Ein Akev is a four to six hour circular hike (12 km) which starts about 400 meters from Krivine guesthouse. It is not challenging; it contains two easy descents and one gradual ascent. The charm of this hike is that at exactly the half-way mark
you arrive at a pool [Ein Akev] which is filled with clear cold water all year round and on a hot day it is not just life-saving, it is a joy. It is about 15 meters in diameter, 7 meters deep and surrounded on three sides by rock walls rising to about 20 meters. It is fed by a spring in the cliff, this oasis is full of bird and animal life.No less charming is Magdalena’s tent which you get to in the last quarter of the hike where you will be received by a vivacious and adorable Bedouin woman who prepares tea, coffee, pitot with goat’s cheese, stuffed peppers and more. Her tent is constructed out of materials in the final stages of recycling – beyond recycling in fact; worn, exhausted wood and tattered fabric remnants. On the floor dozens of mattresses and cushions. It is shaded, there is always a breeze, whenever I am in Magda’s tent I lie down and fall asleep.
Equipment
A hat with a peak (as in baseball cap)
Enough water
Shoes or sandals with hard sole
Sun cream
A cellular phone with my number in the memory
A bit of money to pay Magda
How to get there
By foot
You set out from Krivines Guesthouse to the cliff…
… and then follow an unmarked path down into the valley, it takes about ten minutes.
When you get to the bottom you cross the valley to the far wall and after you have passed the dry river bed you will hit a 4×4 road…
By car
Or, it is a 5 minutes drive down to the bottom of the valley.
The hike
… and here you go left and walk on the road for about an hour and a half…
… until the road ends in a sort of jeep parking area. The canyon you are now in converges about 500 meters ahead of you…
… walk to the convergence along the marked footpath (white-blue-white) and you arrive at the spring. The water is clean and fresh but not for drinking. I like to find a comfortable spot to sit and watch Israelis at play; I have an anthropological bent. It is a very rare thing to have the pool entirely to yourself.
If at this point you are feeling tired or unwell or don’t wish to continue walking for any reason, then return from whence you came because there is constant jeep traffic on the 4×4 road (let us say one per hour) and you can get a lift back to the village with a sympathetic driver/guide. If you want to soldier on the second stage of the hike, it is along the top of the escarpment facing the village. Leaving the pool, retrace your steps for about 50 meters and you will come to a trail climbing sharply to your left (white-blue-white). At the top of this ten meter climb there are metal rungs to help you over the top…
…which brings you to a low plateau where you turn to your right and pick up the green trail (white-green-white). The climb is not strenuous…
… it brings you to the top of the escarpment, then you come to the horseshoe (seen from the opposite direction; you will be approaching from the top of the picture…
… and then you cross a desolate landscape in the form of a large monochrome bowl…
then a second smaller bowl…
…until the trail takes you to a gully in the wall of the second bowl, and now you are in Magdalena’s territory.
Magda’s Tent
She lives on the green path in her tattered encampment with a small fire going 24 hours a day, there to serve passing travellers. You don’t have to partake, you are welcome to just rest but if you wish to eat, let me give you some idea of what to pay because she has no price list.
Tea or coffee 10 sh (per person)
Pita with labane 20 sh
Full meal 50 sh
You can pay extra if you wish. Magda is an institution in our locality, much cherished.
From Magda’s you have a walk of about 25 minutes. Here the ground is particularly hard and stony and there are sections where you really cannot make out the trail, all you have are the green markers every 100 meters or so. If it is summertime it will now start to feel the heat. It is open desert with nothing to orientate you apart from the ground markers. Head for the rise ahead of you…
…and you come to the cliff and the descent.
At first you have to clamber down, it’s not at all scary, and then you can slide down on your bum. When you get to the bottom you are standing on an asphalt road which climbs the near side of the valley in serpentine twists. You can walk up (28 minutes back to Krivine Guesthouse),
hitchhike or if you are completely knackered call me and if I’m available I will come and collect you.
