Tours from Beer Sheva
ROUTE No. 22 Beer
Sheva - Arad - En Boqeq - Massada
ROUTE No. 23 (The
Arava) Beer Sheva - Mamshit (Kurnub) - Solomon's Pillars - Elat
ROUTE No. 24 (Central Negev) Beer Sheva - Shivta - Sede Boqer - En Avdat - Mitzpe Ramon - Elat
ROUTE No. 22
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Beer Sheva - Arad (45 km.) - En Boqeq (74 km.) - Massada
(90 km.) (Road Nos. 31, 60, 90)
(Distances in brackets refer to start of route.)
Follow Road No. 60 northeast out of Beer Sheva, passing through the industrial
sites and crossing the railway line before roads branch off left to the Negev
Brigade Memorial, right to Tel Sheva, and the next right to the affluent suburb
of Omer, 9 km. northeast of Beer Sheva.
Turn right (onto Road No. 31) for Arad 13 km. after leaving
Beer Sheva. Soon afterwards there is an optional turnoff to the left to the
Yatir Forest and Sussiya, about 10 km. away, where the first ancient synagogue
south of Jerusalem was found. There are fine examples of carved lintels and
mosaics the most impressive site of all is the double Torah Shrine with a deep
niche that held the sacred scrolls. Return to Road No. 31.
Twenty-one kilometres later there is a turn-off left to Tel
Arad, 3 km. away. Excavations show the remains of a Canaanite city in existence
about 1,000 years before Abraham wandered through this area. There is an
Israelite citadel from Solomon's time with a synagogue inside resembling the
biblical description of Solomon's Temple. Entrance fee.
Continue 11 km. to Arad.
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ROUTE No. 23
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The Arava
Beer Sheva - Mamshit (Kurnub) (40 km.) - Solomon's Pillars (226 km.) - Elat
(261 km.) (Road Nos. 25, 90.)
(Distances in brackets refer to start of route.)
Warning: the banks on the sides of the asphalt road are of soft earth.
This is the most favoured road to the coral reefs of Elat
because it is quicker than Route No. 24 through Mitzpe Ramon, because there are
far more signs of human life, and because there are many roadside refreshment
stands.
Take Road No. 25 leading out of Beer Sheva to Dimona and
pass the signpost at the outskirts of the city directing you to Mamshit
(Kurnub) National Park. The road passes through a monotonous sequence of brown
hills over which groups of Bedouin have occasionally pitched their goatskin
tents and tethered their camels.
Eight km. from Beer Sheva, turn right to Moshav Nevatim, a
typical Cochin (South India) community. In the moshav you'll find a synagogue
and a very small museum. Entrance fee. Tel. (07)238299, 277277.
After 37 km. pass by the southern entrance of Dimona, a
development town founded in 1955 to provide those who worked at the Dead Sea
with a more salubrious place to live in. Dimona has grown and has a population
of about 29,300 many of them work in the textile mills and the nearby atomic
reactor.
A few kilometres further on you will see a signpost pointing
right to Kurnub. A short approach road brings you to the foot of a hill
sprawling with the restored buildings of this ancient settlement.
MAMSHIT (KURNUB)
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ROUTE No. 24
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Central Negev
Beer Sheva - Shivta (54 km.) - Sede Boqer (89 km.) - En Avdat (93 km.) - Mitzpe
Ramon (139 km.) - Elat (286 km.) (Road Nos. 40, 90, 211.)
(Distances in brackets refer to start of route.)
While this route is longer and more wearying than Route No. 23 through Dimona
and the Arava to Elat, it passes through more majestic landscape in the heart
of the Negev and is specked with colossal ruins of ancient civilizations.
There is a new road, not covered in this route, that goes
from Shivta westwards to Nitzana and then southwards along the Egyptian border
to Eilat (Road No. 10).
A few words of caution: the banks on the sides of the
asphalt road are of soft earth. Travellers should take water flasks in the car
for their own drinking needs and for the radiator in the unfortunate event of a
breakdown. The petrol tank should be filled and the water flasks topped again
at Mitzpe Ramon as there are no facilities between this point and the end of
the Wilderness of Paran, 100 km. away.
Drive straight down past Abraham's Well. Turn left at the
Negev juction to Yeroham Park. Here you'll see the remains of settlements from
the Nabataean, Roman, Byzantine and Arab periods.
Return to and follow Road No. 40 south. The earth is packed
hard in this bleak landscape but there are many signs of soil erosion. An
afforestation scheme stands out in this home of many roaming Bedouin. Drive
carefully as there are several blind corners and hills.
Thirty kilometres later pass by Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh and
stop to look at the memorial soon after, at the crossroad to Revivim and
Nitzana. The Bir Asluj Memorial, set amidst the trees of a picnic site,
commemorates the Israelis who died liberating this area from Egyptians in
December 1948.
Take Road No. 211 to Nitzana. Pass the tarred road left to
Sede Boqer 16 km. further south.
The signpost to Shivta is 20 km. east of the Sinai border
and 50 km. from Beer Sheva. A tarred road (left) leads to the National Parks
site 4 km. away.
SHIVTA
SEDE BOQER (or SDE BOKER)
EN AVDAT
AVDAT
MITZPE RAMON
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