Returning to the desert trilogy of blog posts… After visiting Sde Boker, Midreshet Ben Gurion and the ancient ruins of Avdat I pushed southwards and stopped at Mitzpe Ramon. A town on the northern ledge of Ramon Crater, Mitzpe Ramon is where the Parks Authority office is, as well as other sites of interest.

Mitzpe Ramon Visitors Centre on the rim of the Ramon Crater

After parking the truck I headed into the Visitors Centre and found out that I had missed the last opening of the day, that I’d have to come back another day but that I was free to look around outside. Here is the view of the northern ledge of the Ramon Crater that I photographed that day:

The crater edge

Not left with many options, the sun gradually sinking over the horizon, I called it a day and made up my mind to try to come back. Two days later, after a nice night in the desert where I had a near run-in with a dangerous little yellow scorpion, I found myself with plenty of free time and so popped on a bus to Mitzpe Ramon.

Nubian ibex

The first thing I noticed was the abundance of Nubian ibex wandering around the town. I overheard someone comparing ibex in Mitzpe Ramon to cats in the rest of Israel, that they are all over the streets. It’s true. Next I entered the Visitors Centre and booked myself for an afternoon tour. With some time to kill, and the spirit of adventure coursing through my veins, I visited Bio Ramon. A side attraction attached to the Ramon Crater (also known as Makhtesh Ramon), Bio Ramon is a small “desert zoo” hosting both wildlife and flora. Here is a horned viper (Cerastes cerastes), found in the Ramon Crater as well as other areas of the Negev:

A horned viper in Bio Ramon

After a partially-guided tour of Bio Ramon I had lunch and then eventually, as the hour of my Visitors Centre appointment approached, I made my way to the edge of the crater. The Ramon Crater is a whopping 38 kilometres long, 4-10 kilometres wide – the largest of Israel’s erosion craters. Along with the Small Crater and Large Crater to the north and two mini-craters at Mount Arif, the Ramon Crater joins two Egyptian craters in the Sinai Peninsula as being the only erosion craters on Earth.

Ramon Crater

Shaped like an elongated heart, the Ramon Crater has interesting rockforms, and a great variety of wildlife that come out mostly at night. Animals of interest include ibex, wild asses, gazelles, foxes, wolves, striped hyenas and even leopards. While the wildlife are hard to spot, the natural beauty is not, and from this balcony lookout, one can look straight down at the crater floor:

”Balcony lookout”

I had someone take my picture while I stood on the wooden planks separating me from the crater floor way down below; here it is:

Defying death

At last I was admitted into the Visitors Centre and the tour began with Israeli hero Ilan Ramon, a colonel in the Israeli Air Force and Israel’s first astronaut. I remember reading in the papers shortly after I moved to Israel about the death of Ilan’s son, Asaf Ramon, who was killed in a plane crash – himself an IAF pilot as well.

Ilan Ramon as an IAF fighter pilot

Ilan Ramon was a crew member of NASA’s Columbia space shuttle and was killed tragically, to the world’s horror, as the shuttle disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere on February 1, 2003 just sixteen minutes before their scheduled landing. I never thought much about the story, nor the man involved, but I must say, the Visitors Centre did a great job at opening a window into the life of Ilan Ramon. But before Ilan became an astronaut, he was a fighter pilot in the IAF and was the youngest of the eight pilots to take part in Operation Opera – the daring bombing of Iraq’s unfinished Osiraq nuclear reactor in 1981.

Operation Opera in the video

The film that led us into the life of Ilan Ramon came to a close with his death, showing footage from both the shuttle and NASA’s “Houston” space centre. Concluding with a connection of the Ramon Crater and space (Israel’s research telescopes are stationed on the rim of the crater), the curtains opened up and bright desert light filled the room, the vast crater directly before us:

The curtains open to reveal the crater

After an exhibition on the creation of the erosion crater, including hands-on activities and a great flexible rubber model of the crater area, we headed on up to the roof for an even better view of the Ramon Crater.

