Thursday, June 5, 2008

Visit to the Utopia Park in Kibbutz Bahan and to Alexander River in the Sharon Coastal Plains (03 June, 2008)

On behalf of the non-teaching staff in our campus, a one-day trip was organized to north. I joined them to see the Alexander River in Sharon Plains and the Utopia Park at Kibbutz Bahan. We started by 7.15 am and reached the Alexander River by 10.30 am. Walked through the banks and after completing the trail near Yannay beach, went to Herzeliya city to have our lunch. The next phase was in a tropical garden called Utopia Park in Kibbutz Bahan. After spending a good quality time there, we returned to the campus and reached home by 8 pm.

Utopia Park
Located at Kibbutz Bahan in Emek Hefer, this special tropical park is filled with unusual flowers, carnivorous plants, birds and fish. It is sometimes called the Israeli heaven on earth or a ‘mini-Eden project in Israel! It was like walking through a typical tropical forest. The specialty at Utopia Park is of course the Orchids– with about 2500 varieties and 10,000 individual plants on display! Though I am not a specialist on orchids, it appeared to me somewhat rare collection. Some of them were imported from Thailand. The park is the brainchild of USA born Gail who migrated to Israel in 1983 and her husband Israeli-born Aryeh Danieli.

Big thanks to Gila and Ilana for taking all measures so that I could join and enjoy this very interesting trip. 

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