Negev desert trip - November 2016.

For the first time, I went to Israel 3 years ago. I also decided to visit Petra in Jordan. It was planned to go down the road no. 90 along the Dead Sea, towards a border crossing in Eliat. Fortunately, heavy rain thwarted my plans. The road I chose was partially closed, therefore I had to choose an alternative route - road No. 40. And while I was passing through the city of Beersheba, I discovered a new colour of Israel. Not the green one from the north, but yellow, red and white.

During my quick trip to the south, I had two more stopovers. One in Midreshet Ben-Gurion, and the other one in the Mitzpe Ramon. I remember the moment I told myself I would come back here to this place. And indeed I did – this year. Along with my older daughter, we went on a short, few days’ trip.

We decided to dedicate more time to visiting the Negev Desert this time. We spent the first two nights in a charming hostel thegreenbackpackers.com. 

This hostel is located deep in the heart of the desert in the town Mitzpe Ramon. We got there at dark night. And what surprised us first of all was absolute silence. This was what I needed after the noisy northern Israel.

Ms. Lee, the person managing the hostel, advised us on the most interesting hiking trails and this advice turned out to be a great success. We set out on a hike on the following day early in the morning. We spent more than 4 hours at the bottom of the Ramon crater, trekking across valleys, plains and a desert hill with exotic names of Ardon, Saharonim and Dekalim. 

We came across only one group of tourists while trekking. They offered us a freshly brewed coffee and Moroccan biscuits which were exceptionally tasty in such circumstances.

Additionally, it turned out that all pieces of advice on taking large amounts of water and a hat are the case not only during the hot season. The November sun was truly strong, and it was only under rare acacias where we were able to find a shadow. No one who is going to these areas should ignore the rules about clothing and an adequate amount of water – no matter the season.

The beginning of the next day was strange. I decided to photograph a sunrise over the Ramon crater. Full of hope, I opened a window in the morning and … saw nothing.
Over the desert, a layer of fog floated.

Nevertheless, I took the camera and ran to the edge of the Ramon crater. Fortunately, the hostel was located very close to the precipice and I was able to capture the fog in all its glory.

An additional compensation of the lost sunrise was an opportunity of photographing the setting sun at the same place.

After the morning, we set off to the north of the Negev - towards the tomb of the founder of the State of Israel - Ben Gurion. One of his dreams was to transform the Negev Desert into a green country. Going ahead with these plans was not a complete success, but the desert looks marvellous also in its natural colours.

 From there, we went further down a winding road to take a walk deep into the Ein Avdat canyon. This road was both beautiful and easy. 

It ran in the shade of high walls of the canyon in the middle of which a narrow stream was flowing slowly. It became much broader near the waterfall.In the surface of the stream, the blue sky was reflected.

 We saw a beautiful oasis with wonderful palm trees at the end of the canyon.

 We had to end our hike here because further there was a steep, one-way path and we would not be able to get back to our car easily. 

So we decided to get to the vantage point by car from the other side and look at the canyon from the top.

I still do not know which view was more beautiful. From the top of the canyon or from the bottom of it?

On the third day, we went off paths described in all tour guides. We went down the road No. 211 towards a border crossing to Egypt, next to the Nitzana. If you have an opportunity some time to go down this road, pay attention to a building to the left. It is one of the largest solar power plants being currently built. Thousands of mirrors will be accumulating thermal energy in a huge boiler placed on the high tower.

We spent the last night with our friends in their house on the desert. Iris, her husband Shabtay and their children were very warm-hearted hosts to us in their small Kadesh Barnea community. It was not a typical kibbutz, but moshav where decisions on the fate of the community are made together, but each of the members of the community is an owner of land, crops, etc. Discussion on how to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of establishing the settlement was a hot topic during the last meetings. 

The next day began with showing us cherry tomato growing in greenhouses. 

Apparently these are the same tomatoes we buy in supermarkets, but their taste there was completely different.

And then Iris said that she was taking us to the moon. And she showed us the most beautiful fragment of the desert. Numerous wind-sculpted cretaceous formations did make a tremendous impression.

I still do not understand why this place is not described in tour guides. But maybe that’s good. It is not trodden yet and we were there almost by ourselves.

Afterwards, we went to a midday picnic to the Khan Be’erotayim camel stable. 

In this magical place, we were able to make ourselves comfortable on carpets and hammocks in the shade of buildings made from fired mud.

We drunk ourselves on coffee and tea available all the time on the fire in the central point of the community.

Not far from this village, there were rock formations with graffiti from before a few thousands of years.

The next point of our expedition was vilage Ezuz . We stayed at cafe-ezuz.co.il. 

I eat my favourite eastern dish – shakshouka - in this eatery. The aroma of this dish and wonderful views from this bar will forever remain in my memory.

At one point I said, jokingly, that I had always associated desert with boundless sand dunes, and not with a mass of stones and rocks. So Iris decided to show also this face of desert. And this was the last element of this day. Iris, her children, my daughter and I rolled about in a beautiful desert dune like frisky kids.

What else can I add to this description? I will get back there.