The Israel National Trail (about 90 minutes) Safety Directives for Visitors This trail can easily be completed in about an hour and a half or Please observe these rules: less. It is marked along the way with the orange-blue-white Israel National Trail colors. n Do not harm flora, fauna, or inanimate objects. Fishing is prohibited! You start out as on the Green Trail but you don’t head back to the parking lot – continue downstream. The level of difficulty farther n BUY AN ISRAEL NATURE AND Walk on marked trails only. Be careful of slippery ground! along is similar to the last few minutes of the Green Trail. We PARKS AUTHORITY SUBSCRIPTION n Visitors are not allowed in the reserve after closing hours. recommend stopping here and there to look back, toward the n Loud music is prohibited. stream’s frothy cascades. Continue walking for five more minutes FOR UNLIMITED FREE ENTRY TO to reach the path leading to the Dag Al Hadan restaurant. Senir Stream n Keep the area clean. Do not burn or bury trash; take it out with you. 55 NATIONAL PARKS AND NATURE Ten more minutes’ walk will bring you to the waterfall, where a Nature Reserve RESERVES. n Do not light fires. travertine rock shelf extends right to the water’s edge. This is a n Swimming or jumping into the water is absolutely prohibited! good place to rest and enjoy the view of the stream and the water changing from minute to minute as it cascades over the stones. n Do not go near the edge of the cliff to avoid falling, and do not roll Another 10 minutes’ walk in the shade will bring you to a sunny, down stones! www.parks.org.il I 3639 I dry segment of the trail. But a few hundred meters farther you’ll * n Each person should have three liters of water per day. Do not depend find the shade and the water’s edge again. The stream is wide and on natural water sources for drinking. Wear walking shoes and a hat. deep here – entering the water is dangerous! n Flooding is a danger in winter; follow weather reports. In cloudy This is where the portion of the Israel National Trail along the weather do not walk in the streams or cross them. Be careful of Senir Stream ends. slippery ground on rainy days. To return to your car, turn east (left) for 50 meters to an unpaved road (bicycle trail). This is a comfortable trail, flat and sunny. If you Opening hours: left your car at Gan Hatasfon head south (right, along the bicycle trail and walk for five minutes until you reach Gan Hatsafon. Nearby Sites: Summer 08:00-17:00 Warning: Do not cross the road; instead, continue right and go Winter 08:00-16:00 under the bridge. If you left your car at the beginning of the trail head north (left) on the trail. A 15-minute walk will bring you back Entry to the reserve is up to one hoyr before closing. to the parking lot. Tel Dan On Friday and holiday eves the site reserve close one hour earlier. Nature Reserve Nature Conservation about 20 minutes’ drive The banks of the Senir Stream are a varied nature reserve, part of the Jordan Sources reserve. On the map, the reserve looks like slender fingers lining the streams, which converge at Sde Nehemiyah. Farming between the streams uses modern methods ‘Iyyon Stream including spraying and irrigation, and tourism sometimes results You in scattered garbage and fires (due to visitors’ negligence). are here Nature Reserve about 12 minutes’ drive Consequently the reserve is prone to fires, pollution and impaired water quality. The Senir Stream Horshat Tal National Park about 5 minutes’ drive Writer: Micha Livneh; Translator: Miriam Feinberg Vamosh Maps: Miri Leshem-Peli Photos: Eyal Margolin, Chagai Shlomo, Hugh Jansman, www.parks.org.il I *3639 I Common kingfisher Pied kingfisher Dotan Rotem, INPA Archive (Alcedo atthis) (Ceryle rudis) Senir Stream (Hatsbani) Nature Reserve, Tel: 04-6950064 Production: Adi Greenbaum © The Israel Nature and Parks Authority cubic meters per second and in October, a low of 1.2 meters per An annual average of 130 million cubic meters of water pass is very common in the Hula Valley and the Golan, and is found Welcome to the Senir (Hatsbani) second. In a drought year, the discharge rate falls to half. The through the Senir – one-fourth of the Jordan River’s water nowhere else in the world except Syria and Israel. villagers of Ghajar and the small Lebanese village of al-Waziya use (another quarter is supplied by the Hermon River – the Banias – If we look at the leaves of the holy bramble, we will notice they Stream Nature Reserve a small amount of the water for domestic needs; the rest flows and half comes from the Dan). The difference between seasons is have been bored through in a lacey