artistic structures are often nearby, perhaps indicating a connection.
So what IS this Negev anyway? The Negev is the desert region in the South of Israel, which accounts for about half of the land area in the country. Unlike what you might be expecting of a desert due to idealized versions in movies in such, it is not collection of completely barren dunes. Instead, it is rocky with a wide range of colorful sands and mineral deposits in addition to a wide range of desert flora. It is barren, but not empty, and certainly not lifeless.
The first stop on our Negev expedition was Midreshet Ben Gurion near Sde Boker. Ben Gurion was the first Israeli Prime Minister, and he is buried alongside his wife in the Negev. Part of his vision for the country included a revitalization of the desert to make it habitable for the citizens. Here we met our first Nubian Ibex (a goat antelope found in only five countries)...
And got our first scenic view of the Negev.
We learned that the "rivers" of the desert can be identified by the plant life. Because the Negev only gets rain about 5 days out of the year, there is no constant flowing of water. However, when it does rain, the sand of the desert quickly locks together, preventing the water from seeping into the soil, and instead, allowing it to flow for miles and miles. In this riverbeds, green plants soak up every bit of water they can. Their presence in the dry season marks the promise of a water source on rainy days. In the picture above, you can see to the middle left part of the picture a sort of dark line snaking through the sands. This is the "river".
Amir then told us that we'd be traveling to one of the desert springs, En Akev. The Hebrew name translates to "Spring of the Heel", as the spring is located on the heel of the Zin River. We shifted into 4x4 mode, and began our off-roading experience. There are no words to describe how incredibly cool it was to go 4-wheeling, but there are videos. And one day, those videos will be on YouTube. In the meantime, just imagine the car shaking nonstop, and occasionally, you get thrown so hard that you practically hit the ceiling, but in the awesome way. And all the while, it's hard to see because there's nothing but dust in front of you that had been kicked up by another car, and behind you, the came thing. And your stereo is blasting Arabic music coming from a Jordanian radio station in Amman called Fann FM. Awesome!
We parked in the lot near En Akev, and walked a little ways to the spring. And there it was: a big pool of water in the desert. Complete with British tourists.
Post-swim, we walked back to the cars, and Amir pointing out these hiking signs. Apparently, there are trails from the Southern-most tip of the country to the northern most tip. The trail sign on the right indicates that trail, while the one on the left just marks the way back to the parking lot.
We 4x4ed our way back to the main road an continued on our journey, stopping at the aptly-named Ramon Rocks to get a view of the Makhtesh Ramon.
There is no real equivalent in English of the Hebrew word Makhtesh. It's translated as a crater, but it's not really the same thing. A crater is created when a meteor strikes the Earth, leaving an indentation. And a canyon is made when a river slowly cuts through a flat surface. A Makhtesh is formed when the soft minerals inside a mountainous structure get slowly washed away while the outer crust remains in tact. Eventually, the outer surface collapses in upon itself, leaving steep canyon-like edges and a rocky interior. Makhtesh are pretty unique: only three major makhtesh are found in Israel, and the only other Makhtesh are found in Egypt (two are there).
After viewing the Makhtesh from above, we drove down into it to get to our camp site. Once again, this required going off roading, though the path to the campsite was not nearly as treacherous as the path to En Akev or the paths we would take the following day.
We found a good place to camp, and began setting up the site. One of the Hunters had been carrying wood for the entire journey, and we started by tearing it apart and converting it to a cozy fire.
Then a large portion of the instructors ran off to climb a hill and catch the sunset, while the responsible adults began cooking dinner. The picture below has a little yellow dot on it... that dot is Zach!
Up up up we went. Some wore sneakers, and some of the more foolish wore sandals (my bad...) En route there were a few mishaps, like a rockslide that was triggered in my general direction which resulted in my sliding a few feet and getting a little scraped up. But, no worries. A few battle scars, nothing more.
We made it up to the top. And the Heineken made it to the top!
And we were rewarded with an amazing sunset:
By the time we got back down, dinner was ready. Amir and Anat are simply too kind. The food was abundant, the fire was warm, and Ted's life story kept us entertained, as did Sam's guitar-playing.
The stars began to dot the sky, more stars than I've seen in a very long time, exceeded only by the stars in Yosemite. I began to count shooting stars, and got up to 16 by the time I went to sleep.
Next Post: That Time We Went Off-Roading for Hours and then Swam in the Dead Sea
