If you’ve always dreamed about cowboys and Indians, stop. They fought and killed each other and it was grisly. But the southwestern ranch lifestyle is entirely less violent and now it’s possible to taste the experience without traveling all the way to North America. (Solar-powered planes don’t travel that far yet, and there must be more exciting ways to use up your carbon allowance, right?)

Instead, saddle up your vehicle and head to El Rancho in the Ghodras Hills, which is less than a 40 minute drive from Beirut. And then, put the sooty city behind you, don your hat and boots, sharpen up your lasso and ride baby, ride into the Lebanese sunset… with the easter bunny.

 Tipis in Lebanon!

No really. This is a genuine option. There is a 300,000 square meter ranch estate that promises a genuine Tex-Mex experience. (That is a compound of Texas and Mexico that is typically reserved for food, at least as far as we know.)

Owned by Lebanese, El Rancho has horses, pigs, a peacock and even tortoises, in addition to all kinds of other animals, and they’ll set you up in tipis if you’re bold enough to try. In Lebanon!

Albeit somewhat cheesy, for lack of a better word, this is no run-of-the-mill touristy operation. El Rancho is a real certified organic farm that produces quail meat and eggs, dairy products, and chicken.

And they have all the facilities that will keep you rooted to the western world, if you so choose. There’s an ATM, laundry facilities, and even free internet (in case you need to brush up on your Native American history while you’re there.)

Every year, the ranch offers fun activities for various holidays, including easter. Here is what is on the agenda in the next few days:

Today there will be a tug of war contest, a crafts production event, and a breakdance show. There will also be an arts and crafts competition and the first candle will be lit for Palm’s Day.

On Good Friday the Ranch will be closed, but it opens again with a whoop and a holler on Saturday, when there will be a dancing and singing workshop and knife throwing (best leave the kids in the sand pit for that one), a bonafide rodeo show, and a firecamp when the sun goes down.

Grow in Heart, Mind, and Spirit

On Sunday, the kids will be able to get their easter egg hunt fix and there will be an Alice in Wonderland themed activity as well. This sounds like serious fun, and there’s loads more to be had right up until April 15th. According to Lebanon Hotels, the owners “want to make you grow, in heart, mind, and spirit.”

If this sounds like something you’d like to do, contact El Rancho Lebanon at any of the following numbers and who knows who will pick up your call: + 961 9 741188, 741133, 70 899201.

More on Earth-Friendly Tourism in Lebanon:

Be-Beirut Offers Eco-Friendly Tours in Lebanon’s Capital

Landmines and Eco-Tourism Protect Lebanon’s Vulnerable Cedar Forests

Lebanon’s 275 Mile Mountain Trail is a World Class Hiking Destination

The post Lebanon’s cowboys are made at El Rancho outside of Beirut appeared first on Green Prophet.

I don’t think anyone who has watched the movie can enter a large body of salt water without the Jaws theme song thumping ominously at their amygdala. Human beings have a prehistoric terror of what they perceive as blood-thirsty, razor-toothed killers, even though shark attacks are relatively uncommon.

What causes sharks to attack human beings? In the case of yesterday’s incidents off the coast of Egypt’s heavily-trafficked tourist resort town Sharm al-Sheikh, there is speculation that a spate of Yemenese poaching (the Japanese are willing to pay big beans for shark fin soup) may have caused the unusual behavior. But fear not, gentle snorkeler, the authorities have shut down the area until the perpetrator is captured.

One man and two women are receiving treatment for wounds received from what officials believe was one  particularly angry white-tip shark. In separate incidents that occurred over the past 24 hours, the Russian tourists were snorkeling in the Red Sea off the Sinai Peninsula when attacked.

As a result, the Ministry of Tourism instructed Egypt’s Chamber of Diving and Water Sports (CDWS) to close down all beaches with the exception of the Ras Mohammed Natural Preserve, according to Al-Masry Al-Youm.

This precaution will be in effect until the oceanic white-tip shark is captured and relocated, which is expected to occur by the end of the day.

The CDWS chairman Hesham Gabr told the paper that they are monitoring the situation closely and that they are trying to determine the cause of what they called “unusual behavior.” He also mentioned that shark fishing, which has been outlawed since 2005, may have contributed to the shark’s freak ire.

Typically this species would not be found so close to shore, according to Richard Peirce, who works with the UK-based Shark Trust. Since 1580, when researchers began to record shark attacks on humans, Al-Masry Al-Youm reported, only nine were carried out by white tips.

