A window into Israel south shore. Ashdod and Ashkelon, two vibrant young Israeli cities, are surrounded by a fascinating mix of stunning natural variety, and the region history of survival is rooted into a deep well of geopolitical events dating back to biblical days.
Israel most stunning isolated sand beaches are nestled close or between those two budding cities, their soft white sand brought by the wind and sea currents from the expanses of the Sahara desert. On these dunes, blue Acacia trees bursting with yellow flowers meet tall Australian Eucalyptus trees, under which shade, a Bedouin shepherd and his Arabian camel gently herding a flock of mountain sheep and goats between thick African Sycamore bearing pink fruits and Mediterranean orange groves planted on dunes edges.
These spectacular sandstone ridges are made of fossilized sea sand dune turned into Eolinite rock, known locally as Kurkar. The tour includes a visit into the heart of a Kurkar mine, reclaimed by the eruption of water from an underground aquifer.
History also beckons and, if time allows, we might visit the Ottoman bridge, a critical element of the outcome of Israel 1948 Independence War or the ruins of a 2800 years old Kurkar fort. Hands-on history in the making for "Scouters" who will appreciate the possibility of visiting the 2014 “Protective Edge” missile launching viewpoint from which you will be able to see the source of recent, present and future missile threats on Israeli civilian infrastructures, including cities as far off as Haifa or Jerusalem...