Khamsin

Khamsin is a word in Arabic designating a hot wind coming out of the deserts of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, carrying dust and extreme temperature. In Hebrew it is called the sharav, in North Africa and Southern Europe it is known as the sirocco.

When the khamsin comes temperatures rise by more than 10 degrees within a few hours. It is not just that the heat is intense, it is heavy and has its own smell, the air is filled with sand and dust, it penetrates every crack and tiny opening in your house. It generally goes on for a few hours, occasionally it can endure for two or three days, then it breaks as suddenly as it started. The wind changes direction, the temperature plummets ten degrees within minutes, you can even have a few drops of rain, it is a cathartic moment. I heard once that at the time of the Ottoman empire, if a man killed his wife after a full week of khamsin, he would not be considered guilty of murder. Enduring a seven-day khamsin in a tent without a/c could indeed try a man’s nerves.

The word khamsin means ‘fifty’ in Arabic because there are supposedly 50 days of khamsin in a year. I can’t speak for Egypt or Saudi Arabia but fortunately, here in the Negev, we don’t get anything like 50 days; more like a dozen. They don’t come in mid-summer, they occur during late spring and early autumn (generally in May and September) and weather wise, they are definitely the most difficult days of the year.

If you have booked to stay with us at this time of the year, you still have a good chance of avoiding if it. But if it does occur during part or all of your stay, you must make the most of it.  Watching a dust storm approach across the open desert is an epic sight.  To be outside in khamsin, to expose yourself to the elements can be trying (especially if you suffer from a dust allergy), but it can be very real for the first time, and to be present at its conclusion is thrilling. 

Last week (April 30) we had a Swiss family staying for three days, and for 36 hours they experienced a fairly intense khamsin.  The father, Jann, belongs to a mountain rescue unit in the Alps so he fearlessly led his family out into the weather. And nature found a way to reward him as he scored a remarkable photo for his trouble. A few hundred  meters from our guesthouse, he and his son inadvertently surprised a group of three female ibex and a baby. Ibex generally ignore humans but in this case the animals abruptly took off and the baby is seen in the picture leaping over his mother in its haste to get away from the human group (erratic behavior perhaps prompted by the khamsin). Note the yellow tint in the air and the shadow cast on the far rock wall.  The whole composition looks more like a prehistoric cave drawing than a modern photograph. 

Jann has no idea how he managed to take this photo but here it is, proof that good things also happen in the Negev Highland during a khamsin.