One Sharm al-Sheikh snorkeler died from a similar incident (but a different species) in 2004.

When captured, the Red Sea white tip will be moved to a tourist-free zone in the Gulf of Suez and tourists will be permitted to resume their diving activity. But will they want to?

:: image and story via Al-Masry Al-Youm

More Red Sea news:

Red Sea Oil Spill Cover-Up Worse than Reported

How Does Noise Pollution Impact the Red Sea?

The post Three Russian Red Sea Snorkelers Attacked By White-Tip Shark appeared first on Green Prophet.

Use the heel-toe express to wander through Jordan, Lebanon, Israel and Palestine.

The Middle East is a pretty amazing place (just ask any of the locals), and there is a lot to see.  A LOT to see.  So it would be a shame to miss anything by sticking to conventional modern (and polluting) forms of transportation, such as personal cars, buses, motorcycles, or even trains.  You could take a bike, but not all paths are well suited for wheels.  Which brings us back to the most ancient form of transportation that there is (an appropriate way to get around in a region with so much ancient heritage) – your own two feet.

Wanderlust recently rounded up their choice of the region’s most interesting hikes, and they sounded so great we thought we’d share them here.  From shortest to longest, here’s a list of interesting hikes to guide you through the Middle East:

Wadi Mukhtar (aka Oman’s Grand Canyon) Trail

The shortest of the hikes at 9 kilometers, this hike through Oman’s Western Hajar mountains and up the country’s highest peak (Jebel Shams) offers beautiful views of “Oman’s Grand Canyon” (check out the photo below).  The abandoned village of Sap Bani Khamis is also visible from the hike.

The Jesus Trail

Though named after Jesus, this 65 kilometer trail from Nazareth to the Sea of Galilee goes through historical sites that are important to Christians, Jews, Muslims and Druze.  Established by an Israeli entrepreneur in collaboration with local Arab guesthouse owners and Jewish kibbutzes, the trail is in and of itself a venture in mutual understanding.

Dana to Petra trek, Jordan

At 80 km long this is considered a six-day hike, and leads travelers through hillsides, desert, Wadi Musa and Little Petra.  Other highlights include the Dana Nature Reserve (pictured at the top of this post and where you might consider staying at the Feynan Eco-Lodge), Ras El Fied and Wadi Rum.

Lebanon Mountain Trail

This stretch of 440 kilometers will lead you from northern to southern Lebanon and could take you approximately a month to complete.  But it would be worth it.  You’d see Ottoman castles, Byzantine churches, mountains, and views of the Mediterranean.  Old monasteries and guesthouses along the way can make your nighttime accommodations a little more comfortable.

The Abraham Path

This whopping 1200 kilometer hike is by far the longest, and leads from Harran, Turkey to Hebron.  The trail attempts to trace the journey of the prophet, Abraham, from the town where he first heard the word of God to his tomb in Hebron.  The route encompasses Aleppo, Damascus, norther Jordan, and Jerusalem.

: Wanderlust

Images via: Philipp Dennert and Hulivili

Read more about eco-touring the Middle East::
A Quick Guide to Traveling by Bike in the Middle East
Jordan’s Feynan Eco Lodge Named One of the Top 50 Eco Lodges in the World
Top 7 Middle Eastern Trips for the Eco-Curious Traveler

The post Exploring the Middle East the Old Fashioned Way, On Your Own Two Feet appeared first on Green Prophet.

Bicycle touring enthusiasts interested in going on biking tours of the Middle East are now discovering that this sport is not just confined to North America, Europe and Asian countries like China and Japan. While it is true that Western countries have the most developed system of bike touring maps and travel info, Middle East countries also have cycling information that can enable either individuals or groups to undergo a unique and interesting travel experience. Eco-tourism at its finest. But is cycling the Middle East possible and safe?While previous Green Prophet articles have praised the best eco tourism in the Middle East , including how to be ecologically responsible while embarking on hiking treks, not enough attention has been given for those who have considered going on tours via pedal power in this region, which has much to offer to adventurous bike riders.

One of the foremost authorities on bike trekking in this part of the world is a guy named Stephen Lord, who recently  published a book entitled The Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook in which he gives a number of tips on how to go to places that may not have an advanced infrastructure any may require building a modified terrain type of two-wheeler “from the ground up”.

The tour site Travelling Two gives a number of tips worth noting for traveling in these Middle East countries, including those for women bike riders. Advanced preparation beforehand is crucially important, especially in respect to having the proper equipment suitable for riding on rough “off the road” terrain.

