Tag Archives: Negev

Jun 3 2012

Cowboy bus driver in the desert

This was our driver who took us from Jerusalem to Eilat, a fairly punishing 311Km trip all the way down the Negev desert to the very south point of the country.   And I do mean a ‘point’ as that’s exactly the bottom shame of Israel’s Red Sea city tightly between Egypt and Jordan.

There is something a little unconventional about this driver’s uniform.

Stopping at a petrol station for a bathroom stop, (4 and 3/4 hours, no toilet on the bus)  made me think we were in the Nevada desert rather in the holy land.

Actually judging by his accent, this gent was a regular Sabra Israeli, ie: not an immigrant from anywhere else.  I think he likes his job as a cowboy driver across the desert.

To be honest, as we alotted seating, I was on the very back seat in the middle which is not so good for seeing scenery, it was full so there was no chance of moving later.

Actually this man reminds me of another driver, this time of a well known black GMC van.

Mr T became a Christian back before the A-Team, there is a good article here.

Athough not in the newest A-Team movie, he hasn’t aged that much, and as he is a leadership position in his current church, I think it would be good if he could lead Christian groups to Israel and hire the above chap as the tour bus driver!

I can just picture this; “I pity the fool, who follows BDS!!”  if you want to obey God, you need to pray and support Israel Sucka!!!

Apr 19 2011

Ramon Crater desert hiking

Two Dutchman (actually one is girl) a South African, a Hispanic Jew who is now an Israeli and me go camping….

Trekking around the desert is physically demanding, but is hugely worth it.  Just have to plan the distance to get back in time to get dinner ready and tent up before it gets dark.

Apr 17 2011

Back to Ramon Crater, camping in the Desert

Camping! I went and spent a weekend with some friends, two from the Netherlands, one South African and one Hispanic Jew who has been Israel for some years now.

Its funny in an age where we try to make our lives more complicated with technology and creature comforts we still want to escape to basics of living under a piece of canvas with just the bare minimum to enjoy being out in the open air.

The Dutch seem to be the most hardcore campers in Europe, and where as I have had a fair bit of experience in camping up in Yorkshire and the New Forest as a child, my friends from this part of Europe seem to be very savvy as using gas cookers and putting up tents.   In addition to that my friend from South Africa was brought in a farm so is very adept at outdoors living also.

I have been to this site before back in about August 2009.    This is inside the Ramon Crater in the middle of the Negev Desert.

Some people opt for a more sophisticated camping experience, needing proper showers.   We opted for a site just rocks and bushes to use the bog.

This site we passed on the way home, just being a bit cheeky using the toilets that were by the road.

Here you can park your tent on the ground or inside the bedouin style huts, which look nicely made.   There is a kids playground in the middle which stands out as a bit odd!

This picture I took out of the window of the car is not that great, but it was a small clip of a large shanty town style village, these are Druze, traveling Arab people who live Bedouin style today often by the side of busy roads.  They may have cars or camels or donkeys and often grow their own groups in their communities.