The crater edge from higher up

And last but not least, a panoramic of the Ramon Crater:

Panoramic of the Ramon Crater

And so ended my adventurous week in the desert.

After visiting Sde Boker and Midreshet Ben Gurion, the home and burial place of Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, I drove a few kilometres south to Avdat, a national park preserving an ancient mountain-top city. I had once passed this extraordinary ruins, seeing it from the road, and now I had the time and opportunity to explore it.

The mountaintop city from the road

Using my handy “year park pass” I gained entrance and watched an interesting video about the site and about the Incense Route, an ancient trade route extending from the southern Arabian Peninsula (Yemen and Oman on our maps) and ending in Gaza, a port city on the Mediterranean Sea.

The Incense Route

The Nabateans, a nomadic people which expanded into a powerful kingdom, ruled the area of the Incense Route some 2,200 years ago. As they became more and more organised they built fortresses and waystations for the convoys making the journey from the Arabian Peninsula to the Mediterranean Sea. After Petra, the famous tourist destination in Jordan (also the filming location of key parts in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Avdat was one of the most important stop along the Incense Route – station #62. As such, the city was further expanded and built up by the Romans and Byzantines after the Nabateans were annexed by the Roman Empire, polytheism turning to Christianity.

Bathhouse ceiling

With nothing but my gun swinging at my side, I started my journey at the Byzantine bathhouse. There I found an nearly fully intact structure with a great domed ceiling (above) and these reconstructed tile pillars arranged on the depressed floor:

The floor of the bathhouse

Next I trekked up the mountain to the base of the ancient Nabatean city, which was believed to have been called Ovdat or Obodat named after the Nabatean king Obodas II. Half-way up I came across the first tier of ruins, a Byzantine house likely belonging to a middle-class citizen, perhaps a wine merchant.

Byzantine house

After winding in and out of the ruins, passing through and around little caves in the bedrock, I climbed further upwards and made my way through some more Byzantine ruins up to a Nabatean temple, the pillared edge of the acropolis. Here is looking down at the aforementioned Byzantine ruins, the desert and Road 40 down below:

Looking down at the ruins

The main expanse, a developed plateau comprised of numerous houses of worship and more, starts with the Nabatean temple on the western edge and continues eastward to the two Byzantine churches (St. Theodoros’ Church and the “northern church”). Here are the pillared ruins of the “northern church” and then the pillars of the Nabatean temple in the background:

The ”northern church” and the Nabatean temple behind

As I passed through, crossing over from Byzantine to Nabatean and Roman, I became well-aware of the midday desert sun beating down on me. I walked in the shade of the great walls and entered the city fortress. A large open plot (just under 30,000 sq. feet), the inhabitants during the Byzantine era used the fortress for numerous purposes – a prayer chapel was even constructed on the north side. In the centre of the fortress is a cistern, fed by runoff channeled through the floor, and outside a little ways northeast is an large army camp (110,000 sq. feet). Here is the fortress and the temples/churches complex beyond the wall, as seen from the guard tower:

The city fortress

Having finished exploring the northern complex I moved on over to the southern complex, partially seen here:

The Byzantine Quarter

I walked through the Byzantine Quarter, a residential area first built during the Roman period. Mostly fallen ruins, the neighbourhood was basically destroyed in an earthquake sometime around 630 CE. I climbed the Roman Tower, complete with Greek inscriptions, and then, after a quick drink from a faucet, headed for the Roman Villa. Seeing the acropolis from the south, I took this photo:

Avdat acropolis

After the Roman Villa I entered the Roman burial cave, dug into the bedrock and containing more than twenty burial niches. Here is the entrance, with depictions of the sun, moon and an altar on the lintel (and a glimpse of the burial niches inside):

Roman burial cave

After leaving the cave I walked the rest of the way down the mountain and headed back for my truck. Next stop, Mitzpe Ramon!

