Chai Negev

Chai Negev is an ecological village at Kibbutz Revivim, a kibbutz in the Southern District of Israel with a population of 800, of which nearly 370 are members. The kibbutz was established as an agricultural research station in 1943, on the site of a Turkish railway station and British army camp. Recording rainfall, and experimenting in various ways, the members of the kibbutz managed to find enough water to grow produce in the sand, and succeeded in transforming the research station into a kibbutz, a communal settlement, in 1948. Revivim played a huge part in the massive success Israel has had in making the desert bloom, and today it thrives on a large olive crop, irrigated with locally available brackish water, as well as a dairy, a chicken hatchery and a fish growing farm, and other non-agricultural industries. One of Kibbutz Revivim’s founding members was Golda Meir’s daughter, Sara, so Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, spent a lot of time there, Revivim becoming her second home.
We were looking for inexpensive accommodation for a weekend away, and Chai Negev at Revivim, which opened in 2003, suited us perfectly. The site offers ecologically constructed accommodation, ranging from group tents and mud brick houses, to the more conventional guesthouses (our choice!), and it was all surrounded by a zoo!

At Chai Negev the goal is to bring children closer to the natural world around them in a way that is direct and enjoyable, in order to raise their awareness of their environment and heighten their sensitivity to what goes on in it. The site is home to a variety of desert animals raised in special breeding centres, in conditions resembling their natural habitat. Though I can't say that I particularly enjoy seeing animals in cages, coyotes, foxes and baboons were situated right next to our room and they seemed active and happy. My youngest son woke early in the morning and I saw him creep out to go and see the monkeys and say good morning the hens! A waterfowl lake, alpaca, sheep and more were also nearby.

What makes Chai Negev so unique is its buildings, which have been built with an ecological approach and with the most imaginative and creative use of local materials. Compressed hay bales, recycled tires and wood have all been used in the structures, whilst a nearby lookout tower, built from logs, enabled us to see the entire compound, with its view of the beautiful Negev desert and also the kibbutz scrapyard! Breakfast was Bedouin-style pita bread, rolled by the kids and baked in an outdoor oven while we waited, accompanied by olives, sliced raw vegetables, labneh with olive oil and za'atar (hyssop), and a hot drink. Delicious!

The cactus garden at Revivim was established in the 1990's on an area of land next to Chai Bar, at the side of the kibbutz. Most of the plants there were brought from different nurseries, while some were developed from seeds. The boys and I had a good time exploring the garden, looking at all the different cacti and succulent plants.

It certainly didn't have a five star rating, but Chai Negev was most definitely a quirky and unusual place to stay! It had a certain appeal to it, and frankly my youngest son, who loves animals and being outdoors, thought that he was in Gan Eden (the Garden of Eden). I simply enjoyed being in a fun place. It always amazes me how close we live to the desert. It was wonderful to take advantage of it.

Enot Tsukim

Enot Tsukim Nature Reserve or En Fashkha, as it is also known (Fashkha means split or broken), is the lowest nature reserve in the world. Located on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, it is named for the En Fashkha spring, a spring of brackish water (semi-salty water) in the area. The source of the spring water in the reserve is rain water that falls on the Judean Mountain range which seeps downward and emerges in the area of the nature reserve. This water is rich in minerals and gets some of its saline content due to the close proximity to the Dead Sea.

Enot Tsukim Nature Reserve is divided into three areas: the northern "closed reserve", which is completely closed to visitors, except for scientists, to protect the native flora and fauna; the central "visitors reserve" which contains wading and swimming pools filled by natural spring water; and the southern "hidden reserve", which can be visited only on tours guided by Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) guides. The central "visitors reserve" also contains an archaeological site from the Second Temple period.

We visited the nature reserve during Chol HaMoed Sukkot and, though crowded, we found it to be a really great place to spend the day. We started off by taking a walk around the "visitors reserve", enjoying the wading pools, all fed by a natural spring which keeps the water temperature down, and the stream that sits among shaded bamboo trees. Enot Tsukim has over 150 springs, of varying degrees of saltiness. These springs provide for the variety of fauna and flora which can be found in the reserve. The fauna include jackals, wolves, foxes, hyenas and leopards. The flora include date palm trees, reeds, bulrushes and tamarisk trees, though none of the trees were planted here. Instead, rangers assume that they stand where date-loving jackals and birds left droppings full of date seeds. We then took a break at the large picnic area, where we barbecued and the kids swam in the "deep" Date Pool.

