In the Desert

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the southern half of Israel is a desert -- the Negev. Vast, dry, and largely uninhabited, it is beautiful in the austere way deserts tend to be, with fascinating rock formations and sparse plant and animal life. A few teachers and I (and 20 high school seniors) visited the Negev for four days as part of a school-wide field trip program called "Week Without Walls". This trip took place in late September, so the desert was still quite hot. Above, our group treks into the Horseshoe Canyon in the enormous Ramon Crater. We stayed in an excellent youth hostel at a small town called Mitzpe Ramon which was perched on the lip of the crater. A few pictures from that trek (click to enlarge):

Our armed guard and medic with the red backpack.


A rare tree (a rattlin' tree)

A rare signpost. There were also painted color-coded signs on rocks throughout the hike. The Ramon Crater would be a terrible place in which to get lost, either in night or day.

The sky in the desert is amazing.

As are the rock formations.

A view of the crater from Mitzpe Ramon.

To me, the most interesting thing about the Negev Desert is the history of its inhabitants, the Nabateans. The Nabateans were nomadic Hasidic arabs who controlled a vast network of oases and storehouses between the Euphrates and the Red Sea, and subsequently controlled all trade of goods and spices between the East and West. We saw many examples of hidden water pools and storehouses where the Nabateans rested and stored their goods. And, as nobody else knew of or had access to these places, the Nabateans held a monopoly on trade until they were conquered by the Roman Empire.

We visited a man who lived in a house in the Negev and provided us with a choice between two activities -- Carving art out of desert rocks:


Or, Frisbee golf on a massive desert course (the circular rock formations that look like they were made by UFOs are the course targets:


Below, the tent where the desert art was being made, and my shadow in the setting sun in the foreground. Coen Brothers, eat your heart out.


We also rode camels (slow and painful) did a dance workshop at an area studio (awesome) and generally rode around the dusty crater in the blasting sun. The vast and unchanging nature of the desert has a strange psychological effect after a while, both restorative and timeless. Some final pictures:

Ibex. They are adorable.