Bitronot Ruhama – Breathtaking Nature and Stretches
Bitronot Ruhama – hiking/biking route
Tour type: Mounted/biking (short/long) trail, and an observation point
Tour duration: Approximately 2 hours.
Difficulty level: Low – Medium.
Rest Rooms on-site: in Ha-Rishonim ba-Negev Site
Possible picnic points: Picnic tables courtesy of the KKL-JNF in Ha-Rishonim ba-Negev site, adjacent to Ruhama.
Getting there: For those arriving from Road 6, drive south to Bet Kama Junction. Then, turn right to Road 293. After about 2.5 km, turn north (right) to Road 334 – “Derech Eretz HaBitronot,” towards Ruhama and Sderot. After 6 km, you will reach a right turn, marked with a brown sign – “Bitronot Ruhama.” For those arriving via Road 232, turn east to Road 334, pass Kibbutz Dorot, and after turning to Kibbutz Ruhama, you will find the brown sign on the left reading “Bitronot Ruhama.”
Opening Hours: Open all year round, any time.
WAZE: Bitronot Ruhama, Kibbutz Ruhama
Highly recommended : it is worth incorporating biking on the well-marked routes in the area.
About the site:
The Ruhama Nature Reserve draws nature and color lovers, especially from January to April, when the area is covered with blossom carpets. The reserve offers an observation point, roads, and trails appropriate to both cars and bikes.
What can you see?:
The eastern side of the reserve is marked “Bitronot Ruhama.” Turn from the main road to a road that takes you east to Kibbutz Ruhama and slightly northward to a spectacular observation point over the soft hills and slopes decorated with a multitude of flowers including anemones, buttercups (Ranunculaceae family), Senecios, Ophryses, Asphodels and sometimes even orchids. It is located at the edge of the Judean Lowlands and the meeting point with the Negev. The eastern eolianite ridge that lies beneath your feet is covered with a mantle of loess soil that becomes more and more scorched after the rains, revealing the eolianite base and providing some explanation to the botanical diversity that is unique to this meeting of soils, as well as the abundance of water cisterns and the carved buildings of the local sandstone. Between the Ruhama eolianite ridge and the one to its west, a channel carries sediment deep into the ground, enabling groundwater and plant resource storage.
Please note: there are no hiking trails in the Ruhama Nature Reserve! Hiking or vehicle driving is prohibited for ecological reasons.