Irene and Moe: Gamla Nature Reserve

Gamla Nature Reserve

May 4, 2017

Gamla Nature Reserve is one of the National Nature Parks in Israel. I will barely touch the surface of what is available in the Reserve. First, it is a memorial to those who perished during the fighting on the Golan Heights. This designation is particularly appropriate since Gamla has been a fortified walled city described in the Talmud from the time of Joshua.

According to Josephus, Gamla was built on the slope of a very steep hill surrounded by cliffs. He led Gamla in the revolt against the Romans in 66 CE. The city held out against a failed 7-month long siege by King Agrippa II. A month later Roman Emperor Vespasian led a Roman legion against Gamla. Although his troops breached the city wall, the Jewish defenders turned the battle into a severe defeat for the Romans, in which most of their soldiers were killed. A few days later Vespasian, reinforced by his son Titus and several more legions, invaded again, this time successfully destroying the city and killing about 9000 Jews. Gamla was not rebuilt and was forgotten. It was rediscovered in 1968 and excavation and later renovation wwer started. The result at his time is shown here:

Gamla's synagogue, built in the first century, CE, is one of the oldest temples discovered in Israel. It was an extremely impressive structure, and its foundation is shown in the foreground below.

A totally different aspect of the Nature Reserve is work being done to preserve the raptor population. The Griffon Vulture is an extremely large raptor with maximum length of 1.1 meters and wingspan of 2.7 meters. Here is a good specimen in flight.

Its population is down to 60 breeding pairs; so, a program is underway to save the Griffon vulture from extinction. Here are two young vultures seen at a great distance being "acclimatized" to the area before being set free in the wild.