Middle East - Anthony Ham [260]
Getting There & Away
AIR
Eilat’s municipal airport ( 637 3553) is amusingly situated slap bang in the middle of the city. Both Arkia (arkia.com) and Israir (israirairlines.com) fly several times daily to and from Tel Aviv (from US$70), and to Haifa three times per week (from US$80). Book online for the best rates.
BUS
From the bus station ( 636 5120; HaTemarim St) services depart to Tel Aviv (65NIS, five hours) with buses departing every hour from 5am to 10pm, with an additional overnight service at 1am. The last Friday bus is at 3pm and the first Saturday bus at 11.30am; this bus also stops in Be’er Sheva (55NIS, three hours). To Mitzpe Ramon (45NIS, 2½ hours), buses run more or less hourly on weekdays and at least twice on Saturday. To Jerusalem (65NIS, 4½ hours), Bus 444 runs six services daily. On Saturdays, the first Jerusalem bus departs at 4.30pm. Four buses per day depart to Masada (55NIS, four hours).
Getting Around
The town centre is walkable, but you’ll need a bus or taxi for locations along Taba Rd (Dolphin Reef, the underwater observatory and Coral Beach). The hourly bus 15 connects the bus station with the Egyptian border at Taba (6.40NIS) from 8am to 6pm Sunday to Thursday, 8am to 3pm Friday and 9am to 7pm Saturday. A taxi to the Taba crossing should cost around 40NIS. To reach the Rabin border crossing into Jordan, you’ll need to take a taxi (around 25NIS for the 15-minute journey). For destinations outside Eilat, it might make sense to rent a car: you’ll see plenty of car rental outfits in town, but ask at your hotel or hostel for recommendations.
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AROUND EILAT
Hikers will want to head for the Eilat Mountains, but be sure to pick up a copy of the 1:50,000 SPNI Eilat Mountains hiking map (82NIS), which is sold at the SPNI Field School in Eilat.
An excellent full-day hike will take you through the spectacular Nakhal Gishron (part of the Israel National Trail) from HaYoash to the Egyptian border. In the early 1990s the Dalai Lama walked part of this route, lecturing to a small collection of adherents atop one of its upper crests. Get an early start and carry at least three litres of water per person. You’ll need the SPNI map to navigate this route.
Further north, the 600m-long Red Canyon, 1m to 3m wide and 10m to 20m deep, is readily accessed on foot via a 1.5km walking track from the car park. It makes a great short hike.
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TOP THINGS TO DO ON A KIBBUTZ gueritasmith
Drink vodka Let’s face it, it’s cheap to buy a litre bottle. It tastes as cheap as the asking price and could also double as bathroom cleaner. No volunteer should be without it.
Read and write ramblings Graffiti is everywhere on the kibbutz. Write your own philosophical thoughts on the walls or read past volunteers’ ramblings.
Be somebody else for a while Nobody knows you so you can quite easily pretend to be somebody/something you’re really actually erm, not. It works for volunteers only spending a short time on kibbutz. Longer-stayers will get found out eventually.
Get up at 6am May not be everybody’s cup of tea but believe me, it’s not that bad, especially when you only got in at 4am.
Do menial tasks and get paid menial wages If you like chickens, you could be in luck. Have competitions with fellow volunteers to see how many egg trays you can fill in one hour! It doesn’t get any better than this.
Make fast, firm friends Last, but definitely not least, if you’re lucky enough to be based with a cool bunch of people, you’ll have them as best friends for the rest of your life. Go. It’s worth it.
What’s your recommendation?
www.lonelyplanet.com/middle-east
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If you’d prefer to take to the mountains on an alternative form of transport, Camel Ranch (Map; 08-637 0022; camel-ranch.co.il; Nakhal Shlomo; 9am-1pm & 4-8pm) organises a whole host of camel trekking options (from 100NIS per person) from its base, less than 1km inland from the Eilat–Taba road. Try the sunset tour with Bedouin supper (no camel on the menu).
Timna National Park
About 25km north of Eilat, the Timna