Knowing the Land of Israel part 2: Be’er Milka

Waking up in white

I woke up in the middle of the night and everything around me – the sky, the ground, everything – was solid white. Was I dreaming?

Trying to reorient myself, I looked down at my feet, and although I could feel them and the sand beneath them, I could barely make them out through the dense white fog.

I jumped up and switched on my flashlight, but the swirling mist quickly enveloped the beam, and so, now fully awake and trying to make sense of my mysterious surroundings, I sat back down.

I wasn’t dreaming. I was in southern Israel. I had fallen asleep on a giant sand dune, yet somehow I had woken up inside a cloud.

Thousands of years ago, this strange place was known as Kadesh Barnea, and was considered the southernmost boundary of the Land of Israel.

It was here that our ancestors on their exodus from Egypt stopped, sensed that the Promised Land was within reach, and sent out spies to scout the Land of Israel. After all that wandering through Sinai, this is where our ancestors first felt the pull that would lead them, eventually, to Jerusalem.

Geographically and biologically, these dunes are a special place as well. Although the Sahara Desert technically stops in Egypt, the great sea of sand within it, which begins as far away as Morocco, continues on, through northern Sinai, and extends just barely into Israel at Kadesh Barnea, in the area nowadays known as Be’er Milka and Nitzana. 

Israel is a meeting point of three continents, and accordingly animals and plants from many parts of the world can be found in this tiny place we call home. But while the Jerusalem Hills may be reminiscent of Europe, and while Eilat may have animals found in Arabia and Asia, nowhere in Israel can you find hints of Africa like you can in Be’er Milka.

We think of desert animals as enduring extreme heat and dryness, but in Be’er Milka that’s not necessarily the case. During the hot day, most of them hide in the cool sand underground; but at night, the winds bring in moisture from the Mediterranean, occasionally in the form of a white blanket of the thickest fog you can imagine.

As I sat back down on that dune and waited for sunrise, I wondered whether our ancestors, fresh out of Egypt, had seen that same mystical fog in Be’er Milka, and whether that’s what had tipped them off that they were drawing close to something holy.

I’ll never know for sure, but I do know that when they camped there thousands of years ago, they undoubtedly marveled at some of the remarkable creatures that still call those strange dunes home. 

A snake too ridiculous to be scary

The Sahara sand viper, as its name suggests, is uniquely adapted to the climate of the Sahara Desert, which is why in Israel it can be found only in the dunes around Be’er Milka.

As the world’s smallest viper (average length: 20-35 cm.), it would take these snakes a long time to slither over the massive, slippery dunes of their habitat. So when they really have somewhere to go, they don’t slither; rather, they sidewind. Turning its body into an S, the sand viper flops sideways, using the bends of the S almost like feet to push off from the ground.

When it finally gets to a patch of sand it likes, it burrows down, hiding and waiting for its prey to come by. Sounds frightening, no? I thought so, too, until I saw one.

I was sitting on the top of a dune at night, resting, when suddenly I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Bolting upright, my heart racing, I realized that my newfound neighbor was the infamous Saharan sand viper. I took a few very quick steps back.

But as soon as I got a good look at him, my fear vanished. Venomous? Unique? Highly adapted to surviving in its environment? Definitely. He would’ve been intimidating if he hadn’t been so funny looking. 

The first thing I noticed were his big googly eyes looking up at me. Most snakes have a cold, reptilian stare, but this little guy, for some reason, had eyes that seemed to point in opposite directions, like a fake toy snake. Also, for an animal that’s known for being slender, he was surprisingly chubby.

Having gotten over my initial fear, I took another look at him and laughed out loud, at which point, spooked by the sound of my voice (or offended – who knows?), he decided to hide himself from view, wiggling side to side until he was completely covered by sand, and giving me a blank, wall-eyed stare all the while. As though I hadn’t already seen him.

An absolute miracle of nature, deserving the utmost respect? Undoubtedly. But what a ridiculous animal.

