Eilat, Israel

Saturday 12 November – Eilat, Israel. Our group of 16 today was slightly modified. Angus and Dorothy left us while Terry and Maureen joined us after spending an evening in a Bedouin tent in Jordan. According to Maureen it was a once-in-a-life experience and it was cold!

As we left the ship we had to go through Israeli Security to make sure we weren’t carrying anything into Israel that they didn’t want in the country. From there we got into our open-air Land Rovers, much-more comfortable than the bouncy-bouncy trucks in Wadi Rum yesterday. Our guides were Gil and Zion (our driver). We started with a drive to within 10 yards of the fence between Israel and Jordan where we got a small cultural lesson on Israel and the history between the two countries. We did see a curious desert dragon lizard look out its front door to see who was driving by.

An unfortunate part of life that is still present is the presence of land mines from many years ago. When asked about them, Zion (the “i” is pronounced like an “e”) said there is an effort underway to remove all the mines, but as with all undertakings, it takes a lot of time and money.

We then went driving along past a salt plant, a Japanese red algae plant, and then onto the main highway. As we began to gain speed, the natural air conditioning got a bit cool and there were no windows to put up! We soon reached the northern (hidden) entrance to Hai Bar Yotvata, a wild game preserve, where they have preserved (and many animals that were becoming extinct. We were not allowed out of our vehicles, but we saw Oryx, Japanese Wild Ass (bigger head than donkey), Ostrich, Gazelle, Hawks. We were also most fortunate because we saw the extremely rare unicorn. And I guarantee that I took this photograph from our moving vehicle, and the picture has not been re-touched in any manner. Our guide also assured us that this was no trick of one horn being removed, broken, cut, stunted, etc. So we considered ourselves very fortunate to see this unique animal, thought to be extinct.

We got back on the highway and the drove to the first kibbutz that was established in the southern part of Israel in about 1959 (if I remember correctly). The kibbutz was begun as a social experiment where people would “give what they could and take what they needed.” Over the years, some have failed, but this one is thriving, and its main source of income today is a herd of 550 dairy cows that are milked three times a day, with each cow yielding about 10-12 liters per milking. This rotating automated process was quite a sight to see. Our guide Nami was born on the kibbutz, went to school there, and has lived there all her life. They’re allowed to freely go, but they don’t own cars, so they have to check out a kibbutz-owned car. We ate a picnic lunch in the park, and then headed back to the main highway.

Timna Park was our next destination. This scenic area contains over 8,000 locations where mine diggings have been found, along with ancient inscriptions that link the area to the copper mines that are mention in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament) in the times of King Solomon. There are many artistic natural formations that have been created by water and wind over the years including the Mushroom and Solomon’s Pillars. The colors of the rocks are also influenced by the different minerals that run through the area. We had a quick stop at the gift shop, and then we made little bottles of colored sand before we had to get back in our vehicles and return to our ship and say goodbye to Israel.