Sandboarding

Remember the big surprise we had planned for my son's birthday? Well, we went sandboarding in the Negev desert! My youngest son is definitely the adventurous type and always has some great ideas up his sleeve! He had talked about sandboarding for some time, and Mister Handmade in Israel and I thought, well, why not?

Now, I must confess that the original idea was that the kids do the sandboarding. I was happy to watch them have fun and to take a few photos of the event. But Mister Handmade in Israel made the arrangements, and it turned out to be an activity suitable for all the family. We were ALL going sandboarding!

We booked Dror BaMidbar after reading some great online reviews. The Negev desert is largely a rocky desert, with three enormous craterlike makhteshim (box canyons). However, the western Negev contains sweeping sand dunes which can reach heights of up to 30 metres, and it was in that area, between the city of Be'er Sheva and Mitzpe Ramon, that we were to meet Dror for a 1½ hour sandboarding session.

The location had beautiful views - we'd never seen dunes in Israel like it - and sandboarding was easier than we thought. After a small cup of freshly brewed tea and a brief demonstration about how to sit or stand on the board, and where to place our hands, we were soon heading up to the dunes, starting with a smaller one and then moving on to the big dune.

Standing at the top of the dune, once I had got my breath back from the climb, it was simply wonderful to gaze down across the surrounding desert and enjoy the stunning views. Then all we had to do was half stand, lay down or sit down, and push off! It was incredibly simple really, and the thrill of travelling down the dune was a very special and exhilarating experience.

You do not need to be a thrill-seeker to enjoy sandboarding. I'm about as non-sporty as it gets and I loved sliding down the sand dunes on a sandboard. The sand was soft, so even if you took a tumble, it didn't hurt. The boys had a terrific time and were soon running up and gliding down the dunes, almost like experts. There were surf 'buckets' for the smallest kids to go down the dunes with an adult. Everyone else used a sandboard. It was exhausting but so much fun!