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.
Not quite a hike it is more like a big playground for children, for children-at-heart and for photographers.How to get there?
At the end of the 211 road, a few hundred meters before you reach the Egyptian border, you get to a hill on your left hand side and at the top of the hill is the Educational village of Nitzana. Right after the village, you turn left in the direction of Ezuz. After a few minutes, you will see a brown sign to Nizzana Hillocks (Hamukei Nitzana in Hebrew, which means the curves of a female body).
Drive for another few minutes until you get to a small parking. You are now officially on the moon
But a moon with a fence as the Egyptian border is just a few hundred meters away…
What’s in there?
There is no signed trail, you just wander around the small chalk hills carved by the winds,
Watch them get rounder
and curvier
and even curvier
until you reach the mother of all curves
The Madonna, the star of the show.
A highly instagramable moment!
Even generally hard-to-please teenage girls will find endless amusement and photographic poses.
Just imagine what younger children could invent here!
You will soon find yourself trying to get the best angle for a picture (Yes, this is the same stone structure)
There is no real path to follow, you just walk as far as you want in the direction you chose (what if there are more behind this big hill?)
Because the hills are extremely white and can be blinding in full sun, it is best to be there at the end of the afternoon, especially in the summer.
Between the turning to Nizzana Hillocks and the parking, you will see the Dror lookout, which is shaded and therefore could be a nice place for a picnic. You will also see a sign for the Nizzana farm, an experiment of reproducing the agricultural techniques used by the Nabateans.
I have also been told people in the area are in the process of marking a trail to get from the hillocks to a secret cave carved by the Nabateans. Right now, it is almost impossible to find without a knowledgeable guide. More on that as soon as it happens.
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Superbe !