“The atmosphere is excellent, the reserve has been opened to travelers,” Ramzi Badran, director of the Nahal Ayon (Hatanor) reserve for the past 33 years, tells ‘Daver’ happily. “The upper entrance is still closed, so it is not possible to make a circular route, go and come back, 2.5 kilometers in each direction, in a small way.” More and more cars loaded with hikers and sandwiches with yellow cheese and avocado enter the parking lot. “In light of the Home Front Command’s restriction, you have to order in advance, but we don’t turn anyone back.”
The director of the reserve Ramzi Badran (right) and the inspector Naji Rashash. Badran: “In light of the Home Front Command’s restriction, you have to order in advance, but we don’t turn anyone back” (Photo: Yahal Faraj)
The reserve was closed to visitors for more than 460 days. Instead of tourist cars, IDF vehicles of various types filled the parking lot, and the pigs, porcupines, daliks, and weasels stayed away from the noise of the war machines. Reservists Dan Kamhaji (31) from Kfar Oranim and Nachman Natan Hertz (31) from Elazar were killed last May by a drone strike that Hezbollah launched while fulfilling their duties in the abandoned parking lot.
This morning (Saturday), two days after the last of the nature reserves and also the northernmost was reopened, there is no trace of the war. The weather smiled on the travelers despite the warnings of rain, and those who arrived did not stop admiring the view, the sight of the snowy (and closed) Hermon, the greenery and the cool air that entered the lungs. Farid Azam from Abu Sanan came with 17 more of his children and grandchildren to walk in the reserve. He stays in the parking lot to make coffee, because it’s a bit difficult for him to walk, but he doesn’t complain. “It’s a great place and we’re excited to come. We had the opportunity to be the whole family, so first of all we went for a walk.”
Farid Azzam from Abu Sanan. “We had the opportunity to be the whole family, so first of all we went for a walk” (Photo: Yahal Faraj)
Gabriela and Moshe Berger came from Kiryat Gat to travel in the north. They took a B&B in Dalit al-Karmel and traveled north to see the flow in the waterfalls. “We like to be here,” says Berger, “we travel to the springs, from here we will go to Tel Dan. It’s good to see that the north is waking up.”
Moshe and Gabriela Berger from Kiryat Gat. “We love being here” (Photo: Yahal Faraj)
More than 350,000 hikers have reached the reserves and routes in the north since the ceasefire, according to the Nature and Parks Authority, and the numbers are expected to increase as long as the ceasefire is maintained. Mirit and Gil from Tel Aviv came for a trip north with their daughter Lior who will soon join the IDF. “The atmosphere is great, the route is easy and the view is beautiful,” says Gil. They weren’t afraid to come, on the contrary. “We were afraid that if we didn’t come now, it wouldn’t be possible later.” says Mirit. “We haven’t seen pigeons blooming yet.” The shoes of the nearby Kibbutz Dafna.
The Nashtir family: Daniel (right), Vared, Dima and Amelie. “The People with the Galilee” (Photo: Yahal Faraj)
“After what we went through in Motzkin, it’s nonsense, we weren’t afraid to come at all,” say Vared and Dima Nashtir, who came to travel with Daniel (9) and two-year-old Amelie. “I missed doing what you want, traveling,” says Daniel, who was at home a lot during the tree-hugging in the north. “We saw three waterfalls, insects and animals of different colors,” he enthuses about the book. “The people with the Galilee,” says the Nashtir family with a smile, and goes back to walking.
Lior Landau from Givat Shmuel. “We came to travel, identify with the North, and chaperone the girl” (Photo: Yahal Faraj)
Gal and Lior Landau came all the way from Givat Shmuel to visit on Shabbat the daughter who serves in the reserves in the area. “We came to travel, identify with the North, and chaperone the girl,” says Lior. This is the daughter’s third round in the reserves, the previous two were in Gaza and the current one in the north. “After the ceasefire there is no fear, and if the girl here is watching over us, we have no fear.”
For travelers in the north – here is a list of businesses that were damaged in the war and you should buy from them.