Last week I spent a few days in the desert down south, driving my army truck around and going on adventures in my spare time. One day I was fortunate enough to have many, many hours of spare time and visited numerous interesting sites, among them two national parks. The first stop was Sde Boker, the little Negev kibbutz where David Ben Gurion – Israel’s first Prime Minister – staked his claim and settled down.

Animated David Ben Gurion

I parked outside the kibbutz and walked over to the historical site, Ben Gurion’s little house. Within the property, belonging to the kibbutz, I found a winery store and then various huts leading up to the front office. In two of these huts I found screens, and attempted to watch the animated film depicting David Ben Gurion’s life but, alas! the computer shut down mid-screening and so I temporarily abandoned the video presentations. Composed of superb animation, which reminded me of the “The Adventures of Tintin” TV show, and a richly accented English voice, I really enjoyed the video (screenshot above).

The Ben Gurion residence

A brief synopsis on a pretty influential life, David Ben Gurion (originally David Grün) – often referred to as the “founding father of Israel” – was born in Poland (Czarist Russia) in 1886 and immigrated to the Holy Land in 1906 where he began working on settlements. By 1915 Ben Gurion was expelled by the reigning Ottoman Empire and made his way to the United States, there further aligning himself with Zionism. In 1918 he enlisted in the British Army’s Jewish Legion and returned to the Holy Land. In 1935 he was elected Chairman of the Jewish Agency and on May 14, 1948 announced the establishment of the State of Israel. Becoming the fledgling country’s first Prime Minister, Ben Gurion switched between politics and living quietly on Kibbutz Sde Boker, in the above house.

David Ben Gurion and quote

I entered the little green wooden house – left exactly as it was back then – and looked around, starting with the living room. An informational plaque on the wall explained the identity, and sometimes origin, of the various items and knick-knacks placed throughout the little room. I felt like I was in an Israeli version of Greenfield Village.

The Ben Gurion living room

After inspecting the living room, bedrooms, library, kitchen, bathroom and outside yard of the Ben Gurion residence I met up with a docent, likely a member of the kibbutz. He insisted on returning my entrance fee, seeing that I came alone and I behaved myself so nicely. Despite my persistent refusal he managed to slip the coins into my pocket and so I gave up and then asked him for advice. Being a local, this man instructed me on where to go next – Ben Gurion’s burial place at Midreshet Ben Gurion. His instructions were good and sound, and I slipped my truck into a great parking spot at the national park’s entrance:

Parked truck

I walked through the well-designed park path and made my way to the burial spot, where my guide back in Sde Boker told me that I would see one of the best views in the Negev. Entering the plaza, I did see an incredible view – one that could easily pass for an alien planet:

View from the plaza

And here is a panoramic which includes a wider shot of the intense desert view and the windy road heading down to Ein Avdat, another national park:

Panoramic view

I stood and photographed for a while and then began to look around. I noticed that an army unit was getting an official tour and asked them which unit they were. The answer: “Oketz“, the IDF elite canine unit. Cool. Next. two IAF fighter jets did a screaming flyby, passing not too far over our heads and definitely capturing our attention. On their return trip, heading back to the wilderness, I tried capturing them on camera but it came out blurred.

The casual tourist

David Ben Gurion died in 1973, immediately after the Yom Kippur War, and was buried with minimal fanfare and no eulogies (as requested). Here is David Ben Gurion’s gravestone, looking out over the Negev which he so loved, resting alongside his wife who passed away back in 1968:

David Ben Gurion’s grave

As I headed back down the pleasant stone and shrubbery walkway, lined with trees, I stopped and became aware of a presence. Glancing to my right I started, for I saw an ibex watching me. I’ve never come across an ibex in the “wild” and was a tad on the startled side. But then I came to my senses and began to use my camera, capturing the friendly beast for you to see – the Nubian ibex:

An ibex

As I left the park, headed for my next destination – the national park Avdat – I took this photo of this pleasant green area, a break in the yellowish tan of the Negev desert:

Midreshet Ben Gurion