In Yeruham, Israel’s smaller crater is big news

When it comes to Israel’s craters, geological landforms created by a mountainous erosion millions of years ago, travelers think first of the Ramon Crater.

But there’s another major Negev crater, aka makhtesh (in addition to three smaller ones): the “Big” Crater just outside the southern development town of Yeruham. It got its misleading name in the days when the larger Ramon Crater was still uncharted.

This smaller, lesser known crater lies at the edge of a desert town first settled by immigrants in the 1950s. Its time, however, may be arriving. Check out Yeruham’s simple pleasures before the hordes discover it as well.

There’s little open on the weekends in Yeruham, which is by and large a religious town, so it could be wise to schedule a trip for mid-week. Or consider using Yeruham as a base for traveling around the Negev and exploring the Wine Route, a tourist area based on the ancient Nabatean road, now dotted with Israeli homesteaders who have established wineries, farms for raising goats and making artisanal cheeses, pastoral bed-and-breakfasts and other cottage industries.

1) Day one, 10:00 a.m., check in: The Desert Iris Inn is the city’s first attempt at providing bonafide traveler accommodations, and it’s a win in terms of creative use of space and budgets. It was former Yeruham mayor Amram Mitzna (who was also the mayor of Haifa) who came up with the idea to turn a compound of trailers formerly used as offices for the Dead Sea Works company in the city’s tidy industrial zone into hotel rooms. There’s a newly built main building that houses a cozy fireplace-centric lobby, cafe and hotel dining room, and most units feature a separate bedroom and living space, as well as private porches.

The inventive, one-room hotel cabins at the Desert Iris Hotel in Yeruham (Courtesy Assaf Pinchuk)

“When a city has a hotel, it brings people,” said Daniel Amichai, who manages the hotel.

The 47 hotel rooms are built around a courtyard that features an outdoor swimming pool, open during the warmer months, with palm trees and flowerbeds softening the square, white edges of the hotel cabins. There’s also one separate building geared toward large families (or bachelor/bridal parties) spending a weekend together, with a comfortably furnished living room space and seven separate bedrooms that together offer the feel of a private house.

Still-new, clean lines and separate bedrooms in nearly all the hotel rooms at the Desert Iris (Courtesy Assaf Pinchuk)

There are other likable details about Desert Iris; half of the hotel’s profits are funneled back into Yeruham, specifically the educational system. The all-local staff can easily answer any question, from how to get to the crater to which falafel is the best in town.

2) 11:00 a.m., explore: Rent hotel bikes and head down the street to the crater, or it’s a five-minute drive down Tsvi Bornstein Street, Yeruham’s main — and only — drag. If you plug “Ramon crater” into Waze, the Israeli map app will take you to the crater via a dead-end residential street, where the picket fence offers a view of the brown desert, but there’s nary a trail marker in sight.

Instead, head down Bornstein Street and follow the familiar brown tourist signs to the crater. The street narrows to one lane, twisting and turning as it enters the crater. There are several places to stop and enjoy the view, or follow the road, looking for the trail signs directing visitors into the crater.

The so-called Large Makhtesh (crater) outside Yeruham is actually smaller than the one in Mizpe Ramon (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

A road trip to the Large Makhtesh can include Mount Avnun (for a sweeping view of the crater from the western rim), the petrified trees (at the bottom), the “Large Fin” and “Small Fin” (short climbs to hills near the eastern rim), and the most popular of all: the Colored Sands Park near the eastern rim.

You can hire guides for a day in the crater through Geofun, the center for desert riding in nearby Ben-Gurion College, which offers bike rides for new and experienced bike riders, including moonlight rides.

3) 1:00 p.m., picnic: Whether you’ve packed your own picnic, bought one at Yeruham’s Shufersal supermarket (which offers a plentiful cheese counter) or grabbed a schwarma or falafel from one of several joints on the street, a good place to stop and picnic is at the crater’s Colored Sands park. Used as a campsite as well, it features the wonderfully multicolored sands of the crater, a natural palette of chalk white, deep yellows, oranges, pinks and browns, created by the oxidation of the sandstone at the bottom of the crater.

As at the similar site at the Ramon Crater, kids love to grab an empty plastic bottle and create a sand treasure. When they’re done, set up lunch at one of the picnic tables and admire the birds flying across the crater.

The colored sands at the crater, a great place for making one’s very own sand art (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

4. 2:30 p.m., some more exploration: Head to Mount Avnun at the western rim of the crater, which offers a sweeping, panoramic view of the Large Makhtesh from its height of 656 meters above sea level and about 400 meters above the floor of the crater.

A short, unpaved but easily driven road leads from Route 225 up the mountain, where there’s a parking lot near the top. A viewing platform offers an easy view of the crater, or the more adventurous can climb the remaining piece — short and easy — to see the entire panoramic view of the crater, including the winding road descending into the crater, the Khatira creek and the colored sandstone.

