A timeless landscape in the Negev region is home to a unique luxury retreat with a just-landed-on-the moon vibe.
eaving the manic, congested chaos of Tel Aviv’s high-tech world, nightclubs and beach bars to drive anywhere outside the city limits requires some adjustment. And given the country’s size (it can be driven top to toe in an about six hours), nothing is ever far away. So by the time I’ve looked up from Waze – the real-time driving app locals swear by – dense apartment living has been replaced by Bedouins, craters and warnings to “watch out for camels”.
While the three-and-a-half-hour car ride south to the hyped-up new Six Senses Shaharut resort in Israel’s Negev Desert is anticipatory, it’s long. And because everyone here tells time by the traffic, punctuality is always variable (in this case, a helicopter transfer can speed things up). An hour from Tel Aviv is the city of Be’er Sheva which, remarkably, has a close connection to Australia dating from 1917, when Australian forces helped liberate the fortified town from the Turks in a surprise battle. We’re weaving through ancient landscapes, when out of nowhere the blinding white mirrors of the Ashalim thermos-solar power plant, the largest renewable energy project in the country, come into view. Using advanced solar field technology, the facility generates enough clean energy to supply 120,000 homes. Right here, where biblical ghosts hover, it’s a startling juxtaposition.
Read the article by Carli Philips in The Australian.