Night Safari in the Negev Desert - A once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Many of us went to Mitzpe Ramon and took a selfie with an ibex. We all went down to Eilat and stopped on the way at Koshi Ramon's to see a snake with two heads.

But how many of us got to see a mother fox, bringing fresh food to her cubs waiting at the entrance of the cave?

How many of us got to see the two largest predators in Israel, the hyenas, chasing each other in fateful courtship?

How many of us have seen a scorpion hunt a butterfly at night, faster than a cheetah could ever hunt an antelope?

Who among us has ever seen a young wolf with a broken leg, leaping after a herd of ibex up cliffs and slopes?

All these observations are only the tip of the iceberg of the world that is revealed to us when we visit the animals in the depths of the desert during "night safaris", at a time when usually only they are awake...

*** It is important to know that night safaris and educational activities are carried out under the permit of the Nature and Parks Authority under conditions and restrictions to protect the animals and outside nature reserves.

A family of jackals fight over the nightly meal, a stork. Photographed on a night safari by Haim Berger.

There is no safari where we see the same animals we saw in the previous safari, every tour is different and special. After all, it is very difficult to predict where each animal will want to hang out, and when.

Did the porcupine go out after sunset for a walk with his partner to rummage through the plants in search of juicy roots, or maybe today, he went out early in the morning? In addition, each time of the year brings with it other species. The reptiles and scorpions come out in the summer, the puppies in the spring, the snails in the winter...

Field's horned viper rests in the bush, photographed on a night safari by Amitay Novoselski.

At the Safari, we use knowledge, tools, and techniques that have undergone years of improvements and refinements to work best. Ultra-powerful searchlights that allow us to see hundreds of meters away, to ultraviolet flashlights and vehicles that will pass any obstacle in the field.

The guides already know where it is best to look and find the animals. A chance meeting with an animal immediately turns into a deep acquaintance, when the guide knows how to translate the animal and its behavior into our language, explain to the group what it's doing, why it is there, and in many cases also what they are called. The guides' in-depth familiarity with nature and the animals in the area allows them to get to know specific animals that they have already met several times, such as the pair of hyenas Ariel and Ben-Hur.

Ariel, the Striped Hyena, approaches us curiously. Photographed on a night safari by Alor Leonel.

The tour departs from Sde Boker, the Ben Gurion Desert Home, or the Kedma Hotel. From there, the guide picks up the group with the jeep, explains a little about the most effective methods of finding the wild animals, and then we set off!

With the jeep, you travel both through the fields of the kibbutz, and deep into the plains and hills of the Negev plateau in search of predators, birds, arthropods, and even stars! There are several stops, depending on the night and the season, in the burrows and dens of different animals that we can meet more closely. If the stars are especially bright, we can also learn a little about them. The area is one of the places with the best visibility in Israel for observations of stars, planets, and comets.

The guide, of course, does not work alone. All members of the family and group, or in the case of a safari, the "search team", participate. Each one has a powerful spotlight and together you can recognize the sparkling eyes of the nocturnal animals from hundreds of meters away!

A Common Jerboa, Wolf Spider, Yellow Burrowing Scorpion, and a Golden Jackal cub, photographed in a night safari by Amitay Novoselski and Alor Leonel.

In a world where we begin to forget the wildlife that surrounds us, a night safari is an eye-opening and unusual activity! You get close to the smallest animals that you never notice, and get to watch the most mysterious animals that Israeli nature has to offer.

Dorcas gazelle resting, photographed on a night safari by Alor Leonel. An Arabian Wolf pack on the move, photographed at dawn safari by Haim Berger.