The desert iris, found in February and March in Yeruham (Gideon Pisanty (Gidip)/CC BY 3.0)

5) 3:00 p.m., flower appreciation: Yeruham is one of the few places in Israel where you can see the sand iris, or Yeruham iris, as it’s called in Hebrew. The deep brown and purple irises blossom in a nature reserve north of the town (which can also used as a starting point for hiking the crater), in which 90 different plant species grow, including bulb plants rarely seen elsewhere.

While the sand iris is mostly found in a range of rich browns and purples in the reserve, there are some yellow varieties as well, located at the southern end of the reserve.

Directions: From Beersheba, drive eastward on Route 25 toward Dimona. At the Dimona Junction turn south (right) via Route 204 to Yeruham. Shortly after kilometer marker #158 there is a dirt road that turns left. Take it and follow the signs toward the Sand Iris Reserve.

The Sternbergia flower, also found in the Yeruham nature reserve in the late winter, it looks like a crocus, but it more closely related to the daffodil (Engeser/Wikimedia Commons)

For those taking this trip in the fall, it’s an opportunity to discover the Sternbergia, a yellow bloom from the amaryllis family, which has a similar look to the springtime crocus. The Sternbergia Trail is recommended during October and November when the flowering bulbs fill the desert with yellow blossoms. A local Yeruham educational and tourism organization, Neve Bamidbar, welcomes phone calls from tourists who want to check if the sternbergia (or sand iris) is blooming.

Directions: From the entrance to Yeruham take Route 204 south to Sde Boker and Makhtesh Ramon. Notice on the right an ancient building with monumental arches – the Metzad Yeruham (Yeruham Fort). Continue driving an additional two minutes until reaching the 150 and 149 kilometer markers, where there is a marked turn onto a dirt road that turns west off the road (there is a sign that says Sternbergias of Yeruham) in Hebrew. The trail begins from the dirt road marked blue.

6) 5:00 p.m., must be snacktime (or early dinner): Stop in at Zman Eichut (Quality Time), Yeruham’s sole cafe, a comfortable spot to drink a morning coffee or a late afternoon tea with a plate of cookies or pie, although there’s also a full menu of salads, sandwiches, pasta and fish and you can order a picnic basket for that bike ride into the crater. There are books on the shelves as well, and a spacious outdoor space when the weather is warm — but not too warm. The walls feature black-and-white photos of old Yeruham for a look back at the humble roots of this desert town. It’s owned by a Yeruham native, Hadara Ben-David, who wanted to bring a bit of Tel Aviv to the desert. Zman Eichut, Bornstein Street (next to the post office), Sunday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-11 pm, Fridays until 2 p.m., closed on Saturday.

The always-full bakery case at Zman Eichut, Yeruham’s one — and only — cafe/bakery that also prepares picnic baskets for hikers and bikers (Courtesy Zman Ichut)

7) 7 p.m., dinnertime: The roads around here are single-lane highways that turn dark as daylight fades. So it’s best to stick close to town for dinner rather than travel the half hour to Beersheba. The options are few: cafe fare at Zman Eichut, the above-mentioned falafel and schwarma joints, or dinner at the hotel.

There is, however, one unique option, a dinner (or lunch) with the Cooking Mamas, also known as Culinary Queens of Yeruham. These are meals organized by Atid Bamidbar, a local nonprofit that helps strengthen development in the Negev by collaborating on social projects and initiatives. Visitors can help cook the meals, learning about the different food cultures from the hosts, and then eat together while hearing stories about the women, their families and what they have forged in the desert. Available only by reservation, NIS 110 per person, call Shai 050-591-4174 or Orly 052-544-5435 from Atid Bamidbar, for reservations and more information.

8) 9 p.m., need a nightcap? Stop in at HamaBARa, Yeruham’s only pub, situated in a simple building along Yeruham’s main drag, but with a surprising selection of local wines, beers and some mixed cocktails. The crowd is all local, and they nosh on the typical Israeli mezze with their drinks, crunching on deep fried phyllo “cigars” and kubbeh while drinking a half-pint of Negev, the local microbrew. HamaBARa, open from 8 p.m. every night except Friday.

Yeruham’s first and only bar, Hama’abara on the town’s main drag (Courtesy Hama’abara)

Other ideas while in Yeruham:

• There’s Yeruham Park, a lush, green space with a lake at its center, part of a pine tree forest planted by the Jewish National Fund some 30 years ago. The artificial lake is a reservoir created in the Revivim creek upstream from a dam, and while there are fisherman angling for tilapia, it’s not available to swimmers. There is a pleasant, shaded picnic area and a playground for kids.
• Look at the Atid Bamidbar website, which besides organizing the Culinary Queens workshops also offers other ideas and activities while in the area. Contact them for more information about Bedouin hospitality, learning Torah in the desert, team bonding activities with kites, panels with local residents, a treasure hunt around the streets of Yeruham and drumming circles.
• Take some time out for swimming and spa at Neve Midbar HaNegev Baths, located nearby, where there are thermo-mineral baths, regular pools for kids, dry saunas, steam rooms and massage treatments.
• Visit the goats and have some divine cheeses and other treats at the Kornmehl Farm, where the family’s cafe is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.