Neot Smadar, Arava

Esra's annual trip this year was to Eilat, and over 50 excited "Esralites" descended from the bus at the Lagoona Hotel on Sunday, February 10 at 5pm, after having had a wonderful day with our guide, Galila, who was a mine of information on the way down. The Lagoona is one of those ‘all in’ hotels which means three meals a day and all you can eat and drink (beer and wine on tap, hard liquor and even ice lollies). Luckily we arrived when the coffee and cake were being served which was a welcome sight for us weary travelers. As for the food, I never heard one word of complaint from any of our group for the whole time we were at the hotel.

On the way down we stopped at Neot Smadar, an artist's center, where a group of very talented artists decided to live together, building their own houses and the most amazing structures to show off their individualistic styles. The buildings were all painted in the soft hues of the desert. The doors, windows and floors were of delicate unique designs and different materials were used, such as wooden tree branches which we saw stripped and carved into beautiful shapes. We also sampled the wine which they make themselves.

The next day we went to the oldest kibbutz in the area, Yotvata. This kibbutz has learned the hard way that this dry and parched area has to be irrigated with the right type of water, and careful study has taught them how to husband their crops so that they get the biggest yield per dunam. They also have an experimental section on their land under the auspices of the Volcani Institute for the measurement of date trees, as to how much water they consume and how fast they grow.

The best part was going to the dairy where they have 600 cows that get milked three times a day. They have got it down to a fine art and should a cow be sick or have calved, it is recorded and the milking machine is not used on them. We watched from the spectator's gallery as the modern machinery took the bottles, filled them with flavored milk and labeled them and then a large hook appeared from above and twelve bottles were cartoned before our very eyes. I will never drink another banana flavored Yotvata milk bottle without remembering this action, which took less than two minutes.

They also make a liquor from the fruit of the South African Marula tree. The animals that ate the fruit that dropped from this tree became intoxicated which meant that the fruit had an alcoholic content and so Yotvata decided to make a liquor from the fruit. This kibbutz, with its clever agronomists and farmers doesn't miss an opportunity to invest in another product.

Our next stop was the Timna Mines Park where, sitting in revolving chairs, we saw a movie in English explaining how the Egyptians were the first people to mine the copper there, and how, after a few hundred years they left and the Midionites took over the mining of the copper there. It is certainly a geological window which shows the visitor incredible stone shapes and jagged granite peaks. The red and white stripes on the surrounding mountains take your breath away. Unfortunately, this ancient site is going to be completely changed as an entrepreneur from Eilat has had permission to build a hotel and Disneyworld-type park here.

Be'er Ora was our next stop. It is a new settlement where the contractors hope that the group of houses already there will be the incentive for many more houses to be built. The first group of houses is of Moroccan design, all with small windows and facing inwards into courtyards. From where I was sitting on the bus they looked very attractive. They are now on the second phase and eventually would like to have a large settlement of buildings, all in different styles. The cost is very low, at US$150,000, as there is no charge for the land. This is to encourage people to come and live there. If you are within commuting distance to work it is a very nice place to live.

Monday night we went to see the show "Wow" and it was just that - "Wow". It was a very professional variety of acrobats and jugglers and the usual bevy of dancing girls and boys. A great night out for all of us.

Tuesday morning, we were off to see the Salt Ponds. These are large ponds filled with water and when the blazing sun evaporates the water the salt is caught in the nets at the bottom of the ponds. This salt is then extracted for medical and domestic use.

Then we were off to see the flamingoes in the salt lakes - these birds came ‘on aliyah from Iran’ when the Ayatollahs ascended to power in the 1950s, maybe they were hungry or frightened by the turmoil, but anyhow they were clever enough to come to our land where they have stayed ever since. The interesting thing about them is that after the chicks are born they are looked after by gannenets (nannies) in a separate part of the lake. They teach them to feed and only after two years when they are self-sufficient are they returned to their natural parents. Ain't nature grand!

We were then taken to a crossing in the most desolate area off the road, where pilgrims from Gaza and Egypt crossed to get to Mecca.  Farms were built there to accommodate these pilgrims, and relics from those times have been excavated which also show how they built shafts for water which ran underground bringing the water to the owners of the farms. The incentive for these farmers was that there were no taxes levied if they stayed there and gave shelter to the pilgrims.

Um Rash Rash was our next stop. After the War of Independence the two brigades, Hativat Golani and Hativat HaNegev raced to be the first to reach the south. Captain Bren of Hativat HaNegev got there first and, as there were no flags as yet, he put a white sheet with a Magen David painted on it on the pole. A statue is there commemorating this historic event.

We had a short ride through the town of Eilat, which now has 60,000 inhabitants, and were very gratified to see the building of new apartments demonstrating how the town is progressing and how the number of people inhabiting this area is increasing.

Our last stop was the Eilat Stone Company where we looked at and tried on the beautiful jewellery made of Eilat stone and many other precious and semi-precious stones of the area. I saw a few people coming out with bags, so the Eilat Stone Company made a few sales.

On Wednesday, on our way back home, we stopped off at Kibbutz Quetura which was establlished by North Americans. One of their main moneymakers is the growth of algae for international chemical companies. Their expertise is now being rented out to different kibbutzim in the area (they have very talented accountants, farmers, agronomists and gardeners) which brings them additional income. They have 4,400 fruiting date trees and have also experimental fields for growing plants which were mentioned in the bible and are now extinct in Israel. These include incense plants from the time of the Temple and a date seed which sprouted after 2,000 years, which boggles the mind, but that's what the Regional Research and Development Station is experimenting with. Also new fruits and trees are being grown there which will probably not be in our shops for many years but it was really interesting to see what is in the pipeline for the future.

The trip was a great success both socially and educationally. Galila, our guide, regaled us with tales of Jewish gallantry and the hoodwinking of the enemy throughout the ages, and whether they were true tidbits, fables or gossip depending on your political leanings, they only served to remind us how much we love our country, and why we came here in the first place.

All kudos go to Lynn and Audrey for their hardworking organization of the trip, and to Dimitri, our driver, whose careful safe driving was an added bonus.