Water preservation lessons and scorpion hunting in the Negev Desert during study abroad in Israel.
– Jennah Cohen, SPC Student, Israel Program, May 2019
On the second day of our study abroad trip to Israel, several students and I woke up at 5:30 am to watch the sunrise on top of the Ramon Crater. On our way to the top we saw dozens of Ibexes around the rocky land.
We took in all the beauty of the desert land that stood in front of us that morning. We all took a lot of pictures, but they do not do the actual scenery any justice. On our way back, one of the guys picked some flowers which attracted the ibexes toward us. We put the flowers on the ground and watched an Ibex come up close to us.
At 8:30 am, the class met up to begin our exploration of the Negev Desert. We learned about the preservation and distribution of water. For this process they made a terrace to distribute and allow water to spread out more for better percolation and moistening of the soil. Terraces also slow the flow of the water like dams. We helped our guide to restore a terrace that had collapsed.
After the exploration and lunch, we toured the visitor’s center at the Mizpe Ramon Crater. We learned about the creation of the crater and about the first Israeli astronaut in space who was aboard the Columbia Space Shuttle.
At night when it got dark, we began our hunt for scorpions. To find them we used black light flashlights. The scorpions give off a fluorescent blue color under the black light. We found tons of scorpions– four different species! The moon, which was nearly full, was bright but perfect for our hunt and absolutely beautiful to view. This ended the amazing day and being only our second day so far we were pining for more adventure in the days to come.
– Jennah Cohen, SPC Student, Israel Program, May 2019
Thank you for sharing Jennah!
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