Eshkol National Park

An oasis in the Negev Desert.

The Eshkol National Park near Beersheba has been named after Levi Eshkol (Hebrew לֵוִי אֶשְׁכּוֹל , October 25, 1895 - February 26, 1969), who served as the third Prime Minister of Israel from 1963 until his death from a heart attack in 1969.
In the park is a route, the Besor Route, an eighteen-kilometer-long dirt road with beautiful views, an old railway bridge, Tel Sharuhen, En Sharuhen (a natural pool), and a suspension bridge. The route ends at Ze'elim junction.


Old Railway Bridge
The British armed forces laid railroad tracks from Rafah to Beer Sheva that once bridged Wadi Besor.
In the spring of 1917, the cavalry unit of ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) seized the Besor Pass and Ein Besor in the north.
A wooden bridge was erected in June 1917, and its concrete foundation can be seen in the river bed.
From May 1918 until July 1927, the train ran three times a week.
The bridge was reconstructed in 2004.

Old Railway Bridge

Tel Sharuhen (Tel El-Far'a)
The tell was populated almost continuously from the Middle Bronze age (17th century BCE) until the Roman period (2nd century CE).
The tell and the surrounding cemeteries were excavated by Petrie in 1928-1929.
The tell was surrounded by a moat.
To the south are remnants of a brick gate and sections of a glacis.
The northern part of the site contains the courtyard of the Egyptian governor's palace paved with pebbles from the wadi, part of an Assyrian brick wall, and the remains of a Roman fortress.

Sharuhen Pool
A natural pool, containing water all year-round. In ancient times, the pool was the main source of water for nearby Tel Sharuhen.
During the Roman period, the Limes Palaestina, a protected road connecting Rafah with the Dead Sea, crossed Wadi Besor to the south of the pool.

Sharuhen Pool

Be'er Revuva is located some two kilometers north of the water reservoirs.
The well was excavated by the Turks times and refurbished by the British.
Close by are several sycamores.
The Turks encouraged the Bedouin of the nearby village of Rueiba (Revuva) to plant tamarisks.
The old tamarisks along the scenic route near the well were transplanted by KKL-JNF, in preparing large fields for citrus groves.

Be'er Revuva

Suspension bridge
KKL-JNF's suspension bridge over the Besor Riverbed is the only one of its kind in Israel, spanning the two banks over a section of the bed that contains water year round.

Suspension bridge