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05.15 05.22 Okay, okay. I decided to get up this time because despite the fact that I convinced myself seven minutes ago that I needed as much sleep as possible, I really did need to get up. After going through my regular morning routine (20 mile jog, several hundred push-ups and a tall glass of twelve raw eggs) I was ready for the tiyul (outing) that my company had organised for us for the day. The itinerary that we were sent via email seemed very interesting and the main event was a hike through Ein Gedi by the Dead Sea. We were told to bring comfortable walking shoes so I donned my trusty sneakers, filled my water bottle, packed my sunscreen and ran for the bus. 06.35 I made the bus stop in plenty of time and was glad to be on my way. Arriving at work this early was not so much different to arriving at the regular time of day. The traffic was much the same and there were one or two people around – some of whom seemed like they didn’t actually go home last night. I headed for my office and checked my email. Nothing too exciting. I then noticed the pile of work in my In-tray, which I promptly picked up and moved to the Out-tray. And with a day’s work done in 30 seconds I felt a satisfying sense of relief from the intellectual pressures and thus ready for the physical challenges that surely lay ahead.
I turned up at the designated departure point exactly
on time. The email said that the bus would leave at 08.00 sharp. When
I got there I saw a few people, milling about aimlessly. No bus. Apparently,
the schedule included a pick-up of a team of people from Haifa who
were to join us on this trip. They left Haifa at 06.30 and arrived
in the comfort of a rather large bus somewhere in the vicinity of
08.15. The road along the Dead Sea was a narrow and winding road, somewhat reminiscent of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria – but not quite. On one side was the mountainside and on the other the sea. Signs along the road warned of falling boulders, but looking ahead I was happy to see very little in the way of boulder activity. 09.30 or 10.00 We set off – up, straight up – and in about ten minutes or so we stopped at a small plateau ostensibly to hear an explanation of the site, but really to catch our breath. >From where we were, looking down was quite spectacular. One could see the wide expanse of the Dead Sea below, including the green crops of the Ein Gedi Kibbutz nearby. Looking up was another story. Mountains and mountains of brown rock, interspersed periodically by either a less brown rock or a more brown rock, but mostly, I must say, brown rocks. However, stuck smack-bang in the middle of this brown-scape was a green bush or two, and this is why the guide had decided to stop in this spot. The explanation was that there is an underground spring that waters these bushes. Apparently during the time of the Beis HaMikdash (Temple) Afarsimon oil was harvested here. Apparently there is no real translation for Afarsimon (although some probably inaccurate translations do exist), but suffice it to say that it was a key ingredient in the incense offerings. The aroma of Afarsimon not only gave the Beis HaMikdash a pleasant smell (you can imagine that the large number of animals being slaughtered for sacrifice would cause an unbearable stench – but the Afarsimon countered that completely) and also there were never any flies in the Beis HaMikdash because the Afarsimon held them at bay. Now here is an interesting titbit – the professor who may have been the basis for the character Indiana Jones, his daughter used to work at NDS. This professor purported to have found a container of Afarsimon oil in one of his archaeological digs. Unfortunately, the find was never proven to have been Afarsimon, but the claim was that no flies ever approached his tent when this professor opened the container of the oil. Interesting. Climbing further up the hill, over rocky ground along faintly marked paths we reached another spot where we could catch our breath. Asher, our guide, stopped once more to explain to us some peculiarities of vegetation that grows among the rocks. I looked down the path, which we had just ascended and I was pleased to hear that the climb was nearly over. At this point I had become very friendly with my bottled water - it was hotter than I expected it to be and I was surprised by the amount of water I was consuming. I then looked ahead and saw that on one side was a mountain and the other a plateau. I was hoping that we would go to the plateau as the angle of the mountain’s side was somewhat intimidating. As we proceeded along the track we came upon a sort of intersection furnished with a signpost. We were headed in the direction of the plateau while the other path led up Har Yishai (Mount Yishai). We then reached a point where the path ended abruptly at a sort of natural ladder. The rocks were formed in such a manner that they looked like steps, but required both one’s hands to climb up. This series of steep steps, or ladder, was only about one and a half meters high and it was relatively easy to negotiate. It took only a short while for the group to all climb up and we rested again before heading off along another path. We were now located on the plateau which I had spied earlier from a lower position. It was some sense of achievement to be so high up. Following the guide we snaked along a path, stopping once for an explanation of a very interesting plant. The plant (the name of which I do not recall) is a bulbous plant. Above the ground the leaves do not have a pleasant taste and thus animals do not eat it. Below the ground is the bulb, which is covered in sharp spikes that can necessitate stitches for those who attempt to handle them without proper protection. Thus, this plant is perfect for delineating the borders of your property – animals will not eat it and people will not dare try to remove it. Asher explained that