Well, it’s all arranged.
After talking with a good friend of mine here about other experiences I could have in Israel, she mentioned spending a night with the Bedouins.
For those of you who don’t know, Bedouins are desert dwellers predominately from the Arab ethnic group. They are scattered all over the Middle East including countries like Jordan, Syria and (luckily for me) Israel. There are a wide range of tribes with different philosophies to life.
Desert!
The main thing is that they live a life of simplicity – which I think we all can agree is a rarity in this day and age. They often ride camels to get around, sleep in tents and focus on the basics of life.
In Israel, I’ve always known that you can spend a night with the Bedouins – you sleep there in a tent, listen to their history and stories, they cook you a meal and you sleep under the stars. When my friend Sophie mentioned it, I thought that this is just what the doctor ordered.
As I’ve said before, the city lifestyle really isn’t my thing and I really feel that the true beauty in Israel is in its roots and in places where there aren’t a load of people, busses or buildings. Bedouins here I come.
Arava
Luckily Bedouins have harnessed the art of promotion even though they are set on the basics of life – I guess we all need to earn a living somehow.:) I Googled “Bedouin experience Israel” and found a website dedicated to various areas of the country. Most of them required that you have 5 or more people but I thought an email would be worth a try so I could see if they could find something just for me.
Glad I did as there is one village, Alforaa, that takes single guests. For 150 shekels (US$37) you get a tent, a talk, dinner and breakfast. I phoned up the contact and he also said that there are camel rides (if I so desire) and that they could collect me from the bus station too in Beer Sheva – which is the closest town to the village.
From reading on the site, it sounds like a really lovely experience. I can hike in the day a bit, I’ll obviously hear about the history there and I’ll learn how to cook using Bedouin methods. Also it even says on the website I can milk a female camel – I’m not too sure (or keen) about that but I guess we’ll see how it goes. Heck, I helped milk cows one night at the kibbutz (that was definitely an experience!) so I guess a camel can’t be much worse….lol.
So I arranged everything and I’m very excited for experiencing something new in Israel. Can’t wait!
I’ll be heading there in a few days and really am excited to get out of the city, learn about a different way of life and sleep under the stars.
Watch this space! x