Here are a few of their tips for Middle East bike touring which are worth noting:

*      For Western Travellers  – and this can apply to Israeli ones too in “allowed  countries” such as Egypt, Jordan, and Turkey –  a traveler will be get a chance  to meet the ordinary citizens of  the country first-hand, and will soon discover  that local people are much more friendly than what is officially said by their  government. After all, in the Middle East, the first general rule is kindness to visitors. You may very easily find yourself eating a feast with a local family.

*     For women travelers, especially those going to conservative countries,  conservative dress codes are important, although one does not have to overdo it. We’ve heard in Saudi Arabia cyclists should wear complete covering from head to toe and in most cases, women on the road should not travel alone – this goes for Turkey, Syria, Sinai, Egypt, and Jordan especially, and should be especially  cautious towards truckers. Dress codes are also important for men   too, especially in areas where even men wearing shorts can be considered as  wearing “un-Islamic dress.”

*     Getting visas for countries like Syria: Travelling Two Notes that those interested in visiting countries like Syria (those politically able to) need to get a VISA in advance, but that travelers from countries like Ireland and New Zealand (where no official Syrian diplomatic missions are located) can get a VISA at the border. An easy way if you are coming by land from Europe through Turkey is to get a VISA at Istanbul or Ankara.

Bike tourists considering a touring itinerary of Jordan will definitely want to include a bike tour of Petra and Wadi Rum, as well as a scenic ride along the Kings Highway to Aqaba on the Red Sea.

Naturally, those living in Israel have a problem touring most Middle Eastern countries, but there are plenty of bike touring possibilities within Israel itself to satisfy even the most seasoned two wheel trekker. Since Israel has a well established infrastructure for cycling enthusiasts, I’ll leave this topic for a future article in itself. It is considered very safe for women to travel in Israel alone, except for areas in the West Bank.

More Middle East Eco-Travel Articles:

7 Middle East Locations for the Eco-Minded Traveller

Siwa and Red Sea Become Eco-tourism Hot Spots in Sinai and Egypt

Jordan’s Feynan Eco Lodge Named One of the World’s Top 50 Eco Lodges

The post A Quick Guide To Travelling By Bike in the Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

Sharm el-Sheikh, in the Sinai region of Egypt, has been a thriving tourist location for decades due to its incredible beaches and vast coral reefs.  Its great attraction to tourists has also been its downfall, however.  The reefs are currently under threat due to the dust caused by erosion.

With tourism accounting for a major part of Egypt’s GDP, something had to be done to protect Egypt’s natural (and money-making) resource, and grant it legitimacy in a world that increasingly wants to see environmental conservation efforts.

Egypt therefore recently announced its plan to become completely carbon neutral by 2020.  The $238 million project hopes to accomplish this through the introduction of renewable energy, reduction of water use, improvement of waste management, and, in the future, the use of electric boats and hybrid buses.

The green initiatives are planned to start this month and be completed by the end of 2010.  These early initiatives include new diving restrictions to help preserve already damaged reefs, and the powering of street lights with solar energy.

Hisham Zaazou, a top official at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, said that “tourists will pick places that are environmentally friendly and taking positive steps to reduce their carbon emissions.”  Zazou also admitted, however, that he didn’t believe absolute carbon neutrality was realistic by 2020.  He said that “we will not reach the zero stage by 2020, but we will be almost there.”

Sharm el-Sheikh’s remote location means that the 3-4 million annual tourists visiting it usually arrive by airplane – an infamously polluting form of transportation.  This will be a unique challenge for the carbon neutral project, and one that will be interesting to watch unfold.

Experts welcome the Egyptian government’s plan, but believe that it should also be enforcing the existing environmental laws.

Read more about eco tourism in Egypt and the Middle East::

Eco Tourism in the Middle East: Egypt

Top 7 Middle Eastern Trips for the Eco-Curious Traveler

Jordan’s Feynan Eco Lodge Named One of the Top 50 Eco Lodges in the World

The post Egypt Tries to Attract Eco-Tourists to Sharm el-Sheikh With Promises of Carbon Neutrality appeared first on Green Prophet.

When Israel declared its new national bird, the hoopoe, Green Prophet was on the story. Little did we know that so was American fake newscaster Stephen Colbert, complete with Hebrew pronunciation.

“Congratulations, Israel. Just as America soars like the might eagle, may you emulate the noble long-billed hoopoe by squirting fecal matter at intruders,” says Colbert.

Colbert also had some exciting news about the kosher status of the giraffe.

