The Amateur Traveler talks to Chaundra about her trip to Southern Israel.
While visiting a friend from University who has settled in Israel they wanted to go to someplace the friend had not yet seen and ended up in the barren region of Southern Israel.
“I would recommend other people go to the South of Israel and the Negev in particular because it is stunning and there are not usually nearly the number of tourists. You really get a feel for some of the more natural aspects of Israel.”
Basing themselves out of Mitzpe Ramon rather than the more popular Beersheba they hiked into some of the Israeli Nation Parks which included ruins of the Nabataeans (who also built Petra).
right click here to download (mp3)
right click here to download (iTunes version with pictures)
Show Notes
Dragondreams
Negev
Beersheba
Mitzpe Ramon
Makhtesh Ramon
Petra
Nabataeans
Avdat
The Green Backpackers Hostel
Green Card – Buy it once, see it all!
Eilat
Tripadvisor – The Green Backpackers
flickr pictures
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Road Trip Through Southern Israel
UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Israel and Palestine – Episode 558
Travel to Israel – Episode 167
Travel to Tel Aviv, Israel – Episode 459
by Chris Christensen
Chris Christensen is the creator of the Amateur Traveler blog and podcast. He has been a travel creator since 2005 and has won awards including being named the "Best Independent Travel Journalist" by Travel+Leisure Magazine.+Chris Christensen | @chris2x | facebook
2 Responses to “Travel to Southern Israel – Episode 318”
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Tags: audio travel podcast, israel, podcast
Nir
Says:March 13th, 2012 at 7:53 am
Chris,
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the last podcast about the Negev and the Chaundra’s enthusiasm and passion about the place – she is so right.
Two comments:
The dead sea is the lowest point on earth at -423 meter or -1388 feet below sea level and not 100m. Probably even much lower because we are losing about a meter a year these days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea
The Makhtesh that she mentions is not really a canyon according to the geological definition. A Canyon, generally, has a river that carves its shape with an entry and exit point. A Makhtesh is a unique geological formation, only found in Israel – it’s closed on all sides, no river flows through it and it only has one exit point.
This is the definition from Wikipedia:
A makhtesh (Hebrew: ??????????? ([ma??te?]), plural: ???????????? ([?ma?t???im]) – Makhteshim) is a geological landform considered unique to the Negevdesert of Israel. A makhtesh has steep walls of resistant rock surrounding a deep closed valley which is usually drained by a single wadi. The valleys have limited vegetation and soil, containing a variety of different colored rocks and diverse fauna and flora. The best known and largest makhtesh is Makhtesh Ramon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makhtesh
Brad
Says:March 17th, 2012 at 9:14 pm
Chris,
I sure enjoyed the information about Israel. Chaundra did a wonderful job in describing the trip. I was jogging as I was listening to the show, and the time just zoomed by. I could picture in my mind the desert and all the places of interest she described. Thank you Brad