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The Botanical Garden

The Botanical Garden at Ein Gedi

This is the story of the botanical garden at Kibbutz Ein Gedi, and it is actually the story of people who love nature and landscape, whose unique love, combined with years of work, created this spectacular collection and abundance of rare plants from all over the world.
Ein Gedi’s senior staff is the driving force behind the  story of the oasis, as over the years the garden within became a special, world famous site.

What makes Ein Gedi unique? What allows for this tremendous diversity of plants from all over the world?
The region’s exclusive climate permits the growth of flora unique to the region. The summer heat and the mild winters, along with the minerals found in the air, allow for particularly quick growth, by any botanical standards in the world. Thus we can apprehend how, over such a short period of time – in botanical terms – so many plants grew to such enormous sizes, making some parts of the garden look like a thick jungle, with impressively large trees.

The garden boasts a huge collection of plants from five continents, which acclimatizedd in the garden through a process of trial and error. At present, typical plants from the land of Israel – such as olive, pomegranate and fig trees – can be found alongside tropical plants from Madagascar. Australian plants can be found alongside local desert plants such as the Apple of  Sodom, palm trees from Africa and more. It is a truly cosmopolitan fiesta of plants and beauty.

At the botanical garden’s northern edge, the tour reaches the roof of the Arugot Observatory and club, where you experience a breathtaking view of the entire oasis – the majestic Moab Mountains and across from them Ha’etekim Cliff, the Dead Sea, Ein Gedi spring, the ancient Tel Goren, Arugot Stream and alongside it the ancient synagogue with the mosaic floor from the Talmudic Era, a vestige to the days in which a glorious Jewish, agricultural community thrived in Ein Gedi.

The botanical garden office is open every day from 8:30 a.m-4:30 p.m. and on Friday until 2:00 p.m.
Entrance is NIS 26 for adults and NIS 22 for children/senior citizens.
For more information, please call: 08-658-444