In other online green news, “Stuff White People Like” author Christian Lander has written a five-part guide to “Stuff Environmentalists Like” for Plenty magazine:

“While many environmentalists are vegan or vegetarian, others can talk for hours about how it is possible to eat meat and still be green. Their requirement of course is that the animal is raised on a small farm and allowed to run around and eat grass.

“If you are hoping to impress a host in the latter camp, tell a story about how you are raising a few chickens in your backyard. For extra points, use the following terms: free-range, factory farm, and antibiotics.”

The post Stephen Colbert on Israel’s National Bird appeared first on Green Prophet.

Special guest desert dwelling activist and academic Lucy Michaels, gets to the heart of the matter with a classic eco text: “The burnt cliffs and lonely skies … all that which lies beyond the end of roads:” From Desert Solitaire and why Israel’s deserts need their own Edward Abbey.

In the late 1950’s, a young ranger and sometime philosopher, Edward Abbey, spent three seasons as a ranger at Arches National Monument, a national park in southeast Utah in the USA. Desert Solitaire, his classic memoir of life in the desert wilderness chronicles both his adventures and his quest to experience nature in the raw.

Abbey’s book, however, transcends specific locations and speaks directly to the desert experience. His world is the slickrock desert with views open and perfect in all directions. A world of natural arches like jug handles or flying buttresses, tilted or warped by pressures from below or eroded by water or wind.

His garden is the pinyon pine and the juniper; the cactus and the cliffrose. His neighbours: the kangaroo rats, tiger lizards and beetles. His world turns from off-white to buff, pink, brown and red, tones which change with the time of day and the moods of light, weather and the sky. Out here, 20 miles from civilisation, his ticking watch is meaningless, ridiculous.

Against this vast canvas, Abbey’s stories are small yet riveting. His communion with the snakes that visit his trailer; the survey crew who lay the flags for a new paved road through the national park, which he carefully removes later that night; the fates of the local cowboys, Indians and prospectors; the moon-eyed horse gone feral in Salt Creek; the dead man at Grandview Point.

The centrepiece his dreamlike adventure paddling down Glen Canyon to witness “a portion of earth’s original paradise” that would soon be drowned forever by the damming of the Colorado River. All the while time passes and seasons change as he sits out on his porch surveying his 33,000 acre view.

More than nature writing

Abbey’s book is, however, more than just nature writing at its finest (a definition he personally hated); it is an urgent call to defend the canyon lands from encroaching development.

For Abbey “Desert Solitaire” is both a memorial to “places already gone or going under fast” and “a tombstone or a bloody rock” to be hurled defiantly at “something big and glassy” such as the windows of a corporate headquarters.

It is not surprising, therefore, that Abbey is widely acknowledged as an inspiration to the American wilderness defence movement.

Abbey reserves special venom for tourists who drive in national parks, but not through other sacred places, such as cathedrals or museums. Besides “you can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the goddamned contraption and walk, better yet, crawl, on hands and knees over the sandstone; through the thornbush and cactus. When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you’ll see something, maybe. Probably not.” The desert lands move too slowly for those of us hurtling about in our everyday lives.

Abbey’s great gift to us in “Desert Solitaire” is in noticing and revelling in the imperceptible things that simply don’t exist from a passing car window.

Wit as sharp as desert cliffs

What makes this book so engaging is that Abbey’s wit is as sharp as the jagged cliffs he describes. At times sanctimonious and overly dramatised, for the most part he is startlingly sincere.

Whist his tone is definitely his own, his message draws deeply on Thoreau and Emerson in perceiving wilderness as humankind’s sacred ancestral home and sole source of hope. For Abbey, the wilderness is essential as a place of freedom and escape to complement and complete civilization. “It is not a luxury, but a necessity as vital to our lives as water and good bread. A civilisation which destroys what little left remains of the wild cuts itself off from its origins. Industrial man…will make himself an exile from the earth and will know, at last, the pain and agony of final loss.”

Since the days of Abraham, and very probably long before, Israel’s mythical deserts have been sacred: a place of spirit, of revelation and renewal. Yet prominent Zionist leaders, notably Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, came to see the desert in a very different light: it needed to be subdued and “made to bloom” to meet the needs of the young state. While this vision may have improved our material understanding of deserts, it has also engendered the destruction of exquisite places causing untold environmental damage for the sake of haphazardly placed factories, waste dumps, greenhouses, plantations and mines.

It has also resulted in the vilification of the Bedouin and their traditional desert lifestyles.

