The Dead Sea
The Dead Sea is a fascinating and very unique place on earth. It is the lowest place on the planet with its shores at 430 meters below sea level. The salt concentration is a whopping 34%. Comparatively, ocean water is around 3.5%. Politically speaking, it is divided down the middle with half lying in Israel and the other half in Jordan and is a place that attracts a huge amount of tourists every year for good reason.
The Dead Sea has shrunk considerably in recent decades. This has been attributed to less fresh water entering from the Jordan river and has led to all sorts of environmental issues. The decline in water levels has also almost separated the sea into a northern and southern half. The south section has had a number of breakwaters installed known as the evaporation pools and this body of water is much saltier than the north. The ground water levels have also significantly reduced and made the ground very unstable leading to huge sinkholes along the coast line, some proving deadly. Much of the coast is off limits as a result, however there are currently seven beaches available to visit. The four northern beaches have an admission price to enter and are predominantly for people interested in smearing mud all over themselves for purported health benefits.
The south side is the part with the crystal clear water and sandy beaches. It is even saltier than the north and therefore the area where most people go to try out their floating skills and photograph their feet to show people on Facebook. Due to the massive levels of salt, the water has a density of 1.24kg/litre which gives it the floating properties. The two main beaches are free and is where most of the hotel resorts are, the third is a gender segregated beach for the orthodox Jews.
We stayed overnight in Neve Zohar, a small village two minutes drive away from Zohar beach, which asides from the segregated beach, is the southernmost one. I had initially booked in to stay at the main tourist center of Ein Bokek, however there were too many nightmare stories about parking and very mixed hotel reviews, not to mention a longer drive to get there the previous day. Zohar beach only has a couple of resorts as opposed to more than a dozen in Ein Bokek and, as I prefer fewer people around, particularly when I'm taking photos, the decision to swap here was pretty easy to make.
Despite a massive day prior in Mitspe Ramon, Haibar Yotvata wildlife park and Timna National park (including nearly 400 kilometers of driving), we woke up very early. It was forecast to be the hottest day of our visit (28°C) and decided while everyone else was still sleeping, perhaps we should visit the beach early. This turned out to be an excellent idea and we arrived around 7:30am. The sun was already baking my skin as soon as I got out of the car, or maybe I just felt it more as I had four consecutive days of sunburn after losing my hat in Akko harbour!
There was not a single soul on the beach. The water was lukewarm and there was no wind. This is an amazing feeling, especially for a larger specimen such as myself, where half of my entire body was out of the water (and that's a lot of body, let me tell you). The water itself is very clear, but also very thick. It literally feels like oil on your skin.
Vinci and I spent around thirty minutes each in the water, finally putting the waterproof GoPro to good use. Before we left Australia, we spoke to a number of people who had visited Israel and they recommended we spend at least two days here, but I'm sorry, I have to completely disagree with that. There's only so long one can sit in the bathtub before you just want to get out. After floating around for twenty minutes, I was left scratching my head on what to do next. Of course there are plenty of other activities in the area such as spas, mineral baths and health centres that would warrant the extra time, but we had too many other things to see. Speaking of things to see, beholding Vinci in a bikini again was most delightful, although this in itself created a problem for me, whereby Dead Sea water made its way up my gentleman's sausage and I was almost paralysed from the pain that ensued. As it was, we had planned to spend only an hour or two at the beach with the idea being we could return again on our free day at the end of the trip if we got the urge to float around some more, or heaven forbid, roll around in the mud. Vinci also concluded it was time to move on and we both felt the time we had there was both very rewarding and sufficient.
"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." - Matthew 5:13
Zohar Fortress
After we checked out, we decided there was enough time to visit Zohar fortress. The entrance is quite well hidden and not sign posted, but thanks to prior planning, was very easy for me to locate. The entrance is directly opposite the turn off into Neve Zohar and is a dirt road that heads towards the desert. It is only a couple of kilometers to the fortress and the scenery is, as usual, awesome! The road is on the edge of a dried out river bed with steep rugged cliffs on both sides. The fortress can be found on Google Earth at coordinates 31°09'03.26"N 35°20'55.28"E. There is also a very good view of the fortress from road 31 for those who don't have time to get up close and personal.
