Eilat - Karoline Sakoury Pettersson

The first weekend we can leave our home for more than a kilometer, without it being for a necessary destination such as to the grocery store or to the pharmacy, we drive as far as we can. From the most northwestern point in the country and all the way down to the southernmost point, Eilat and the Red Sea. After almost six hours of driving, with a stop for a picnic in the Negev desert along the road, we are here.

All the times we have previously vacationed in Eilat, the city, restaurants and beaches have been full of tourists. This time we are having a completely new experience, with takeaway food from the few restaurants that are still open. We eat down on the beach or take it back with us to the cozy little porch of the AirBnB house we are renting. It turns out a weekend filled with nature experiences rather than hunting for VAT-free things we do not really need in the first place.

Desert hike in the Red Canyon

From visiting the salt ponds next to the Jordanian border, which has become a year-round home for a whole bunch of flamingos who previously only used to make a stopover here in Israel on their annual flights between Africa and Europe, to a desert hike in the Red Canyon 20 minutes north of the city. The canyon, where the trail passes through, is named after the reddish sandstone it is made up by.

The trail is about 5 km long, ringroute. It is actually part of a longer trail that follows a valley called the Southern Wadi Shani, which originates inside Egyptian territory to the west. From the parking lot, you have to follow the green-white trail down through the canyon and immediately after you get through the canyon, turn right onto the black trail, going back over the canyon to the parking lot.

One of the few trees that grows in this arid desert climate is the acacia tree. Animals you can encounter here range from the Nubian Ibex and rock hyraxes to the slightly more exotic reptile named Sinai Agama.

Before we head north again, two days later, we find an outdoor plantation from where we buy some new plants for our garden; from a new type of Aloe Vera than the one we already have lots of in the garden, to Agave cactuses and Stevia plants. Just from biting into one of the plant’s green leaves, I realize that we got the correct plant with us home.