Category Archives: Water

Photo of the Week – Nahal Darga

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A limestone canyon formed by water erosion over many years beckons – Nahal Darga runs to the Dead Sea. Water fills depressions in the stone floor of the canyon so there are places on this hike where you have to swim across pools of water. Make sure to put your camera (I brought along a smaller one on this hike), car key and cell phone in a watertight container so they won’t get wet.

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Nahal Darga

The technical details – the photo was taken with a Lumix (point and shoot) digital camera on March 26 (ISO 80, 4.1mm, F3.5 at 1/100 sec).

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

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Photo of the Week – Aqueduct to Caesarea

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When visiting the archaeological site at Caesarea don’t miss the lovely beach just north of the site with the aqueduct. The aqueduct was built by King Herod to bring water from the Shuni spring, south of Mount Carmel, about 10km to the northeast to the city. In the second century, to provide additional water, a second aqueduct was built alongside the first by the 10th legion under the Emperor Hadrian that brought water from Tanninim (Crocodiles) river. The aqueduct continued to supply water to Caesarea for 1200 years.

Aquaduct to Caesarea

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The technical details – the photo was taken with a Nikon point and shoot camera in May (ISO 100, 11mm, F8.8 at 1/218 sec).

For more information about the archaeological site of Caesarea see my post at http://israel-tourguide.info/2011/01/03/caesarea-maritima-herods-promontory-palace/

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

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Photo of the Week near Avdat

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Route <40> connects the city of Beersheva in the middle of the Negev to the makhtesh, a unique geological formation at Mitzpe Ramon. Avdat, founded by the Nabateans in the 3rd century BCE, was the most important city on the Incense Route after Petra, “the rose-red city half as old as time” for some eight centuries until its destruction by earthquake in the early 7th century CE. This photo was taken across from Avdat in the area of Ramilye cisterns.

near AvdatYou can click on the image for a larger view (which may take some time to load depending on your Internet connection). Please share this post with your friends by clicking on the icons at the end of this message.

The technical details – the photo was taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR and 18-70mm lens in November (ISO 200, 18mm, F10 at 1/320 sec).

For more information about the Negev see my post at http://israel-tourguide.info/2009/10/26/negev-desert/

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

Photo of the Week – Flamingo

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The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) is the most widespread species of the flamingo family. At the salt marsh you can find a colony of more than 100 flamingos that vacation just north of Eilat most of the year. According to expert Keith Marsh from Bird Forum besides the flamingos you will be able to spot white storks, herons, waders and a wide variety and number of raptors, especially in the autumn and spring during migration. There are few better birding areas in the Western Palaearctic than Eilat on the Red Sea coast of Israel where more than 420 species of birds have been recorded.

DSC_0458You can click on the image for a larger view (which may take some time to load depending on your Internet connection). Please share this post with your friends by clicking on the icons at the end of this message.

The technical details – the photo was taken with a Nikon D90 digital camera and a 50-500mm Sigma lens in November (ISO 800, 500mm, F6.3 at 1/400 sec).

FlamingosEven to get a group portrait (shot at 270mm) my regular 18-200mm lens would not have been enough.

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

Photo of the Week – Cranes at Agamon HaHula

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Today’s Agamon HaHula (covering an area of one square kilometer — the same size as the walled Old City of Jerusalem) was established as part of a JNF rehabilitation project in the 1990s in the southern part of the Hula Valley, north of the Hula nature reserve. The site has become a winter home or stopover for an estimated 500 million migrating birds (cranes, storks, pelicans, cormorants, …) flying from Europe to Africa and back, and hence a great birdwatching site.

Cranes at Agam HaHula

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The photo was taken at Agamon HaHula (snow-capped mountain is the Hermon). The technical details – the photo was taken with a Lumix (DMC-ZS5) point and shoot digital camera on February 28 (ISO 25, 18.2mm, F5 at 1/500 sec).

For more of the history of the Hula read my post at http://israel-tourguide.info/2010/05/03/agamon-hula-lake/

Cranes

Some of the birds soaring over Hula valley

You can also visit the Hula nature reserve (part of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority), the first nature reserve that was created in Israel in 1963. At the Visitor’s center there is an exhibition about the Hula and a theater (with moving seats) showing a video about the marvel of migration. From there you can walk a 1.5 km circular trail through the reserve.

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.

Photo of the Week – Jordan River

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The Jordan River extends just 251 km from the base of Mount Hermon through the Hula valley to the Sea of Galillee (Kinneret) and then down to the Dead Sea about 422 metres below sea level, which has no outlet (for comparison, the Nile, Amazon, Yangtze and Mississippi rivers are each more than 6000 km long). The children of Israel led by Joshua cross the Jordan river near Jericho from the east to conquer and settle the land (Joshua 3:15-17). The New Testament states that John the Baptist baptised unto repentance in the Jordan and Jesus came to be baptised by him there (Matthew 3:13). Pilgrims can immerse in the Jordan river at the traditional site, Kasr el Yahud, just north of the Dead Sea.

Jordan’s river is chilly and cold, Hallelujah.
Chills the body, but not the soul, Hallelujah.

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The photo was taken just east of Kfar Blum. The technical details – the photo was taken with a Canon point and shoot digital camera in April (ISO 50, 7.7mm, F2.8 at 1/400 sec).

I’m including a more traditional view of the Jordan River shot at the same time and place.

Photographs on this website are © Shmuel Browns (unless marked otherwise) – if you are interested in purchasing one of my photos or using one of my photos for your own project please contact me.