I am Gundi Shachal, I am an experienced licensed tour and hiking guide, an environmentalist and for 15 years now work on various cross border projects with our neighbor communities, and “Desert Matters” is just one of them.
I live in Ein Gedi, one of the most beautiful and special places in the world, an oasis right at the Dead Sea in the Judean Desert with an abundant wildlife and fauna due to fresh water resources right next to our kibbutz.
The bible mentions Ein Gedi a couple of times, there was an ancient Jewish village here for 1400 years. My home is in the middle of the botanical garden on the kibbutz.
Ein Gedi and the Dead Sea have a lot of narratives to tell: the arrival of the balsam plant at King Solomon’s times, a flourishing Date Palm Culture, the story of Babatha (one of the world’s first feminists from the 1st century AD), the discovery that the Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth, fauna and flora at the meeting point of Africa, Asia and Europe, genius and madness and escape to the wilderness at Masada, Qumran and the Desert Monasteries from Byzantine Times; the Dead Sea, its uniqueness and modern environmental disaster and so much more.
My offers: hikes through the desert, view the Dead Sea from a different angle, share my love for the region: it’s landscape, nature, people, history, cultures etc. Answer as many question of yours as I can, welcome you for a vegetarian or vegan dinner in my home and discuss Middle Eastern Water Politics over a glass of wine.
Come and experience the region beyond the touristic scene, from an angle customized for you. Hear the different narratives from Palestinian, Jordanian and Israeli neighbors and fall in love with the human mosaic and their surroundings.