Day Trip to Gamla
We
are truly blessed to have so many
nature reserves in our tiny homeland! One that we recently enjoyed was
the Gamla
Nature Reserve in the center of the Golan. The
reserve contains the
highest waterfall in Israel at just over 50 meters high, another
waterfall that
is 21 meters high, amazing cliffs, archaeological sites including the
remains
of Ancient Gamla, mysterious dolmens,
and the largest Griffon
vulture nesting colony in the country.
There
are four different trails in
the park - three of them easy, and one more steep path. We personally
didn’t do
the steep path to Ancient Gamla, but we could see the structures below
us and
it looked fascinating!
Seeing
as we – and especially Mindy
– are huge animal lovers, one of our favorite parts was the trail with
the vulture
observatory overlooking the Gamla Stream canyon. Tip from us - bring
binoculars
to see these amazing creatures more closely! On that same trail there
are all
kinds of beautiful antiquities, including remains of an impressive
Byzantine
era church and olive press.
Another
cool thing at the reserve
were the dolmens. Dolmens are 4000-year-old structures made of massive
stone
slabs. Approximately 700 dolmens have been found around Gamla. It seems
that
the dolmens were burial edifices for nomadic tribes that roamed the
Golan
during the Bronze Age.
There
are also picnic tables among
the many trees and shrubs at the site. So pack up a lunch and go see
the
vultures and waterfalls!