A trip into Israel's craters
Three friends venture out on an early morning trip to watch the sunrise in one of Israel's most beautiful desert landscapes.
Many years after missing out on the traditional post-army trip due to unforeseen circumstances, my childhood friends and I decided to make up for it by taking a trip to the crater region in the Negev.
When we got there our instructor made us close our eyes while he walked us to the cliff edge. Only then could we open them. The sight that befell us was perfect.
Quite a few years have passed since that trip, but the magical sight remains burned into my memory. I decided to call up my hiking friends Itzik and Miki and head back out towards the craters.
We reached the night parking at the little crater in the early morning hours. We were surrounded by darkness, and couldn’t see anything, not even the trail leading to the lookout. We were slightly anxious, because the walk to the lookout was quite long, and very unpleasant in the darkness. So we decided to head towards the Aqrabbim Ascent.
We took pictures of the starry horizon from the viewpoint while we waited for dawn. We climbed up a really tall mountain, and waited for the sun to finally rise. The fog that surrounded us made it difficult to see the sunrise, but the beautiful desert landscape made up for it, providing us with a stunning panoramic view.
After taking a few pictures on the mountain we walked back towards the night camp at the little crater, and heated up some coffee. After a short break, we loaded up the camera bag, grabbed a big water bottle and we were off towards the little crater. On the way there we took quite a few pictures of our desert surroundings.
We took pictures of the whole landscape, catching a glimpse of the Dead Sea which reflected the sun's light back on to us, making sure we got the desert rocks and shrubs into the frame.
The blaring sun eventually forced us to end our trip, and we decided to head back towards Be'er Sheva through the big crater, a trip that is an experience of its own. The trip as a whole left us in awe. It was amazing, and left us wanting more, waiting for the next time.
