Israel’s Top 5 Nature Reserves for Photography
December 3rd 2014
If you’re a photographer, Israel’s nature reserves will give you plenty to point your camera at. From Rosh Hanikra in the north to Mount Solomon in the south, the country is filled with a wide variety of amazingly beautiful natural wonders – mountains and rock formations of many types, thousands of bird species, desert sand-scapes, terraced green hills, coral reefs with colorful fish, seaside cliffs, predatory cats, gushing waterfalls, mountain mammals and more.
Israel’s nature reserves are ideal for snapping memorable frames on the micro level of a lone creature on a single stone, or the macro level of breathtaking vistas. Here are our picks for the top photography opportunities to be found in Israel’s nature reserves.
Visions of nature from the Bible
Located about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Neot Kedumim is the world’s only Bible-themed nature reserve. All around the reserve are samples of plant life that replicate what the vegetation of the Land of Israel looked like in the days of our Biblical ancestors. The park here displays Biblical verses and quotes from rabbinic literature that relate to each of the trees, cisterns and bulrushes in the reserve. Photographing different plants, along with the sign meant to illuminate its significance, can make a powerful and distinctive addition to your portfolio.
Vast spaces at Ramon
It isn’t the Grand Canyon, but the spacious majesty of Mitzpe Ramon is jaw-droppingly beautiful nonetheless. The entire Ramon Crater, and the mountains that surround it, comprise the Ramon Nature Reserve, the largest natural park in Israel. Photograph the magic and the complex beauty of the Negev desert as reflected in the red and yellow clay hills, dry riverbeds, black prismatic rocks and many other geological wonders.
Southern brush
Acacia trees and desert vegetation amidst the surrounding mountain range contribute to the natural beauty of Timna Valley Park‘s landscape. Photographers will find new ways to capture King Solomon’s Pillars, one of the most famous naturally occurring sandstone formations in the land.
Rolling dunes over Jericho
As you hike along the red, blue or green trails of Nachal Prat/Wadi Kelt, you’ll have plentiful opportunities to photograph plant and animal life. The views afforded from here of desert hills rolling downwards towards the northern Dead Sea will stay with you for years. Set your camera down someplace safe, and enjoy taking a dip in one of the naturally formed rock pools.
Postcard from the crusaders
Located in the Golan, Nimrod’s Fortress is replete with ruins of a 13th century military outpost, but it’s the views across all of northern Israel that steal the show – on a clear day, anyway. Photograph among the ancient stones or come in the evening prepared with flash photography equipment for a lantern-lit tour that sheds a totally different light on the fortress and its many secrets.
