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Just north of Eilat

They appear to take wildlife conservation at lot more seriously in Israel compared to Jordan. Didn’t see a huge amount in my two days there in 1997, but from talking to people it was apparent that mammals were far more commonly seen here than over the border in Jordan. In 2008 I went back for a day during a work trip to Jordan.

Hula Valley National Park, January 1997 – Black Rat and feral Coypu.

Maktesh Ramon, January 1997 – Nubian Ibex (quite common). This national park is pretty interesting. The park staff reckoned spotlighting was good - with chances for Striped Hyena around the garbage dump. But, in order to take me spotlighting I need a 4WD and the park guys wanted $100 US to take me, which seemed a bit steep.

Desert (Ethiopian) Hedgehog, Kibbutz Lotan

Kibbutz Lotan, October 2008 - Ethiopian Hedgehogs are common here at least in the warmer months (thanks Ohr for the tip!) and during a night's stay I saw a couple in the grounds of this unusual eco-kibbutz about 40km north of Eilat. The Kibbutz has tourist accommodation and is well set up for bird watching. I also saw a Porcupine quill and expect they would be easy enough to spot if you went spotlighting around the date groves.

In 2008 I tried to arrange a spotlighting trip around Eilat to look for Acacia Gazelles and some nocturnal mammals. Eran Levin is a guide based in the area who seemed knowledgeable and was willing to take me out. He would be worth contacting if you are in the area but the cost of the trip I wanted to do was too expensive for me.

Ohr Treger from Israel knows much more than me about mammal watching there. He was good enough to provide the following information.

The Hula Valley in northern israel is a great place to view wildlife, like Jungle Cats, Golden Jackals, Wild Boar, Egyptian Mongoose, Bats, introduced Nutria and Eurasian Otters (if you are lucky). There are two places in the Hula Valley where you can see wildlife, the Agamon and the Hula Nature Reserve which during the the fall and the winter are teeming with birds. It is possible to take a guided night safari tour of the Agamon where you are almost guaranteed sightings of Jungle Cats and Golden Jackal (check youtube for videos). I've been on two such tours and in both tours i saw several Jungle Cats and one one tour Golden Jackals. It is also possible to see these animals in the daytime, 2 years ago during a morning trip in the Agamon in the Fall I managed to see a Jungle Cat killing a baby Nutria and a Golden Jackal walking along a reed bed. Inside the Agamon's visitor centre you can see insect eating bats that settled there. In the Hula Nature Reserve you have good chances of seeing Wild Boars and introduced Water Buffalo. The Wild Boar are often seen hanging around the Water Buffalo. In the mountains to the west of the Hula Valley you can see Mountain Gazelles during the daytime.

The mountainous areas of the Golan Heights and the Galilee to the east and west of the Hula Valley respectively are some of the best places in Israel to see wild mammals. There are about 15 packs of Wolves in the golan heights and about 10 packs in the Galilee. There are Wild Boar, Mountain Gazelles, Red Foxes, Golden Jackals, Indian Crested Porcupines,Wild Cats (i don't know if there are any genetically pure wild cats left), Caracals, a few Striped Hyenas, Eurasian Badgers, Marbled Polecats, Beech Martens, Brown Hares, Rock Hyraxes, Egyptian Mongoose, a variety of bats and Eurasian Otters in the rivers and streams. There is a guide named Eli who can take you on a night tour in the the northern areas of israel in the Galilee, the Hula Valley and the Golan Heights to see animals. I don't know if he speaks English but he is an expert on finding mammals, his cellphone number is 052-3792254 . His website which is only in Hebrew has great photos and video footage of wildlife.

Mt. Hermon on the border with Syria and Lebanon is the only place in Israel where you can find the rare Snow Vole and the Steppe Field Mouse.

In Tel-Dan Nature Reserve to the north of the Hula Valley you might see a Eurasian Otter or a Wild Boar if you are lucky, but you have good chances of seeing Fire Salamanders during the winter (I saw about 5-8 salamanders when i visited the reserve in 2004 and one in 2007).

A great place to see the Rock Hyrax is the Banias Nature Reserve where you can see them running around the rocks. I have seen them in both of my visits to this reserve. I also saw Wild Boar here.

The Cziv Nature Reserve in the Western Galilee is where you can see a wild re-introduced population of more than 150 Persian Fallow Deer. They were hunted to extinction in Israel between the late 19th and early 20th centuries and for more than 10 years now the israeli nature and parks authority has been running a successful captive breeding and re-introduction program for this subspecies.

The Carmel Mountains around the city of Haifa are a good place to look for Wild Boar, especially around the edges of the city because packs often enter the city looking for food. The Carmel Mountains also have Wolves, Golden Jackals, Red Foxes, Polecats, Egyptian Fruit Bats, Yellow-necked Mice, Porcupines, Mountain Gazelles, Egyptian Mongooses and possibly Striped Hyenas and Caracals.

