Desert Eco Tours - Jeep tours to Timna park & Hai Bar, Eilat

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Jeep tours from Eilat to the Timna park, Hai Bar nature reserve and the Red Canyon

"A true journey, no matter how long the travel takes, has no end."
William Least Heat Moon 1982

Caracal in the Hai Bar

Caracal in the Hai Bar nature reserve

Desert jeep tour combined with camels and Red Sea snorkeling
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Jeep tour to the Timna Valley (park)

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Hai Bar nature reserve jeep tour:
Our Hai Bar nature reserve tour by jeep from Eilat
Private 4 hours jeep tour from Eilat to the Hai Bar nature reserve incl feeding of the predators and visiting the Timna Valley. The Hai Bar nature reserve- Endangered and locally extinct animals mentioned in the Bible are bred here for possible reintroduction to the Negev desert.

A Wolf in the Eilat Mts. reserve

About the Hai Bar nature reserve
The Yotvata Hai-Bar Nature Reserve is a 3,000-acre (12 km) breeding and reacclimation center administered by the Israel Nature Reserves & National Parks Authority, situated in the Southern Arabah near Yotvata.

The Yotvata Hai-Bar is the desert counterpart of the Carmel Hai-Bar Nature Reserve which operates in the country’s Northern Mediterranean forest.

Endangered and locally extinct animals mentioned in the Bible are bred here for possible reintroduction to the Negev desert. The Asian Wild Ass has already been reintroduced in the Makhtesh Ramon into the wild. In addiction the park has some rare desert animals, which are not native to Israel, like the Scimitar Oryx from northern Africa.

Some of the species bred here are:

Arabian Oryx (O. leucoryx)
Scimitar Oryx (O. dammah)
Ostrich (S. c. camelus)
Addax (A. nasomaculatus)
Asian Wild Ass (hybrids of E. h. kulan and E. h. onager)
Somali Wild Ass (E. a. somaliensis)
Caracal (Caracal caracal schmitzi)
Sand Cat (Felis margarita harrisoni)
Arabian Leopard (P. p. nimr)
Arabian Wolf
Dorcas Gazelle
Griffon Vulture
Nubian Ibex

Price as a regular tour: $70 adult, 65$ child.
Private Tour: Up to 4 people 420$ in total, 5 people or more 89$ p.p.
Not incl entrance fees

Eilat jeep tour: Timna Park

About the Hai Bar nature reserve (Israel Nature and Parks Authority web site)
Hai-Bar Yotvata nature reserve, located in the southern Arava Valley north of Eilat. The Hai Bar was established to foster the breeding of animals mentioned in the Bible and other endangered desert animals. The Hai Bar reserve encompasses a variety of arid-land habitats including acacia groves, salt-flats and sand.

Hai-Bar Yotvata is divided into three main sections: a 12-square-kilometer open area where herds of desert herbivores live in conditions similar to the wild; a predator center with enclosures containing large predators, reptiles and small desert animals; and a ‘dark room’ to view nocturnal animals when they are active.

The main animals in the Hai Bar reserve are the wild Asiatic ass (individuals from this breeding nucleus have been released in the Negev and seem to be acclimating well), the African wild ass --the progenitor of the domesticated donkey; Arabian oryx (whose image provided the logo for Hai-Bar Yotvata and whose straight, parallel horns some say are the origin of the unicorn legend); Sahara oryx (raised at Hai-Bar Yotvata as part of an international effort to save this species from extinction); addax and ostriches.
The predators of the Hai Bar in their special enclosures include the wolf, Ruppell’s fox, Blanford’s fox, spotted leopard, caracal, wild cat and striped hyena. Reptiles and raptors are also on display. Among the denizens of the ‘dark room’ are the lesser Egyptian gerbil, Wagner’s gerbil, Sundevall’s jird and garden dormouse, fruit bat, Scops owl and barn owl.

The Eilat Mountains nature reserve

Timna park and Timna Valley- Tours from Eilat
Our jeep tour to the Timna Valley and the Eilat Mts.
The tour to the Timna park is four hour afternoon jeep tour covers the ancient sites of the Timna Valley and the scenic desert canyons of the Southern Negev and Arava Valley. The picturesque Timna Valley (park) is a UNESCO site of historical importance. It’s copper mines are amongst the earliest in the world and date back 6,000 years. Sites within the Timna Valley (park) include Solomon’s Pillars, the Egyptian Temple, the Mushroom and ancient rock inscriptions. We see the dramatic scenery and fascinating sites while learning about the remarkable people who survived these stark conditions to produce copper for the Egyptian elite.

We leave the Timna park and ride south taking in the spectacular desert scenery. We tour the Nimra and the Statues valley. We see the sunset as it drowns the desert sands in color with it’s last light. The tour is in open 4x4 jeeps with soft tops and the number of participants is limited to preserve the quality of the tour.

A fascinating desert tour, steeped in history of the Timna park, with some of Israel’s finest desert scenery.

Departing Tuesday and Friday afternoons, or private tours.

Timna Valley tour Price: 74$ p.p. child- 69$ (incl the entrance fee)

About the Timna valley and park (From the official website of the Timna Park)

Timna Valley (the park) is located on the western edge of the southern Arava. Horseshoe in shape, it is surrounded by steep cliffs and extends over some 60,000 dunams (15,000 acres). Wadi Timna drains the Timna valley toward the Arava in the northeast, and Wadi Nehushtan in the north of the Timna park. In the center of the Timna Valley, Mount Timna rises 453 m (1500 ft) above sea level. Fascinating history and geology have shaped its scenery; its flora and fauna are typical of arid lands.
In the Bible, Timna was the name of the concubine of Elifaz and the mother of Amalek (Gen. 36:12); 1 Chronicles 1:36 mentions Timna as one of the sons of Elifaz, while in Genesis 36:40, Timna is a descendent of Esau.” The Arabic name for the valley, Wadi Man’aya, may preserve the ancient biblical name.
The climate of the Timna Valley is extremely arid, with an average annual rainfall of less than 30 mm. The rain comes in short powerful bursts, leading to frequent flooding in spring and fall.
Copper brought humans to the Timna Valley as early as the fifth millennium BCE. Eventually, people learned how to make tools and developed the technology to mine the copper. Caravans passing through here from distant lands exposed the valley to different cultural and religious influences. In the mid-nineteenth century, travelers and scholars discovered the first ancient copper-mining sites here.

The Arava Valley: Hai Bar nature reserve

Creation of the Timna Valley:
Several factors converge to creation the magnificent mosaic of landscapes in the Timna Valley.
A variety of rock types – magna, sandstone and marine sedimentary rock – were created.

Powerful forces deep below the earth’s surface created geological structures, mainly by fracturing, and the Arava Valley, alongside which is the Timna Valley, developed. Mount Timna became a high topographical structure, while erosion and alluvial processes exposed the more ancient rock.

High areas, like Mount Timna and the Timna cliffs reveal erosion and alluvial processes. The eroded material collected in the low areas, along Wadi Timna.

Varying erosion rates of different rock types in the valley emphasizes their difference.

In the current arid landscape, perennial growth concentrates in the wadis, leaving the slopes bare, and strong rains cause intense erosion during flooding. The rapid disintegration of the sandstone exposed in the center of the valley and has expanded the Timna valley.

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The map of the Eilat Mountains

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