1. Ein Prat Nature Reserve
Featuring a flowing stream and four natural oases, the Ein Prat Nature Reserve offers visitors a perfect way to spend an afternoon soaking in the majestic vistas of the Judean Desert.
The valley is fed by rainwater and several natural springs.
Ein Prat (also known as Ein Fara) is the westernmost of the springs in Wadi Kelt. “Wadi” is the Arabic word for a small valley or canyon. For centuries, Wadi Kelt’s stream, Nahal Prat, dug into the limestone of the wadi and created a small cliff that eventually exposed a spring called Ein Prat. The spring’s flow stays constant most of the year, with an average daily flow of about 1,500 cubic meters.
Ein Maboa, (also known as Ein Fawwar), is the middle spring of the Wadi Kelt riverbed, and one of the most unique in all of Israel. It completely empties itself of water and refills itself throughout the day, every single day. The spring is fed by rainwater in the Judean Hills that seeps underground and finds its way through the limestone to a karstic cave behind the spring. When the cave fills up with water, it flows into a pool for about twenty minutes. The water in the pool then empties out back into the ground, and the process repeats itself.
Ein Kelt is the easternmost spring in Wadi Kelt. One of its most stunning features today are the remains of the aqueduct that King Herod built in the first century BC to carry water from Ein Kelt to his winter palace in Jericho.
For more detailed information, visit the Israel National Parks Authority website here.
2. Chariton Monastery (Faran Monastery)
The Chariton Monastery is a beautiful Russian monastery located within the Ein Prat Nature Reserve, on the southern bank of the riverbed above Ein Prat. The original structure was founded by the hermit-monk Saint Chariton in the fourth century AD. Saint Chariton dedicated the monastery to Makarius, the Byzantine bishop of Jerusalem at the time, but the monastery came to be known by the name of its founder.
The heart of the monastery is St. Chariton’s tomb. According to the tradition, Chariton built the monastery at that very location because it was there he was imprisoned and miraculously saved from a group of highway robbers. Chariton was tied up and alone in the cave when a viper snake entered. Rather than bite the monk, it spit its venom into one of the bandits’ bottles of wine. When the bandits came back to the cave, they drank the wine, died, and Chariton was saved.
The monastery was destroyed during the Sasanian invasion of 614 AD, and reconstructed over a thousand years later by the Russian Orthodox church. The new structure is built on the remains of the Byzantine monastery, and many of the rooms and chapels are built around caves where the first monks lived.
The monastery has been a popular pilgrimage site for generations. It is surrounded by orchards, water cisterns and agricultural terraces, as well as the remains of a hostel and other structures that served the pilgrims who came to pay their respects.
Entrance to the monastery is permitted. Visitors should take care to dress modestly.