the use of these plants to delineate a border is brought down in the Gemorrah. He also said that he learned first hand (pun intended) that the bulb is dangerous to touch. The path along which we walked was wide enough to fit one or perhaps two people. Looking down to my left as we walked along I saw a deep ravine (wadi), parts of which had vegetation growing in it and other parts of which were dry. This ravine is called Nachal David (or Wadi David). Little did I know that we would spend a good part of our hike wandering through Nachal David. From way up there I could hear the sound of running water. I couldn’t quite understand where this sound was coming from – after all, we were in the middle of a desert. I looked down into Nachal David and saw a small waterfall pouring out of the rock face – sort of like a large weep-hole. From the look of the opening of the waterfall it seems that during times of rain, a lot more water pours out of that hole. But never the less, it was a beautiful site as this oasis was surrounded by vegetation on all sides. Quite pretty. We arrived at a point where we had to descend to a lower level approximately one to two meters down via naturally stepped rocks. A short walk of ten meters or so revealed a far more interesting way of descending further down into the wadi. First, allow me to mention that we were now in an area where most of the rock was white – chalk – and very slippery. The path that we were following took us to a two or three metre drop. The only way to go down was via one of two slippery looking paths. I noted that most people took the left-most path while the right path was largely ignored. Having arrived towards the end of the group I assumed that our guide had left instructions to use the left path. The right one did seem rather steep and dangerous. I was wearing my trusty sport shoes (with little grip left after all these years) and I ended up losing all control as I slipped down the slope quite ungracefully. I landed at the bottom of the slope a little embarrassed but not hurt in the least. I took that as a lesson for the future – next time I should go slowly and use my hands against the walls to steady myself. This was going to prove to be a valuable lesson in the hours ahead. The next twenty minutes or so of hiking was very enjoyable. We were now at the beginning of our hike through the wadi (although I’m not sure where the wadi actually began). The floor of the wadi was the slippery chalk-rock while only about four meters up the side of the wadi the rock dramatically changed to a red-brown colour. There were some moments when we had to jump down or climb up or skip across in order to advance through the wadi and this made it quite fun. We were walking through the wadi, of course, during the dry season. The remnants of the rainy season were scattered throughout the wadi in the form of rock pools of stagnant water. All around us were walls and floors of smooth white chalk rock, rounded to perfection by the running water that streamed through this wadi. Finally we arrived at a point where it became "optional" to continue. We were told that the destination was “Mapal Chalon” – Window Waterfall and that it was “really worth it”. I believe that none of the group wanted to wait behind, but the task ahead looked foreboding. The only way to proceed was via a very narrow ledge over a steep drop of quite a few metres. Metal handholds were embedded into the rock and they were really useful when negotiating this fairly precarious passage. I was one of the first, perhaps the third or fourth, to attempt the crossing and I made it to the other side intact. As we wound our way through the wadi, I noticed that it was much, much narrower than before and the chalk walls of the wadi looked as if they were sculpted by an artist. The dramatic curves where the water cascaded around corners, the smooth ridges and the rounded rocks over which the water rushed during rainy seasons of the past were impressively bold. You could imagine the confident rush of the first waters charging through this corridor – pounding over boulders in the middle of the wadi as if they were no obstacle at all, sliding at high speed around the smooth corners like a highly skilled tobogganist. And there we were, walking through all of this on a quiet Monday in the sun. A few times we were required to make use of the handholds, which were cleverly positioned to enable us to circumvent pools of green water. I had no way of telling how deep they went, and I wasn’t keen on finding out by way of accident. It was quite an exciting trek and our tour guide was not mistaken when he said that it would be worth it. After rounding the final bend, we were confronted by probably the largest of the rock-pools we had encountered so far. Carefully climbing across the slippery path to its right, we found ourselves at Mapal Chalon. The smooth floor ended in a curvaceous plummeting cliff-edge and when framed by the sides of the wadi, which seemed to come to an abrupt halt, rising into the sky on both sides, it truly seemed like you were looking through a window. And what a view! The continuation of Nachal David lay ahead with the Dead Sea in the background with the hills of Jordan faintly visible on the horizon. A black bird, completely unafraid, landed on the very edge of the cliff, ate some scraps that we fed it and then poetically rose in line with the sides of the “window” and took off into the sky. The view “inside” was also magnificent. As the guide said, it feels like you are standing inside a sheltered room, although if you look up you see nothing but sky. If you were to stand with your back to the cliff edge, you would see the pool of water that I mentioned earlier. Strangely, despite the fact that it was green and stagnant for a long period of time, the water seemed inviting, sort of like a private pool on the roof of a sky-scraper-with-a-view. The lower part of the wall was conveniently shaped as