This very road is presumed to be as what is known as the 'Way of Edom' which is mentioned in the Bible in 2 Kings chapter 3 where the kings of Judah, Israel and Edom teamed up to give the Moabites a bit of a spanking. Moab had a new king who decided not to pay tribute to the kingdom of Judah like his father had done. It was decided to attack via the way of Edom and soon they ran out of water. The prophet Elisha who was travelling with them, begrudgingly agreed to ask God to provide water and the next day it was so.
Today the water occasionally returns after heavy rain in the mountains far away. The ground does not absorb the water and it runs from the mountains to the Dead Sea very suddenly and with great force, but this is not common. A lot of green bushes and trees were noted here during our time. The builders of the fortress knew this as well and still today, one can see the huge watern cistern that was constructed to take advantage of the sudden and short lived surge of water.
Very little is known about the fortress itself, which is largely attributed to its constant decay and erosion. Many traces of the original paths and stairs have simply worn away over the centuries it has been standing here. The first archaeological expedition determined that the fort dates back to the Roman or Byzantine times, however subsequent studies suggest it only goes back as far as the Arab or Mamluk period around 700AD. It is possible of course that both theories are correct as the Mamluks would often resettle in long abandoned sites.
Even the purpose of the fortress is unclear, again only theories exist. The most common one is that it was built to protect this road, being the major trade route between the Dead Sea and Gaza. It has also been suggested that the fortress was a sort of customs house where taxes were paid by the passing caravans. Obviously the main commodity was salt, which was in great demand and used to preserve fish and meat in the good old days before refrigeration.
There are two main parts of the fort. The first being the fort itself which was built on a very steep limestone mound. Today the basic form of the fort can be seen, however much of it has disappeared and the entire remains are filled in. There is no way to get inside, per-se and it would be very ill-advised to try. The foundation on which this is built is extremely fragile and the rock turns to dust with very little provocation. There is a path that will get you about half way up from the northern approach, but that's about it. At the base of the fort, lies the well and water cistern as mentioned above.
The other part to the site is, to me at least, much more impressive. It is a lookout tower dug straight into the bed rock with small natural windows which would have provided an excellent view of any approaching traffic on the road. The rear is largely open to the elements, but this was a mute point as it was already defended heavily from the rear by the fort itself. Even more impressive is the builders even dug out its own table and chairs!
Of course, I couldn't resist getting up in there. This was probably not a wise thing to do, however it had obviously seen people inside as the previous visitors forgot to take their beer bottles with them. The path leading up here is extremely narrow and steep on both sides, but not enough to put me off falling back on my previous experience of this type of idiocy from my travels to China. It starts off very steep, but then becomes a long gentle ascent. Things get more tricky at the end of the path into the lookout, where there is a meter high ledge to somehow climb up, but again I am very well trained in climbing up into a Chinese steam locomotives at double this height, so this wasn't an issue either. Vinci decided to stay on the ground floor, for some reason filming my antics (probably to be used to exonerate her from any criminal proceedings in case I fell off and killed myself).
The view from up here was much better than I had imagined. It is constantly in the shade and the 1,300 - 2,000 year old seats were actually more comfortable than some of the trains I drive in Melbourne. The engineers of this place were very clever people indeed. It was a shame to see that this place had seen its fair share of moronic tourists, particularly Russians and Koreans, who found it acceptable to carve their names or a message into the table or the walls - this place will last hopefully for centuries to come and no one cares who you loved in 2014, Boris.
Getting down from the lookout turned out to be a lot more difficult than climbing up. That one meter drop down onto the path leaves very little room for error and the price for failure is a nice 15 meter drop on to the road below. During my rapid descent, I think a little bit of wee came out, but I somehow managed to land back on the walking path. Knowing Vinci was still filming me, I acted super cool, disguising my state of terror and relief. It was time to leave after an hour to spend most of the rest of the day at Masada and we departed just in time before a large bus rocked up brimming with tourists.
"King Jehoram went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?” And he said, “I will go. I am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” Then he said, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom."
- 2 Kings 3:7-8
The western face of Zohar Fortress
The exposed rear entrance of the lookout
Sitting at the table of the lookout
Continue to Part 16 - click here