I recently visited the Birdwatching Center/Park in Eilat, Israel. 30 + years ago (1987-1993) I had the great privilege of working here during this project’s first years. It has come a long way since then and I felt like a proud grandfather as I strolled along the beautiful paths,ponds and hides and chatted with the fantastic team who now run the place.

My trip to Israel was primarily a family visit – because of travel restrictions I hadn’t seen my mother, my siblings and their offspring for a quite some time. When it seemed I could travel to Israel without being isolated in some awful state-run hotel I decided to take a bit longer than my usual quick visit. Which meant that between various family get-togethers and musical activities I could borrow my mum’s little car and head off to see some people and places I hadn’t seen in a very long time, and get in some casual bird-watching as well.

I left Belgium well into some heavy winter weather and arrived in Israel to almost summery weather (at least by European standards). The first rains of the wet season had already come and gone, leaving the land with a touch of green new growth and some early flowering geophytes popping up here and there.

I made a couple of short trips to visit friends in the coastal plain and in the North. I wasn’t really looking for birds but they are everywhere …

Back to Jerusalem and a few more days with my Mum, 2 niece’s birthdays and some musical activities. And, of course, a pilgrimage to Pinati’s Hummus in King George Street – just as delicious as when I first ate there 40+ years ago (and almost unchanged).

Now it was time for a longer trip and perhaps even some proper birding. My destination: the Southern Negev and Eilat.

I left Jerusalem very early (avoiding the traffic) and reached the Dead Sea in time for sunrise. I thought it would be nice to stop at the oasis of Ein Gedi and go for a walk in Nahal Arugot gorge but the entrance was blocked by a massive gate – things had changed since I had last been here! ( OK enough with counting years). So had some fun photographing Tristram’s Starlings near the gate and just when I decided to move on the reserve staff showed up to open the gate. So in the end I did go for a walk.

I spent the rest of the day catching up with my friend Ofer at his very impressive Crocodile farm in the Arava; from there a beautiful evening drive along the rift valley brought me to Kibbutz Samar, an oasis in the stark desert, and home of my friends Giora and Avishag.

All these reunions where beginning to take their toll on me; I was longing to be on my own again. The desert has always been for me a place of solitude and retreat. So I found a holiday flat in nearby Be’er Ora. When I lived in the area ( eons ago ) , this was a tiny, semi-abandoned army base. Today it’s a small town known for it’s Eco/Desert architecture. Looked to me rather like a set from Star-wars.

From here it’s a short way to Eilat, Israel’s southernmost city, on the Red Sea. But the town and it’s tacky hotels are not what I am here for. Long ago (when Dinosaurs still roamed the cooling planet) I lived here and was involved in setting up a project named (not by me), somewhat bombastically, “The International Birdwatching Center, Eilat”. This has grown over the years and I spend a few delightful hours in the beautiful Eilat Bird Park. At the end of my visit, Noam (who claims he isn’t the director, but I’m not really convinced) hands me a T-shirt; on the front is a Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, on the back it says “staff”; I am deeply moved.

I make my way down to the North Beach – the last strip of open beach remaining between the sprawl of hotels and the Jordanian frontier. I sit by the sea until I recover from the emotionally intense morning; then after a swim I head out.

Up till now I have been enjoying Israeli birds as I bump in to them. However, I can’t resist going to look for some “specials” I have heard about in the desert near Eilat. I get in touch with Itai Shani – a local birder whose expertise has helped me greatly during my African journeys, although we have never actually met (or so I thought: it turned out that as a wee lad Itai used to help out at his uncle’s camel ranch where I often passed by in the old days). Anyway – we meet up and head out to Uvda valley – home to rare Larks and other ornithological delights.

Sure enough, a flock of Thick-billed Larks flies past us, exactly at the time and place Itai said they would. I am thrilled (it’s a new species for me), though Itai seems to be quite annoyed at them for not landing anywhere within sight. There are many other birds around and I am happy to continue exploring when Itai has to leave.

The last leg of my little desert trip is a beautiful drive through the Negev highlands, back to the central part of the country.

For a nomad like myself there is no one place called home; but Israel comes close, damn close.