A few weekends ago I stayed overnight at a very nice Bedouin campsite with some UN friends (Laurent, Steina, Christophe & Yannick). It was good to escape the city lights of Jerusalem and sit in the desert at night with a glass of wine and be able to see the stars very clearly. The campsite was in the Negev Desert within a very large crater area near the town of Mizpe Ramon. The crater area is called Makhtesh Ramon (Ramon Crater). The crater wasn't formed by an asteroid impact or volcano but by natural erosion and is in fact the worlds largest erosion crater. Ramon Crater is 300 m deep, 8 km wide and 40 km long. The next day we went walking in the desert heat (!) and visited Ein Saharonim (it's a wadi) and walked up to the top of Mt Saharonim.
The Ramon Crater looks like the moon!
This is the wadi called Ein Saharonim. Drinking water can be accessed by digging about 20 cm into the sand here.
This is the view of Ramon Crater from the town Mizpe Ramon which is located on the rim of the crater.
The Ramon Crater looks like the moon!
This is the wadi called Ein Saharonim. Drinking water can be accessed by digging about 20 cm into the sand here.
This is the view of Ramon Crater from the town Mizpe Ramon which is located on the rim of the crater.