South of the Carmels, the Alexander River has one of the last remaining populations of Nile Soft-shelled turtles, this large turtle can weigh up to 50 kg and reach a length up to 120 centimeters, these turtles can easily be seen from the turtle bridge which crosses the river next to the small farming village of Kfar Vitkin. A walking trail along the river offers chances for Wild Boar, Jungle Cat, Egyptian Mongoose, Red Fox, Golden Jackal, the introduced Nutria and possibly some Eurasian Otters.

Britania Park and its surroundings in the Judean Lowlands south west of Jerusalem is another great place to see wildlife. It is a large area of public land and much of it is still covered in native bush. It has Golden Jackals, Striped Hyenas, Caracals, Mountain Gazelles, and a variety of other mammals. In 2005, I went with a Polish researcher who was studying the park's wildlife and we saw several Gazelles and a pair of Golden Jackals.

Another interesting place to visit is the Nitsanim Sand Dunes along the Mediterranean coast between the cities of Ashkelon and Ashdod. Its one of the last remaining remnants of the coastal sand dunes that used to exist along the Mediterranean coast of Israel. Animals that can be found here include an isolated population of Mountain Gazelles, Red Foxes, Egyptian Mongooses,
Buxton's Jird (an endemic species found only in the sand dunes of south western israel, the gaza strip and northern sinai), Anderson's Gerbil, Greater Egyptian Gerbils, Lesser Egyptian Jerboas, Brown Hares and Long-eared Hedgehogs (it may be locally extinct) and a variety of reptiles.

A great place to see Golden Jackals is the countryside of Sedot Micha south of the city of Beit Shemesh. My Dad and I went spotlighting in this place several times and we saw Jackals each time. Once, we saw a group of 3 Jackals with a kill. We often travel in this area at night with a spotlight to look for animals and we have seen plenty of Jackals, 2 Porcupines, 2 Eurasian Badgers, Social Voles, a Jungle Cat, and one time we even saw a species of mouse inside a tree hole. I know a guide that knows this region very well, his name is Rafi and we went with him several times to look for animals, one time he took us to see an abandoned Caracal den. He speaks English and his cellphone number is 054-5651623.

Another place worth visiting is the Prihar Valley which is a 285 dunam green oasis in the middle of Jerusalem. The valley is famous for being the home of about 25 Mountain Gazelles that became isolated when the city of Jerusalem expanded, leaving the gazelles stuck on an a small island of habitat in the middle of jerusalem. The valley is also home to Egyptian Mongooses and Golden Jackals.

In the Negev Desert in the south of Israel there is a region called "Erets Hamachteshim" (land of the craters) because of the three large craters here. This is probably the wildest place in Israel: a true wilderness area, with large populations of wild animals which include Nubian Ibex (this animals can easily be seen in the small town of Mitspe Ramon, they often enter the town in search of food), Dorcas Gazelles, a re-introduced population of Onagers (they belong to the Persian subspecies, the Syrian Onager that used to live in israel is sadly extinct), Striped Hyenas, desert Wolves which are a different subspecies from the Wolves of northern Israel, a small population of about 5-10 Arabian Leopards, Caracals, Wildcats (there might still be genetically pure wildcats in here), Red Foxes which belong to a desert subspecies different from the red foxes in northern and central Israel, Sand Foxes, Porcupines, Brown Hares, Rock Hyrax (I saw a couple a few years ago), Wagner's Gerbil, Pygmy Gerbils, Bushy-tailed Jirds, Fat Sand Rats, Sundevall's Jird, Cairo Spiny Mouse, Golden Spiny Mouse, Asian Garden Dormouse, Lesser Egyptian Jerboa and Ethiopian Hedgehogs.

To the east, on the west coast of the Dead Sea is the Judean desert, which is home to Striped Hyenas, desert Wolves, Caracals, Nubian Ibex, Dorcas Gazelles, Rock Hyrax, Porcupines, 2 surviving Arabian Leopards and the rare Blanford's Fox. Ein Gedi Nature Reserve is a great place to see Nubian Ibex and Rock Hyrax, both animals are very common in the reserve. The 2 Arabian Leopards are sometimes seen looking for food around the kibuts of Ein Fedi, and there were several cases of Leopards entering the kibuts and killing dogs and cats. The Judean Desert used to have a viable population of about 8-10 Leopards in the 80's and it was the site of a radio tracking project: several Leopards were radio collared and monitored but sadly due to bad management and lack of conservation there are now only 2 individuals, a male and a female.

The Arava Valley along the eastern border with Jordan south of the Dead Sea has the last remaining population of the Critically Endangered Acacia Gazelle (Gazella gazella acaciae), a subspecies of the Mountain Gazelle found only along the acacia trees north of Eilat and only on the Israeli side of the border and nowhere else in the world. There are only less than 30 of this gazelles alive and I have seen them several times.

If you want to see marine mammals you should contact IMMRAC (Israeli Marine Mammals Research and Assistance Center), it is a non profitable organisation that has a long history of marine mammal research and conservation in Israel, they sometimes carry out Dolphin surveys in the mediterranean sea off the coast of Israel and it is possible for tourists to join those surveys, they often see Bottlenose Dolphins.