The Dead Sea

I once saw the Dead Sea described like this, "the unique sea....that is dead". It is a true statement but is it really as dead as all that? I mean dead, dead?

The Dead Sea or Sea of Salt as it is also called is a huge salt lake that can be found between the West Bank and Israel to the west and Jordan to the east. It is 1,378 ft below sea level if you can believe that, the shores of the Dead Sea are the lowest point or surface of the earth that is on dry land! This is also the deepest hyper saline lake in the world, it is the world's second saltiest body of water...just imagine, it is nine times saltier then the Mediterranean sea and almost that much saltier then the ocean, can you believe that?

The Dead Sea has been an attraction for visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years, it is even the place where the Biblical King David found refuge; it was the world's first health resort and has been a supplier of different goods for a long time.

Now the Dead Sea can be found in the Dead Sea Rift which is part of a great fissure in the Earth's surface that is called the Great Rift Valley, this Valley is 6,000 km long and starts in the Taurus Mountains in Turkey and goes all the way to the Zambezi Valley in Southern Africa. There is only one major source of water that flows into the Dead Sea and that is the Jordan River. When it comes to rainfall, the northern end of the lake gets about 4 inches per year while the southern end only gets two. It is said that the highlands to the east of the Dead Sea get more rain then the Dead Sea itself.

The climate around the Dead Sea is one that would appeal to many people, there are sunny skies all yearlong and the air is very dry and relatively pollution free; the winter has a weather of about 74 degrees and the whole region gets very little ultraviolet radiation, the oxygen levels are also nice and high, something that many people would find appealing, if they could get over the constant heat that is. There are even several types of therapies that you could get because of the healthiness of the region; using the sun's radiation, the atmospheric conditions and even the water from the Dead Sea itself.

Now the Dead Sea is called dead because the salt content in the water is so high that creatures find it impossible to live in it, except for some microbial fungi. Actually there was one time when the sea did temporarily come to life; it was an unusual winter with a lot of rainfall that resulted in the salinity levels of the Dead Sea to decrease. This resulted on the water changing to this red color. Upon being studied, they found out that it was a type of algae that could live in the water. However, it did not last very long and since that year in 1980 the phenomenon has not happened again.

Even though there are no animals or fish that make their home in the waters of the Dead Sea, there are many types of creatures that live in the surrounding mountains. For the person that likes to hike, there are camels, ibex, jackals, fox and even leopards to be seen! Not to mention the fact that hundreds of birds species call that area home as well. The area around the Dead Sea is one big nature reserve because both Israel and Jordan have set the surrounding land aside for the preservation of their native species.

One interesting fact about the region's past is that this is the spot where Jericho prospered...evidently the area was the most fertile spot in all of Judea, with papyrus and palm trees making a literal jungle of the area; during Roman times there were sugarcane and even perfume made from the sap of the balsam tree. Unfortunately that time of fertility in the land is long past...but things have moved on and the Dead Sea is waiting for the people that are curios to find out what it is like at the lowest point on earth.