design. The culprit is a small downstream all year round. enormous: at its height, after the strong continual rains of winter, species of beetle, the chrysomelid (Altica bicarinata) metallic Further downstream the channel becomes a beautiful canyon 400 times more water flows in the stream than in the fall of a green in color. The Israel Nature and Parks Authority, together with the Upper with basalt-pillar walls. When the stream reaches the nature drought year. During floods, people gather at the bridge for a view Galilee Regional Council, have prepared this nature reserve for Land crabs (Potamon potamios) can be seen on the ground at the reserve, it flows along a plain with low banks 2–6 meters high. The of the grandeur of nature, when the muddy stream becomes a visitors. The reserve boasts year-round flowing water, shady edge of the water and in it. They are an important part of the diet banks consist of alternating deposits of travertine (limey deposits deep and mighty river. riverbank vegetation, colorful blooming plants even at the height of the noisy white-breasted kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis). from springs) and basalt boulders. The bottom of the stream of summer, interesting trails of varying degrees of challenge, a channel is also lined with boulders of various sizes. This portion spectacular landscape and a relaxed pastoral atmosphere. Fauna Flora of the stream is approximately 1,600 meters long. Its general Most of the large mammals living along the stream banks are Plant life along the stream banks is rich and varied, flourishing direction is south-southwest, with a small number of wide bends generally nocturnal (this is why the reserve closes in the early “like a tree planted by streams of water” (Psalms 1:3). After one descending at a rate of 35 meters. evening), and are therefore usually invisible to daytime visitors. fire, reeds and vines grew back here at a rate of 10 centimeters a Getting to the Reserve Its incline is 2.2%, slightly less than the incline of the previous Still, try not to disturb them as you walk along. From time to time day. The plants also excel in their resistance to flooding and the Take road 90 to the Metsudot Junction north of Qiryat Shemona. portion of the stream, but enough to cause a powerful flow, a sight you may spot an Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon), but beauty of their blossoms. Turn right (east) at road 99 (Metsudot Road). Drive 4.5 kilometers visitors enjoy. The stream flows straight along with a few falls that the Indian crested porcupines (Hystrix indica) leave only their to the Hagoshrim Interchange and turn north. Follow the signs for provide spectacular scenery. The trail, prepared in the 80s by the quills behind, and wild boars (Sus scrofa) signal their presence Ten different kinds of indigenous trees grow in the reserve, and about one kilometer through the avocado orchards. then-Israel Parks Authority and the Society for the Protection of with the remains of hair and masticated food. Otters (Lutra another eight domesticated species, Do not enter the water except in designated places, both for Nature along this portion of the stream, reveals the charms of the lutra) and jungle cats (Felis chaus) leave only their footprints and along with 10 species of shrubs and safety and conservation reasons (to protect small forms of life in riparian landscape to visitors. droppings. three species of reeds. The tangle of stream bank vegetation is especially the water that form the basis for the entire ecological system). Road 99 (“the fortress road”) passes above the stream on the Senir Kingfishers, egrets (Ardea cinera), and a host of songbirds nest conducive to the growth of 10 Bridge, known in Arabic as A-dilb (“plane tree”) Bridge. South of along the banks and feed on the flora and fauna. The Stream this area is the region’s rafting kingdom. The stream digs deeply different species of vines. into the valley, between soil banks two to eight meters high. Its The most common trees in the The stream’s Arabic name, Hatsbani, is the name by which its general direction is south but it twists and turns along the way. Did You Know? reserve are the oriental plane tree portion in Lebanon is still known. In Israel, the stream has been (Platanus orientalis), with its large, On the outer wall of each bend, the bank is a sheer wall, a habitat The otter is a carnivore of the given the Hebrew name Senir. The Senir Stream is one of the hand-shaped leaves and prickly for nesting kingfishers (Alcedo atthis), rollers (Loracias garrulus), Lutrinae family and it is an major sources of the Jordan.