Anticipating Sukkot, Israelis hit the parks and forests
Tens of thousands visit the country’s nature reserves; some Kinneret beaches closed due to overcrowding
Tens of thousands of Israelis hit the road on Saturday, heading for the country’s national parks and forests a full day before the Sukkot holiday begins. Roads to many popular sites were experiencing traffic jams Saturday.
Favorite destinations in the north include the Agamon Hula Tourism Park in the Hula Valley, through which millions of migrating birds pass each year, and Biriya Forest in the Galilee.
Meanwhile, some 40,000 people have visited Lake Kinneret since Friday, Israel’s Walla website reported. Due to the heavy foot traffic, the Union of Kinneret Cities and the maritime police have increased patrols at the water’s edge. Several lakefront hot spots have been closed due to overcrowding, Walla said, including Hukuk, Lebanon, Kursi and Tzinbari beaches.
In the center of the country, visitors descended upon the Ben Shemen Forest between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and the forests in the Jerusalem Hills.
Tourists in the south were flocking to the Lahav Forest — famous for its flowers and archaeology, and the Be’eri Forest, which thousands visit each year to take in the sea of red anemones in bloom.
Israel’s nature reserves are a popular destination at this time of year, as well as at Passover, when the weather falls either side of the scorching summer heat. Army Radio said that thousands of people were expected to spend the night under the stars on Saturday, making the most of the clement weather.
This year’s Passover holiday also saw hundreds of thousands of people flooding into Israel’s national parks, forcing some sites to repeatedly turn visitors back due to overcrowding.
