The Land of Tents
A journey to the nomadic heritage
of the Negev Highlands Bedouin tribes
We invite you to join us on a fascinating journey in time, to an ancient and intriguing culture,
The nomadic culture of the Negev Highlands’ Bedouin tribes.
This is your opportunity for a close encounter with authentic desert people, and to glimpse the legacy of nomadic desert life, preserved for centuries.
Authentic Bedouin cultural experience
The Land of Tents project aims to expose the public in Israel and worldwide to the desert heritage and knowledge preserved by the Bedouin tribes of the Negev highlands, between Sde Boker and Mitzpe Ramon.
In the Negev highlands, few Bedouin families still maintain the ancient Bedouin way of life. The Land of Tents provides a rare opportunity to glimpse this way of life.
Here you can enjoy a meaningful and unique experience as guests in the desert people’s tents, with fascinating personal encounters, stories around the campfire, learning traditional crafts, or learning desert skills outdoors.
How does it work?
We work with several Bedouin hosts in the vicinity of Mitzpe Ramon, who all live up to 20 minutes’ drive from town. We associate each reservation with the appropriate host.
To book an activity, choose one or more of the experiences you are curious about, choose the number of people, and when you plan to arrive. A traditional meal can be added to any activity.
The booking system will display the total cost, and then you can proceed to secure online payment with credit card. You can choose to either pay the full amount, or only an advance payment of 300 ILS and complete the full payment after we send you all the details regarding your host.
Accommodation and traditional meals
Tribe Community Experiences
Traditional Bedouin Shig Hospitality
Come and visit the comfortable guest tents, with a warm fire burning in its center, where you will always find coffee and tea pots.
This is a chance to become familiar with a rich and enchanting desert culture, where the main activities are animal breeding and herding sheep, goats and camels, making Bedouin cheese (“afik”), embroidery and weaving using traditional looms, and above all – a deep connection to the forces of nature, which dictate life and the everyday routine.
Desert skills
You can choose between an introduction to ancient crafts – loom weaving or baking the typical “libbe” bread, and various outdoor excursions – tracking, gathering desert plants and herbs for food and medicine, and herding.
Each activity opens a window to a colorful and surprising world. Each activity opens a window to a colorful and surprising world. Each workshop or tour is dedicated to learning an ancient desert skills and traditions that have evolved over thousands of years and are cherished by the people who preserve them to this day.
Where does the activity take place?
The activities and workshops take place in the families’ dwelling places and in the open spaces around the Negev Highlands tribes, along Highway 40 between Midreshet Ben-Gurion and Mitzpe Ramon:
Ramat Tizporim community is near Ben Gurion collage, Abde community is near Abdat National Park, Nahal Hava community is south of Abdat National Park, Nahal Arikha community is north of Mitzpe Ramon, and Al Ramak community is in Mitzpe Ramon.
Activities Price List
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Overnight Accommodation PP 260 ₪
For a closer encounter with traditional Bedouin life and the magic of the desert, you are invited to stay overnight with one of our host families, inside the community. Dinner, conversation with hot tea around the campfire, silent night around and sky full of stars above… In the morning you will witness how the desert and the community wake up to a new day. In the accommodation tent you will receive a mattress and you must bring your own bed linen or sleeping bags. You can also place your own camping tent. Overnight stay includes a full dinner and a light breakfast with tea and coffee. Accommodation features basic toilets and showers.
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Group Activity Price 600 ₪
For a group of up to six participants
Additional participants: 60 ILS PP
The activities we offer last 1.5-2 hours
(not including meals, if booked).
If you are interested in more extensive activities or excursions, please tell us and we will find those that suit you!
Meals Price List
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lunch/dinner PP 120 ₪
Mansaf and Maqluba (“Magluba” in the Bedouin dialect) are staple dishes of the traditional Bedouin cuisine. Each is a full meal, rich with flavors, and each Bedouin family specializes in a dish with a unique way to prepare it. The dishes can be booked as lunch or dinner, vegetarian or vegan version available. Mansaf: A mountain of rice is laid over a layer of freshly baked pita bread, with cooked & seasoned meat on top (we serve chicken), seasonal vegetables on the side, and other surprises according to the host family’s taste. Magluba(“upside down” in Arabic): Vegetables and meat (chicken) are cooked on the bottom of the pot, with a layer of rice above them to absorb the flavors from below. The pot is turned upside down on a round tray when served, creating a mountain of rice with the meat and vegetables on top.
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Shepherd’s meal PP 60 ₪
When moving around the pasture with the goats or camels, meals are simple, light, and modest.
Our shepherd’s meals include libbe (bread baked inside the fire embers and hot sand) or fresh pita bread straight from the saj with labaneh or afik (dried goat cheese), tahina, fresh vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, olive oil and za’atar.
We recommend adding this meal to the plant-gathering or tracking excursions.