Ein Gedi Kibbutz

We spent our first two nights in Israel at a place called Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea. Instead of staying in a guesthouse or a hotel, we found a room at a kibbutz. Kibbutzim are a form of communal living that combine socialism and Zionism. Although they were originally based on agriculture, industry and high-tech enterprises have replaced farming on most kibbutzim today.

The Ein Gedi Kibbutz is located on an oasis near the Dead Sea. You can see it even from a distance as you drive up from the southern part of the country.
Right in the middle of the kibbutz was a giant, beautiful baobab tree, which was such a surprise. I was used to seeing these trees in East Africa, but I had no idea they existed in Israel. (I later found out that baobab trees do not exist naturally in Israel; this one was imported to the area.)Around the kibbutz, the views were incredible, with the Dead Sea on one side and the mountains on the other. The kibbutz had a wonderful restaurant, a botanical garden and even a zoo, which had the most random collection of animals.