VN July 2020

Vetnews | July 2020 33 Story About an hour into our drive we breasted a rise and before us stretched a completely level plain, as flat as a tennis court as far you could see. “This is the “Lake of the Moon””, he explained. “When the rain falls there is no drainage, so for several months this is a vast lake, which slowly dries up for the next ten years or so”. He then pointed out a row of rocky cairns dotted every few 100 meters, disappearing into the distance. This was a camel caravan trail, he explained, which dated back to 300 BC. Taking us down another wadi we arrived at the Haketabod canyon where those caravans used to stop to rest. There were many inscriptions on the walls and pictures of camels, ostriches and donkeys. According to our guide the folk in the caravans often used to leave messages for each, other scratched out on the rock. On our way back to Eilat he showed us a remarkable rock formation where the Rift Valley, which started in that area, hadmoved pouring our molten rock due to the friction. One could clearly see the dark-purple black of the melted rock which had been squeezed out as the earth moved. And later we rounded a huge rock to see clear water gushing out of the desert floor falling in a sparkling waterfall several meters into a large pool, before disappearing into the ground again. All too soon we were back at the hotel, but the afternoon beckoned, a trip over the coral reefs in a glass-bottomed boat. The afternoon cruise was just a foretaste of the snorkel trail we did the next morning. This plaasjapie’s eyes almost popped out as visions of the most brilliant colours went past us, coral formations and the most amazing variety of tropical fish. My journal entry describes briefly “Huge parrot fish – greeny blue and bright yellow scorpion fish, looking like a bird’s feathers, small fish of every colour even iridescent purple, coral formations of every colour and shape, some even shaped like large leaves”. Before all this had sunk in properly we were flying back to Dov airport in Tel Aviv. The Kumsitz party that evening with another braai and lots of folk dancing and even meeting the current Miss Israel was almost an anti-climax and we crawled into bed at Kvar Maccabia, dead tired again but strangely exhilarated. But what about the purpose of my being included on the tour, to investigate the potential of starting a kibbutz in Swellendam? More about that next month. v