We had booked ourselves on to the 3pm tour of the "hidden reserve". Our guide took us to the first station, the archaeological site En Fashkha. From diggings in the site – the first one in 1958, and after that in 2001 – it seems that this was an agricultural farm that began in the first century B.C.E. There are the remains of a house, a yard for raising sheep and goats, and an industrial zone with water canals, water reservoir, covered spaces including storage bins and a ritual bath. Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who completed his excavation of the area in 2001, believes that balsam perfume (known in the Talmud as shemen afarsemon) was produced on this farm.

We continued with the tour, entering the "hidden reserve" through a locked gate, then following a path, thick with vegetation, past flowing tributaries, pools that fill up from spring water and which are home to a unique population of St. Peter’s fish, and past signs marking the level of the Dead Sea in different years (the last being 1991). Sadly, the Dead Sea has been steadily shrinking for decades and, if the sea level continues to shrink this way, it will take around 40 years until the Dead Sea will be smaller than the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). The fall in sea level can be explained by a few reasons: evaporation due to heat, scarce input of external water, and the Dead Sea Works water pumping that use the Dead Sea for production of potash.

Our guide showed us a nest built by a Dead Sea sparrow, and pointed out the Sodom Apple plant, a flowering plant of northern Africa which bears poisonous fruit, above. We even saw one of the elusive donkeys which live in the reserve, brought in 20 years ago to control the growth of common reed that overruns other plants.

At the end of the tour, the kids went back for another dip in the pool. They had enjoyed a great day out, and I'd managed to squeeze in an "educational tour" without them really noticing!

An historical aside, Ein Fashkha provided excellent cover for 32 Palmah troops on the Night of the Bridges in June 1946. In an action meant to cut Palestine off from the surrounding Arab countries, Palmahniks blew up the Allenby Bridge, over the Jordan River. Eleven bridges altogether were destroyed during the operation, part of a protest against the British policy of strangling Jewish immigration. After the blast, which was executed under heavy fire, Palmah soldiers managed to reach Ein Fashkha and hide out in the oasis’s wild brush.

Ein Fashkha fell into Israeli hands during the Six Day War. Recognizing its unique and special qualities, Israeli authorities declared it an official nature reserve and renamed it Enot Tsukim (Cliff Springs).

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

I haven't stopped blogging. No, really, I haven't! August just simply disappeared on me, and for the first time in over six years of blogging, I missed a month. There were good reasons though. We've been to London and the Highlands of Scotland, and many cities in between! Our long planned trip hung in the balance when many flights were cancelled in and out of Israel but, I'm pleased to say, we made it out of the country and were able to enjoy a much needed break. Now we're back and things are returning to normal. Well, the "normal" that is Israel anyway.

Given that we have family in London, the natural place to start our trip was there. We went to The Making of Harry Potter at the Warner Brothers Studios, and swam at the London Aquatics Centre. The boys went to see their beloved Arsenal play, whilst I went off to see the incredible Matisse Cut-Outs at the Tate Modern. Further north the boys let off steam at the Alton Towers Theme Park. But this trip was really about exploring the countryside and seeing some beautiful places. We started with the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, close to the border with Scotland.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, also known just as Holy Island, has a recorded history from the 6th century. It was an important centre of Celtic Christianity. At some point in the early 700's the famous illuminated manuscript known as the Lindisfarne Gospels, an illustrated copy of the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, was made probably at Lindisfarne. After Viking invasions and the Norman conquest of England a priory was reestablished there, and a small castle was built in 1550. Stones from the priory were used as building material. In modern times lime kilns were built on Lindisfarne in the 1860's, and lime was burnt on the island until at least the end of the 19th century. One of the most celebrated gardeners of modern times, Gertrude Jekyll, laid out a tiny garden just north of the castle in 1911.

 

The island and picturesque village, brimming with history, were a delight to explore but it was the wildlife that I was really keen to see. The island is a sanctuary for wildlife and a great place to watch birds and go rock pooling. We found crabs, sponges, seaweed and plenty of shells. Anemones, starfish and pipefish can also be found, if you know where to look and what to search out. In winter about 50,000 birds visit the island and bird watchers can look out for geese, Ringed Plovers, Redshanks, and Oystercatchers. However, it was the grey seals that we were searching for. Admittedly they were further out to sea than I had hoped but we spotted them in the distance on the south side of the island, bobbing up and down in the water and sunning themselves on the sands.

It was simply perfect. The cool English weather, beautiful coastal scenery, and a distinct tranquility about the whole place, made for a wonderful day. I couldn't have asked for more. Yet it was time to move on. We had a lot more to explore.