A tourist attraction in northern Israel has fitted donkeys with WiFi collars so that passengers can surf the web while exploring the historical Galilee region. The Kfar Kedem park originally designed to give visitors an authentic introduction to life during biblical times has added a high-tech aspect to the tour in order to attract a younger crowd. And it seems to have worked!
Kfar Kedem convinces visitors to wear costumes similar to those worn during Old Testament times in the Galilee region.
Suitably clothed, tourists then visit notable historical sites on the backs of donkeys, except now, they can tweet and share their experiences in real time thanks to wireless routers that hang from the donkeys’ necks.
“Kfar Kedem will transport you back to the roots of your heritage,” the company claims on their website page.
“Ride the rolling hills as Abraham rode them. Take in the scents that Jacob smelled tending Laban’s flocks. Hear the worlds of the prophets as you thresh grain, press oil from fresh olives and wine from fresh grapes,” they continue.
On one such tour, a man from New York discovered that donkeys have been used as working animals for 5,000 years, Seattle Times reports from the scene. (And in Gaza, they are sometimes painted black and white to resemble Zebras!)
“There are more than 40 million donkeys in the world, the paper quoted him. “That’s a lot of donkeys!”
Unperturbed by the incongruity of have wireless donkeys roaming the land that Jesus walked, the park’s manager Menachem Goldberg told the paper that he wants to give the younger generation an opportunity to experience ancient Galilee in a way that appeals to them.
Social media is about to close a massive gap in history.
Image credit: donkey in a field; and wireless donkey from Shutterstock
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
