Touring Israel with a tour guide

The Mount Tabor Oak (Quercus ithaburensis) The Mount Tabor Oak ( Quercus ithaburensis ) – Israel's ancient giant of the lowlands. 🌳 Also known as the Tabor Oak this tree is a living landmark of the Holy Land's natural heritage. If you've driven through the Galilee, Golan or coastal plain you've likely passed one without realising you were looking at a centuries-old witness to history. Fast facts: 🔹 Habitat Mediterranean woodlands & savanna-like parklands – from the Jezreel Valley up to the Golan Heights. The Tabor oak prefers deep rich soils & can grow into a true giant with a massive spreading canopy. 🔹 Identification Deciduous (loses leaves in winter). Large deeply lobed leaves. Acorns are huge – among the largest of any oak in Israel. The bark is dark & deeply cracked. Mature trees can reach 15–18 metres tall with a crown just as wide. 🔹 Ecological role A keystone species. Its acorns feed wild boar, squirrels & many birds. The tree's broa...

The Chukar, (Alectoris chukar) If you've hiked in the Judean Desert, Ein Gedi or the Golan Heights, you've almost certainly heard one before you saw it. Their sharp, chattering "chuk-chuk-chuk-chukar" call echoes off canyon walls - hence the name. 🔹 Habitat Rocky slopes, dry scrubland & cliff edges, the Chukar thrives where few other birds do, often far from water. 🔹 Diet Seeds, leaves, insects & small invertebrates. In summer, they'll dig for bulbs & tubers. They run first, fly only as a last resort. 🔹 Mating & family life Monogamous during breeding season (spring to early summer). Nests are simple scrapes on the ground, hidden under a rock or bush. Clutch size: 10–20 eggs (!). Chicks are relatively mature within hours of hatching; able to feed themselves & run almost immediately! 🔹 Fun fact The Chukar is Israel's unofficial national bird of rugged places. It's also a prized game bird worldwide. 👉 Spotting tip: Look for them at s...

The German cockroach (Blattella germanica) 🚫 Uninvited guest alert! This is one of the most common & persistent household pests worldwide, including in Israel. While Israel is home to incredible wildlife, ancient history & breathtaking landscapes, this little guy is not the souvenir you want. 🏨🚽🍽️ 🏠 Habitat Warm, humid & close to food & water. Think kitchens, bathrooms, behind refrigerators, inside electronics. 🍕 Diet Omnivorous scavengers. They’ll eat crumbs, grease, soap, glue, book bindings...& even each other’s shed skins. If it’s organic (or close enough), it’s on the menu. 💞 Mating Females produce a pheromone called blattellaquinone to attract males. After mating, she carries an egg case (ootheca) for ~28 days, then drops it in a hidden spot. Each case holds 30–40 eggs, and one female can produce 4–8 cases in her lifetime. Yes, they multiply fast. 🚫 At Imagine Israel Tours, we want you to enjoy Israel’s real wonders - not these uninvited guests. We onl...

Did you know that the oldest map of the Holy Land is actually a magnificent mosaic? I've always been fascinated by maps, & this is one of my favourites. Unveiling the Marvels of the Madaba Mosaic...... Crafted by anonymous artists, likely for the Christian community of Madaba, this magnificent mosaic depicts part of the Middle East during the height of the Byzantine period & is the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land - & especially Jerusalem. It is comprised of thousands of coloured stones, & portrays a vast expanse of land, stretching from Lebanon in the north to Egypt in the south, & from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Arabian Desert in the east. Madaba, an ancient town of the Jordanian Plateau, is mentioned in the bible as a Moabite city (Numbers 21:30 & Joshua 13:9) but in the bible it was known as Medeba. Today, Madaba (Arabic: مادبا; Biblical Hebrew: מֵידְבָא‎ Mēḏəḇāʾ; Ancient Greek: Μήδαβα) is the capital city o...

Nomad jellyfish (Rhopilema nomadica) Come summer, Israel's Mediterranean coast becomes a hotspot for these drifters. Love them or avoid them, they're fascinating. 🌿 HABITAT The most infamous is the Nomad jellyfish (Rhopilema nomadica) - an invasive species from the Indian & Pacific Oceans. It entered the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal & has thrived here since the 1970s. Its body is light blue, with a rounded bell commonly 40–60cm in diameter, but it can reach up to 90cm & weigh 10kg! You'll also spot the Fried Egg Jellyfish (Cotylorhiza tuberculata) – harmless & beautiful - plus moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) . 🥚 BREEDING Jellyfish have a 2-stage life cycle. Adults release sperm & eggs into the water. Fertilised eggs grow into larvae that settle on the seabed, becoming polyps. These polyps then bud off tiny baby jellyfish (ephyrae) when water temperatures drop. In Israel, we are already seeing massive swarms which will be here through September. 🍽️...

Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes of Shearith Israel 📅 ON THIS DAY: 8 June 1898 The Orthodox Union is born - & changes American Jewish history. 25 years after the Reform movement formed its own congregational body, Orthodox Jews in the United States created their own unifying voice: the Orthodox Union (OU). The founding meeting took place at Congregation Shearith Israel,  the historic Spanish & Portuguese synagogue in New York. The driving force? Rabbi Henry Pereira Mendes of Shearith Israel, who, alongside Rabbi Sabato Morais of Philadelphia, had already founded the Jewish Theological Seminary in 188. Why the urgency? Rabbi Mendes & his colleagues believed the Reform movement was abandoning too much Jewish law, especially the kosher dietary rules ( kashrut ). With Reform growing rapidly, particularly among new immigrants from Eastern Europe, they wanted a strong organisational voice for traditionally observant communities. What made the OU different? *A fierce commitment...

The Egyptian fruit bat (Rousettus aegyptiacus) Israel is home to 33 bat species, but only this one is a fruit bat. Forget what you know about creepy cave dwellers. These gentle, dog-faced bats are vital to Israel's ecosystem, & you can spot them at dusk across large parts of the country. 🌿 HABITAT From the Galilee & Golan Heights down to the Negev's Ein Gedi & Eilat Mountains, these bats love warm caves, abandoned bunkers & even ancient ruins. The Banias nature reserve & Nahal Soreq Cave are famous for their colonies. They roost in huge numbers, sometimes thousands strong. 🍽️ DIET Strictly frugivorous (fruit-eaters). Figs, dates, ripe persimmons, mulberries & even cultivated orchard fruits. They don't use echolocation like insect-eating bats - instead, they click their tongues rapidly to navigate. Think of it as a built-in fruit GPS. 🥚 BREEDING Mating happens in late autumn. Females give birth to a single pup (rarely twins) April - June – just in ...