‘En No’it

After a quick lunch stop at a random shopping mall in the middle of nowhere selling dates at the price of caviar and "bargain" beauty products with three-digit tags, we finally reach the Dead Sea, a dying Nature's wonder.

This huge saltwater lake is indeed literally disappearing in front of our eyes... and not even slowly! In fact, the water level goes down by 1 meter every year.
The reasons are mainly two:
1. Evaporation
2. Lack of water sources (all freshwater in Israel and Jordan is used for irrigation or as drink water)
As a result, the quantity of water evaporating is greater than the inflow.

As a consequence of all this, the Dead Sea is literally dying, with terrible consequences for the ecosystem.
There are many plans aiming at solving the issue. For instance, the was a project
consisting of crating a tunnel to convey water from the Mediterranean or the Red Sea into the Dead Sea. Jordan was promoting the project, but Israel opposed and asked for an independent opinion. The answer was that the channel cannot be built, because the chemical composition of the Dead Sea and Red Sea water is different and mixing the different water types will generate large amounts of gypsum, toxic to the local ecosystem.
So, basically, everything is on hold.

If all this were not enough, every year in Winter the mountains get a lot of rain: as the soil is extremely dry in this area, the water strams flowing down the mountains cause floods and destroy everything on their passage. That´s why we see many bridges and water containment walls even though it looks like we are in a desert.
Fun fact: if it rains in Jerusalem, it would take 8 years for the water to reach the Dead Sea!

Nowadays the Dead Sea is split into two parts and our resort is on the smaller (Southern) one. The ground on the shores is very salty, which makes the environment suitable only for very specific types of trees and bushes.

When we finally reach our hotel we cannot believe our eyes: if in Jordan there was absolutely nothing around us, here we are in an exclusive sea village and the hotel itself offers swimming pool, spa, massage, fitness studio and anything else you might think of.
I start regretting signing up for the optional activity tomorrow...

Ludo immediately tests the world-renowned floating effect of the waters of the Dead Sea (the 34% salinity pushes bodies up) and is caught on a drone shot while doing artistic swimming with our travel mates.
And his bright tan doesn't go unnoticed...🙄 😂😂😂Read more