Kibbutz Lotan: Tourism with values
By Haim Shapiro, Tourism Correspondent,
the Jerusalem Post (January
9, 2000) -
Some people like to unwind by relaxing in a luxury hotel; others build
a mud wall.
Actually, building a mud wall is not the only thing for a
visitor to do at Kibbutz Lotan, but it is symbolic of the activities available
at a kibbutz which takes its role in contributing to the environment very seriously.
Lotan, located in the Arava on the Jordanian border about 50 kilometres north
of Eilat, is affiliated with the United Kibbutz Movement and Israel's Reform Movement.
Mike Nitzan, who heads the kibbutz's tourism branch, explains
that many of Lotan's members were involved in informal education
before joining the kibbutz. In contrast to many other kibbutzim
which depend on hired workers, Lotan's members wanted to avoid
doing so and felt the experience of their members could be
of use.
"We saw tourism as a way of keeping in line with our values,"
Dolev says.
The kibbutz has 24 simple but comfortable housing units suitable
for accommodating up to 50 adults, or almost double that number for youth groups
or families. Visitors come for nature tours and ecology studies, or for what Dolev
describes as "holistic workshops" involving alternative medicine or
meditation. There is also a well-developed program for bird-watchers.
For a taste of the kind of experience offered visitors, we take a short walk to
a geodesic dome on the outskirts of the kibbutz. The dome - which at Lotan is
made of palm fronds held together with used plastic irrigation pipes - is the
symbol of the international ecological movement. It is encircled by a low bench
made out of mud.
LOTAN'S members are proud of their mud walls, though
they admit that most of the buildings on the kibbutz are made of prefabricated
concrete units. They say that was the decision of the Housing Ministry, which
financed construction. They add that the concrete boxes are not well adapted to
the desert climate, offering no insulation against the hot summer days or cold
winter nights.
For their own building the kibbutznikim favour the thick
mud walls, whose filling - a variety of discarded materials ranging from old tires
to plastic bottles and tin cans to newspaper - provides excellent insulation.
One of the experts in mud construction is Mike Kaplin, who is also in charge
of the kibbutz's organic garden. Until recently the vegetables grown here were
for home use; but now the kibbutz is finding markets abroad for its produce.
Indeed, one of the highlights at Lotan is the salad, made with a wonderful
range of organically grown greens and highlighted by edible flowers. Among the
attractions here is the compost heap, complete with models of how it works and
examples of how one can make one's own - even in an urban apartment.
When viewing such gardens one tends to forget the surrounding desert, but we are
reminded of it when we go for a short jeep tour of the hills just west of the
kibbutz. On the way we see a herd of gazelles, who seem hardly disturbed by our
presence, and as our jeep climbs a steep dirt road we view a large vulture soaring
overhead.
From an abandoned army bunker in the hills we have a complete
view of the kibbutz, which looks like a small spot of green in the landscape.
We can also see clearly the fields leased by the kibbutz in Jordan, against the
looming mountains of Edom in the background.
IT IS a sharp contrast from
the sweeping landscape of the jeep tour to the relatively small area devoted to
the bird reserve. There, in a small thatched hut which serves as a hide for bird
watchers, James Smith, a professional bird artist, points out some of the local
species.
Smith, who came on a visit from England and decided to make
Lotan his home, points with pride to the small artificial pond which has been
installed to attract the birds. The area, he says, has been planted with alfalfa,
which attracts the insects on which the birds feed.
Smith is not sure
how it happens, but the bird reserve, as small as it is, attracts thousands of
birds on their annual migrations between Europe and Africa, from March through
May and then again from September through November.
During that time,
bird-watching groups regularly come from Europe to see the wealth of feathered
life passing through, he says. Even now, at a relatively quiet time of year, there
is plenty to see.
We watch with fascination as a brightly colored Green
Bee-eater with an iridescent blue throat flits from branch to branch. The bird,
Smith explains, comes from Africa and this is the northernmost point at which
it is found. Nearby is a stonechat with a bright orange breast.
But the
bird over which Smith really becomes enthusiastic is a relatively drab-looking
grey and black bird. It is, he says, a Namaqua Dove, one of the smallest of the
dove family. It has a long black tail and a curved beak which shows touches of
red and yellow if one looks closely. This too is an African bird and there are
relatively few, perhaps 50, in all of Israel.
It is birds like this one
that the birdwatchers come to see, Smith says. So popular have the birdwatching
programs become that the kibbutz is organizing birdwatching tours for enthusiasts
from abroad to other parts of Israel.
FOR THE ordinary guest, Dolev says,
a typical program involves a stay of two nights with full board for NIS 660. The
visitors can choose three different activities. Among those offered is a meditation
group, a class in tai chi, a tour of the ecological garden, a desert tour, Shiatsu
massage, or a birdwatching session.
Most visits involve a Shabbat stay
and Dolev says that a highlight of the visit is the kibbutz kabbalat Shabbat.
Lotan also offers desert safaris, either in a jeep or on camels.
The
kibbutz tours, Dolev says, are quieter, slower, and more "aware" than
those of other tour organizers. He stresses that this is a different kind of tourism.
Contact Lotan Center for Creative Ecology
Leah Zigmond
lotan-ecocenter@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356811; +972 8 6356935; +972 54 9799024
Toll free (while in Israel): 1800 2000 75
