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photo page 10 |
Our neighbor Yuval and his Dutch wife Ruth have invited us
for a trip through the desert. Driving Jeeps is Yuval's job (call this
a job? don't be joking!) and he makes these sort of off-the-road tours
a couple of times a week. This shabat there are no bookings, so his boss
Olympus Tours allows us to use the Land Rover Defender all day.
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The Negev desert near Eilat used to be sea bottom, and the barren
mountains around us consist of layers of limestone, deposited from
the shells of sea life during millions of years. These layers are visible
everywhere you go, in the most wonderful colors and shapes. Fossils are
all over the place: almost every stone you pick up has an imprint of a
shell or mussel. During the formation of the Great Rift, the giant crack
in the earth that runs from Lebanon all the way to central Africa, the
sea bottom was pushed up to form these mountains. Valleys were cut out
in later years by rivers running to the retreating sea.
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The depth of this valley gets lost in the picture, but we
are standing on the sharp edge of a steep ravine, another former waterway.
It looks in every aspect as a smaller version of the Grand Canyon in the
USA.
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Picnic in the desert: Yuval makes tea and has baked original scones.
Together with jam and cream you might get the feeling of being in England,
except for the temperature and the lack or rain of course.
We enjoy the food on a blanket next to the jeep.
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At this spot the ground has been pushed up in a rather bizarre
way. This giant form is called the "finger of God". The rock is not broken
but must have been still fluid, and solidified later.
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Another deep valley in front of us. At the foot of the
shadowy ravine in the middle is the only well in the desert. Three Ibexes
(large mountain goats with huge horns) are walking towards the well, but
the enormous depth has reduced them to mere dots on the picture. Ibexes
can live for weeks without water, eating the bristling leaves of the Acacia
tree and turning these into water in their stomachs.
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A bit closer to Eilat is this view point at this 735 meter
mountain, overlooking the Red Sea. Ruth is looking to Jordan, Sonja
to Egypt: the border is only a 100 meters away.
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Mount Shlomo: a black mountain of granite, pushed through the limestone
bottom. This must have given a good shake to the earth!
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Yellow and orange colored sand stone, and a big hole cut out by the
force of water that used to run through this valley. Water still runs here,
although not so high, and not very frequently, as this is the 4th most
dry spot on earth, with less than 25 mm of rain every year.
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Wonderful surprise: a mother Ibex passes the car at just a few meters
distance with her new-born baby Ibex. The little one looks just like Bambi,
but climbs the steep hill with agility.
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Located the two Ibexes?
These mountain goats are spectacular climbers: it is almost inconceivable
how they got on to these rocks. They wait in the shade till the evening,
as it is sweltering hot.
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A glimpse of the Red Sea in the middle, Eilat just behind these mountains.
This valley also shows all the signs of water running through.
We close the day with ice-cream and a badly needed shower to rinse away
the dust.
Thank you Yuval and Ruth, it was an unforgettable trip and we enjoyed
every second of it.
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