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A Local’s Guide to the Negev Highlands

Ein Zik (and Ein Shaviv)

Ein Zik is an oasis located in a horseshoe valley surrounded on three sides by towering cliffs. Rainwater runs down and through the cliffs and is trapped in this basin close to the surface, a large, soggy underground lake (the technical name for this is ‘layer spring’). The Israel trail goes through it.

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Iris Barazani, Tour Guide and Actress in Residence at Shivta

I met Iris for the first time about a year ago. We were taking a class for tourism operators together and one of our first exercises was to introduce ourselves and describe our work in less than two minutes. Given the mumbo-jumbo most of us were able to come up with, it turns out this is not such a simple task. But

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David and Paula Ben Gurion’s Desert Home

At the start of 1954 David Ben Gurion announced that he would be resigning from politics and would move to  Sde Boqer. This astounded the Israeli public, not the least the young pioneers who had created the the communal farm three years previously. His immediate entourage also had one or two reservations.

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Mount Ramon and Karnei Ramon View Point

Important update: before you venture to Mount Ramon, check that road 171 is open. Due to some flood damages; it was closed to civilian circulation in October 2022 and no date for reopen has been announced as far as I know. But repairs are scheduled.

 

Like the Albert Promenade and the Sculpture Park, this excursion to Mount Ramon and the Karnei Ramon viewpoint allows you to look down into the immense geological phenomenon which is the Ramon Makhteshm but this time, from the other extremity.

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