I’m not sure you want to drive 50 minutes from our guesthouse just for this, but if you are planning to visit Shivta and eat at Café Ezuz then the Nitzana Hillocks would be a fine additional activity.
Category: Off the beaten path
Hike down Nahal Karkash
This is one of those hikes (like Sculpture Park, Ein Akev, Nahal Haverim or Har Tzaror) that don’t require a car. You leave the guesthouse, walk for 15 minutes to the start of Karkash and describe what is roughly a circle, it’s a one and a half hour excursion.
A Steep Descent
On your Way to the Dead Sea – The Makhteshim
The Blue Road
The fastest road to go from our guesthouse to the Dead Sea is via Yeruham and Dimona (in blue on the map). It will take you an hour and twenty minutes to reach Ein Bokek. A bit more if you are going to Ein Gedi or Massada. But fastest doesn’t always mean the most interesting.
The Nabatean city of Shivta
Shivta is one of five ruins in Israel’s Negev desert [along with Mamshit, Avdat, Tel Nitzana and Halutza] that were built and inhabited by the Nabateans from 500 BCE to 700 CE. These cities grew in strength and prosperity over 1200 years, and then they died, all of them and all at around the same time.
Borot Lotz
Borot Lotz hike is a 45 minute drive from Sde Boker and the guesthouse.
Update: before you venture to Borot Lodz, check that the road 171 is open. Due to some important damages to the road, it has been closed in October 2022 until repaired.
How to get there?
You start driving South on road 40 in the direction of Mitzpe Ramon. About 6 km before Mitzpe Ramon, you turn right on road 171.
Ringing with Darren the Birder
I was born in Staffordshire in the Midlands of England, as a lad I was a punk rocker. I’ve always liked birds. I traveled the world for several years and met an Israeli girl in Nepal, we stayed in touch. I was in Syria in 2002,
The Nitzana Salient – things to do along the 211 road
To get to the Nitzana Salient, take road 40 going North. At Tlalim Junction, turns left to road 211. It shoots like an arrow straight at Egyptian Sinai and comes to a dead end.
Mount Tzaror
Har Tzaror or Mount Tzaror is the dark mesa you can see from the Zin cliff to the north east. The hike takes you in a wide arc around this feature.
Narcissi in Nahal Hatzatz
This is a two hours hike out, the time to go is December/January and the objective is the annual appearance of narcissi.