Chameleons: A very expressive superpower

There’s one seldom seen, hypersensitive resident of the desert that has a unique superpower: It can change color to match its surroundings.

Although chameleons are found in many parts of Israel, including the Jerusalem area, the chameleons of Be’er Milka are a special subspecies, adapted to life in the desert.

A master of camouflage, the chameleon can sit perfectly still for hours, controlling its skin tone to match its environment. It’s so well adapted to sitting still that it can even move its two eyes independently of each other, allowing it to constantly scan its surroundings from all directions without giving away its position. Even when the chameleon finally spots its prey, it is still able to hunt without moving, via another one of its superpowers – its super tongue. 

The chameleon’s tongue can stretch to almost twice the length of its body and can be shot out of its mouth like a sticky spear, nabbing nearby insects before they even know what hit them. This has earned the chameleon the distinction of having one of the fastest tongues in the animal kingdom. 

What many people don’t know about these sensitive creatures, however, is that they’re moody, and much like people, it’s often possible to guess their moods just by looking at them. Green and brown are normal, happy chameleon colors, and brighter versions of these colors might even suggest an excited chameleon. Like some sort of real-life mood ring, however, a chameleon that’s angry or scared will quickly turn black.

So when you visit the dunes, take a look at larger bushes and shrubs, and you might just get lucky and spot the illusive chameleon. If you do, however, make sure you pay attention to its color. If you see it turning dark, quickly back away – it means the chameleon might need some personal space.

Shrikes: Culinary innovation in... birds?

Walking through the dunes, you might come across a dead bug gruesomely impaled on a thorny bush. The culprit, this animal version of Vlad the Impaler, is called a shrike. 

This strange bird has adapted to the scarcity of its environment in an ingenious way – by air-drying its food. Armed with an impeccable memory, the shrike catches food and stores it all around its territory, coming back for a meal whenever it feels hungry. This behavior has a social purpose as well: What better way for a male shrike to show his mate that he’s a good provider than by setting up his own little food store in the desert?

Most impressive, however, are the health benefits of this practice. Many desert insects are highly toxic, but after a few days roasting in the sun, their toxins denature and they are safe to eat, putting all sorts of toxic desert creatures, such as blister beetles, on the shrike’s menu. Culinary innovation, indeed.

Secret agents of the desert

From web traps to camouflage, spiders around the world have a range of abilities at their disposal to help them catch food. However, in this distinctive tiny corner of the innovation nation, there’s one rare, creative arachnid that’s pushing the very boundaries of what it means to act like a spider.

The Zodarion spider has a unique approach to hunting. Zodarion is small and black, about the size and weight of the large nocturnal desert ants that roam the dunes looking for food. The Zodarion has developed the ability to move like an ant, waving its front legs like ant antennae, and may even smell like an ant. This elaborate disguise enables it to move freely in and out of ant nests. Walk about the dunes at night and you might just see one, undercover, blending in perfectly with the nest’s workers.

All, however, is not exactly as it seems. As dawn begins to break around 5:30 a.m. and the nocturnal ants start returning to their nests to sleep, Zodarion picks a worker who’s out of sight of the others and attacks. One wrong move and the other ants could attack, but the Zodarion makes quick work of its prey and escapes, in a show of stealth that would make any Mossad agent jealous.

Exploring our homeland

About as different an environment from Jerusalem as you could possibly find, Be’er Milka demonstrates the true contrast of climates in our small country. I strongly believe that every Israeli should explore this unique, mysterious corner of Israel, where our journey in our homeland began.

The details

Travel time from downtown Jerusalem (by car): About two and a half hours. Organized campsite available.

What to bring: Walking shoes, long pants, a hat, lots of water, a meal, sunblock, sunglasses

Environmental considerations: Be’er Milka has an exceptionally rare ecosystem. Please help protect this unique piece of our heritage and refrain from driving off-road, littering, or otherwise disturbing the creatures that live there.

The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.

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