Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Hiking Hawarim Valley (17 June, 2008)

Yet another hike! A short one near our campus. The specialty was that it was done under full moon light. The area hiked is called Hawarim valley and in full moon light you could see the whole region shining white because of the white texture of stones and sand. On the way I saw an ancient cistern that was once used to collect water…but it was really dark inside the cistern. People use to throw stones to the huge rocks in the valley and all at sudden you see sparks flashing ….a very beautiful view under moonlight. It took us 4 hr for the whole trip (8 pm to midnight). We (including Yaki and his dog Tzures {which means 'trouble' in yiddish!}) were not alone. Before us four buses full of high school children reached the spot ! On the way saw another small group who traveled 50 km from Beer Sheva just to have a get together and enjoy a cup of tea under moonlight. Sorry NO photographs from the hike....except for the one uploaded below which shows how bad I am in clicking photographs at night……. What you see shining on sky is actually the moon! Thank you yaki for my first moon light hike in Israel.

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. 

The Utopia Park at Kibbutz Bahan




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The Orchids...(do enlarge the photos to see the flowers in higher magnification)



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