Book illuminates new environmental threats

And Israel’s deserts are still threatened by Ben Gurion’s dictum: from sand mining in Israel’s last intact sand dune to build hotels in Eilat and the re-introduction of copper mining in Timna.

From the plans to build a hotel for 4X4 drivers in the peaceful Sasgon valley, to the Valley of Peace – a proposal to transform the Arava into a Las Vegas of the East by billionaire Itzhak Tshuva, clearly a megalomaniac of Nebuchadnezzan proportions. Besides, much of Israel’s spectacular open spaces are located in military zones, tantalisingly out of reach, whilst other places are deeply scarred by tanks, bulldozers and off-road vehicles, whose tracks remain decades after they are gone.

Desert Solitaire demands another understanding. It is for those who have rambled through Israel’s desert lands following a tempting track down a wadi or tracking the ibex across the cliffs. It is for those who yearn for the shadows cast by the setting sun on the Edom Mountains, have charted the movements of the stars across the vast night skies or made coffee on an open fire under the shade of an acacia tree.

It is for those who have drawn inspiration from the eroded paths and changing colours of the day. It is for those for whom the desert simply is; and not for those for whom the desert waits to be something else. As a desert dweller myself, it was overwhelming to find such an articulate voice for the inexpressible sentiments that I feel for the land around me.

A call to defend the desert

While these deserts have had their literary champions in the past, from Dhu al-Rumma to TE Lawrence, Gertrude Bell and Pierre Loti, Israel’s deserts of today cry out for defenders. Defenders who understand what is at stake when we despoil our deserts and ride roughshod over their ancient wisdom for the sake of short term profits. Defenders who support mindful and sustainable development where necessary, and not simply development that claims to be “green” or “eco” when it is nothing of the sort. Defenders to encourage Israeli school kids to read old “Cactus” Ed as they memorise Ben Gurion. This would leave them with no excuse for perceiving the Negev and the Arava as blank canvases for exploitation and development.

The Negev does have some powerful literary voices, among them both Daniel Hillel and Haim Watzman. The Negev and Arava also have many unsung heroes who have also resisted sprawl and unnecessary development in recent years, but there are too few of us.

Put this book in your rucksack next time you go for a tiyul (trip). Find a shady spot on a craggy hilltop with a huge view, and read. You may well return home transformed.

About Lucy Michaels

Lucy grew up in North London, a long way from her current desert home, but has always followed the call of the wild. At university she discovered Earth First! and has been active in radical environmental and anti-globalisation movements ever since. This included a five year stint as a director/researcher at Corporate Watch in Oxford.

From the first moment she arrived at Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava valley in Spring 2005 she knew she had come home. After a year working in Jerusalem, she found her way back down: first, to study and then work at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and now as a doctoral student of Professor Alon Tal at Ben Gurion University’s Desert Studies Institute in Sde Boqer where she is researching what Israelis think about climate change. She’s happiest when out hiking in the desert or involved in some crazy permaculture project.

Lucy currently lives with husband Uri Gordon somewhere on the route 40 between Kibbutz Lotan and Sde Boqer.

The post Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey appeared first on Green Prophet.

Enjoy this account of a night hike, first posted on January 11 at TheTruthHerzl.com.

***

I woke up this morning thinking I was on the streets of Chicago with the wind loudly blowing between the blocks of skyscrapers. It took a few minutes to realize this howling wind was actually the rocket siren, an especially long one.

The siren is a wail that crescendos and decrescendos; usually the rockets fall 60 seconds after it starts. Since this one was so long, I heard a boom in the middle of it. The house shuddered; the rocket must have fallen nearby (I returned to Beer Sheva last week). The siren stopped and I dozed off again.

The reason I was tired enough to go back to sleep was that last night some friends and I took a break from the action and went on a full-moon hike in the desert, in a dry riverbed called Nachal Havarim near the Sde Boker field school. It’s out of rocket range.

As we drove the 50 minutes south of Beer Sheva, we listened to Bohemian Rhapsody on the radio and reminisced about the effects of Wayne’s World on our youth. Eventually we got out and hit the trail. The moon was so bright that it cast shadows from the large boulders onto the rocky, sandy ground.

We were six students, and as we walked we got warm enough to forget that it was the middle of winter, except for a refreshing chill on our cheeks. At one point we passed a large flint stone and threw rocks against it, throwing sparks into the weak darkness.

There was a flat area on one edge of the riverbed, high up, where we drank wine and coffee and ate oatmeal cookies. The moon lit up the rolling hills and canyons all around us. In the distance we heard cars intermittently on the highway.