a ledge or a bench on both sides of the room and that is where we lay our backpacks while we rested. The upper part of the wall was the darker red-brown rock that I described earlier. There seemed to be a clear line where the smooth chalk white rock ended and where the jagged darker rock began. There were approximately three metres or so between the edge of the pool and the cliff edge where we gathered to admire the wondrous view. One of my colleagues noted that it would be a perfect spot to sleep for the night – during the dry season, of course. I can imagine no prettier landscape to wake up to than this. It took us perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes to hike from our starting point where the ledge and metal handholds at first looked so daunting to Mapal Chalon. It took us approximately the same time to return. Whenever we had to jump down from a boulder on our way in, on our way out we had to find a way to climb over it. It made the hike back that much more interesting. On the way someone stopped me to show me a fossil by splitting a rock he had found. It was the fossil of some sort of shelled water-dwelling creature. Interesting to find such a thing in the middle of what is essentially a desert. The next part of our journey consisted of climbing another set of stairs naturally formed by the jagged rocks leading up to the top of a hill. The walk from there was fairly easy. The track was well marked and the view was, once again, excellent. From time to time you could see the Dead Sea peeking from between the mountains. It was at this point that I received a telephone call from Leah. I told her that I was at that moment walking on a rocky track through the mountains of Ein Gedi. I remarked that it was amazing that my mobile had reception all the way out there in the middle of nowhere, whereas I couldn’t get any reception at all in my local supermarket! As I walked I reapplied sunscreen to my ears and neck, which were starting to turn bright red. The sun was hot and I could feel a blister starting to form on the inside of my left foot. As we made our way down the track we could see the ruins of a building about two or three hundred metres away. Our guide explained that these ruins were of a temple built around the time of the Bronze Age. You could clearly see the classical structure of a room and a room within that room, being the “holy of holies”. Nobody really knows who built the temple because as far as archaeologists know there was nobody living in this region at the time. It is somewhat of a mystery. Sometime around 12.00 – or was it 13.00? By
this time it didn’t matter much! During this time our guide had someone read out a passage from Tehillim (Psalms), which he thought may actually have been talking about Ein Gedi itself. After our much-wanted break we donned our shoes and continued our descent. Finally we ended up at the road where the bus was supposed to have met us. It was a little late and Asher our guide had a moment to tell us about an interesting building that we could see in the distance that sort of rounded off the trip very nicely. It was a fortified factory, he said. Apparently there are boulders in place to fortify the doors and certain security measures to fend off attacks. What was so important about the factory that it needed such protection? It was a factory where they processed the Afarsimon to extract the oil. It was so precious that it needed such protection. Unfortunately our hike did not include a tour of the factory. On the other hand, lunch was not too far away. The bus arrived and promptly delivered us to our next destination: lunch. A Bedouin tent was set up in a lovely spot overlooking the coastline of the Dead Sea. Low tables covered in white tablecloths and bedecked with wine glasses and cool drink were spread out under the shade. Cushions and mats adorned the floors, making for a comfortable place to eat lunch. The lunch that was provided outdid my every expectation. A smorgasbord of exotic salads, fruits and side dishes accompanied the main meal of mouth-watering steak and sausage. Although I ate the separately catered Mehadrin meal (which I might add was quite tasty) I couldn’t help but think that it was quite an amazing thing for a company to provide such a lunch. After davening Mincha we boarded the bus that took us to the last portion of our adventure. Well, “took us” is accurate but I wouldn’t have liked to have been driving the bus down the road we took. This road would have been a challenge even for a 4-wheel drive. Somehow we got to where we were going without having toppled over or run over the side of a cliff. There were two activities: snappling and archery. Snappling is repelling (or abseiling for all of you Australians out there). I took a look at the height of the cliff we were supposed to snapple from. I took a look at the rope and then decided that I didn’t want to be on a rope on the edge of a cliff engaged in an activity with the word “snap” in it. I opted for archery. While it was quite exciting to watch my co-workers risk life and limb, I was enjoying myself thoroughly shooting arrows into foam targets. I was getting quite good, too. To make the challenge more interesting, we affixed balloons to the target. I managed to burst three balloons by the end of the day. Most of my arrows were actually hitting the target (which is an improvement on my shooting skills about ten years ago when out of ten bullets I managed to graze the very corner of the target once!) It was suggested that perhaps we could combine the two activities of snappling and archery – take that as you will… Drinks and munchies were served. Some opted to recover
from their snappling experience by playing checkers. Others stood
around and breathed in the air as the temperature cooled down. The
sun was going down and it was time to board the bus and make our way
back to Jerusalem. 20.45 21.30
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