An adventure trip in Israel
I am a traveler. I am travelling since November 2014. But I had never done an adventure trip before. It’s not that I am one of these guys just hanging around at a bar. Not at all. I like to get to know people, have good talks and learn about local culture.
When I arrived to Arad the owner of my guesthouse Desert Bird Michal asked me if I wanted to do something different. Another hostel had just opened round the corner. The Dead Sea Adventure Hostel is owned by Ifat & Gilad, a guy who did survival training in the desert before he decided that it’s time to reinvent the whole hostel thing. He invited me to do an adventure trip with him.
I said ‘yes’ without knowing what it would be.
In the early morning he picked me up at the hostel and we drove to Mount Sodom. If you think now: “Wasn’t there a city in the bible called Sodom that got destroyed because of all the evil people and a guy named Lot who was allowed to rescue his family? And his wife got petrified because she didn’t obey to Lot’s words?”: Yes, then you’re right! That’s exactly the place. There is even a pillar of salt which is called “Lot’s wife”.
So, we went there waited for the people who had booked the tour via Wild Trails company. When the six guys arrived we prepared for what was coming. That was the moment when I fully realized what we were going to do: Abseiling! In this case we were going to go down on a rope a 80 meters salt cave. Wow! There was no way back and I didn’t want to be a coward, but I was soooooo nervous!
Well, it all started with a tour called “Extreme salt caving in the Dead Sea“, a hike up to Mount Sodom. It was a beautiful day and we had a spectacular view over the Dead Sea. There was another group going down the cave before us and we had to wait for them to finish. We enjoyed the sun and had a nice lunch.
When finally our turn came, the guide started putting the ropes. That made me even more nervous. My life would be hanging on these ropes? No way! He tried to give me some comfort by telling me that the rope can take 2 tons of weight. Much more than all of us together. It didn’t work.
I was the last one of the group going down. First we had to abseil a 4 meters abyss. Although it wasn’t high and we could have jumped down, leaning back and kind of walking down the wall felt more than strange. After me Gilad came down to us and prepared the second and much more challenging part: the 80 meters abyss! It took more or less one hour until it was my turn again. I went down with Gilad. I wouldn’t have made it alone. He had my Go Pro on his helmet and when I see the video now I can’t stop laughing about my face, the fear in my eyes and my thin voice when I answered his questions.
It took us 4 minutes to go down – or better him because after about 10 meters he let me jump on his back and he did the whole thing alone. The longest 4 minutes of my life. He tried to draw my attention to the beautiful rainbow colors of the salt when we arrived to the deeper parts of the cave. But there was no way for me to concentrate on something like colors! The only thing I had in my mind was a ripping rope. So I focused on breathing.
In the end we arrived and I was happy that I had done it. The way out lead us through beautiful paths through the mountain. When we switched out our head lamps it was pitch black. We had to climb and to crawl.
And after an hour we arrived to the last part where you needed to lay down and move like snakes for around 5 meters while pulling behind the backpacks we had on our feet.
Finally I saw daylight again. The last centimeters took my last strength.
BUT I did it! My first adventure trip!
I spent the night with Michal the owner of the Desert Bird who prepared a delicious dinner and invited a friend. What a wonderful day!
Barbara Riedel is a half-german half-Italian “Digital Nomad”: Working independently, she doesn’t need anything else than her laptop & internet, preferably – at the beach. “It’s making me more creative to hear, listen and smell the sea while I’m working”. Passionate for travel, her blog “Barbaralicious“, alongside her two published books – made her just the kind of a rising new blogger & writer ILH loved to host… While in Israel, she stayed connected using a data & cellular package provided by Deal-Sim (available at ILH Hostels).