Towards the end of the hike we took another break and stared at the sky. Although for the last two hours it had been clear, suddenly a thin lace of clouds stretched over half of it. The bright round moon slipped between the clear and the clouds, shining and then casting a light halo on the white around it.

We talked as we walked, about how the war had put some of us in a bad mood or in a slump. Twice the conversation went into the politics of Israel’s actions in Gaza and reached an uneasy stalemate between those who supported and opposed the war. Then the chatter moved into discussions of trips abroad, of when school would start again, what we had been doing with all our newfound free time.

Around midnight we got back in the car and listened to the Israeli singers Ehud Banai and Nurit Galron, and then Leonard Cohen as we drove back home. The trip had taken us out of empty Beer Sheva, which is dreary because so many students went home, and into the desert whose very charm and magic comes from emptiness. Away from the sirens and the newscasts, it was lovely to just take a breath.

:: TheTruthHerzl.com

The post From Beer Sheva to the Negev: Hiking Out of Rocket Range appeared first on Green Prophet.

For those of you out there who may have been planning an eco tourist trip to Israel but have… ahem… postponed your plans for the time being, don’t cancel all of your vacation plans just yet.  Katan Adventures, a New York based travel company, might be able to provide help planning an alternative trip with the same kavana (or, intention).

Katan Adventures attempts to provide “action-packed, eco-centric, guided outdoor adventure trips and travel for Jews and friends of the Jew in their 20s and 30s.”  Their trips are not religious in the sense that they are not affiliated with any Jewish movement and do not promote any religion.

Katan Adventures does, however, operate in a manner that reflects the fundamental Jewish value of tikkun olam (heal the world).  In their own words, “this means that our guides will show you the best outdoor adventure activities that our destinations have to offer, such as surfing, skiing, rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking and more all while being mindful of our impact on the environment within which we travel and, ultimately, live.”

In other words, they’re putting the Jew in ecological.  (Or, as they so cutely put it, into ecoloJEWcal.)

Katan Adventures is currently offering tours to Costa Rica, Jamaica, El Salvador, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and is working on organizing tours to other regions (such as Africa).

The company enforces sustainable tourism practices in a number of ways, including: working with companies that share a commitment to sustainable travel, limiting the physical impact of their trips on the communities and environments that they visit, avoiding all activities that exploit animals, and promoting awareness of environmental issues.

Not only are the Katan Adventure tours environmentally conscious, but the company’s own offices are green as well.  Located in an old warehouse in Brooklyn, NY that has been converted into an environmentally friendly office space, the offices feature solar panels on the roof and recyclable furniture.

Read more about eco tourism in the Middle East::

Eco Tourism in the Middle East: Syria

Eco Tourism in the Middle East: Yemen

Eco Tourism in the Middle East: Egypt

The post Katan Adventures Puts the EcoloJEWcal (and Ecological) in Travel appeared first on Green Prophet.

But the approximately 200 people living at the Neot Semadar village in the southern part of the Negev desert can – and do – live without those distractions in an environment that is completely harmonious with its surroundings.

The village, which was founded by a group of close friends in 1989, is really a community of people trying to understand their relationships with each other as people and their relationships with the earth.  The 200 people living there are friends, children, youth, and visitors from both Israel and overseas who are looking for a fresh perspective.

Among the efforts that the residents of the village make to create a more harmonious relationship with the earth is the organic farming conducted around the village.  Neot Semadar has approximately 400 dunams of farm land and they grow a wide range of things such as olives, almonds, grapes, nectarines, wheat, guavas, pomegranates, mangos, and avocados.  So in addition to growing organic produce, the village is virtually self sufficient – eliminating the need for polluting transportation to bring food to the residents.

But perhaps one of the more impressive features of the village is the Neot Semadar arts center – created with the purpose of blending organically into the surrounding landscape.  Made mostly out of mud, the arts center was built without an overarching plan but was rather allowed to grow naturally from the collaborative efforts of the many volunteers who worked on the project.  Twelve years of daily construction by this assortment of volunteers led to the construction of the truly unique building on pictured above.

Interested in learning about Neot Semadar in greater depth?  They offer week long seminars throughout the year, with the next one coming up on September 28th.

Read more about other unique Israeli eco villages:: Vertigo Dancers Get Their Groove On in an Eco Arts Village and Green Prophet Visits Amirim, a Vegetarian Paradise in the Galilee

The post Neot Semadar: An Eco Village in the Southern Negev appeared first on Green Prophet.