Are there fish in the Dead Sea?

The Dead Sea is located between Israel and Jordan, 25 kilometers from the holy city of Jerusalem and 84 kilometers from Tel Aviv, the largest city in Israel.

At 10 a.m., a group of five of us left the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and took a bus to the Dead Sea. Not far from Jerusalem, the green gradually diminished, and the mountains on both sides of the road began to become bare. Occasionally, some green shone through, turning it into a rare species.

However, the harsh natural conditions have not hindered human survival. The Bedouins, a branch of the Arabs, make a living by grazing in this area. In Arabic, "Bedouin" means "tent-dwelling nomads", which also shows that the biggest characteristic of the Bedouin people is that they like freedom and wandering. It is said that the Bedouins are very hospitable. If you go to the Dead Sea, you must go to their tent. They will invite you to the tent as a guest, and they will make you hot coffee with their own hands, but if you drink it all in one go, they They will think that you want to leave immediately, which is not "kind" at all; on the contrary, they will refill your glass and ask you to stay for a while.

Unfortunately, due to lack of time, I was not able to appreciate their warm hospitality.

Just after passing the Bedouin living area, the driver suddenly stopped the car on the side of the road. Ms. Zhang Lingling, a tour guide from Taiwan, suggested that we take pictures here. It turns out that the stone tablet on the roadside says "Sea Level". If you go further down from here, you will reach below the sea level.

After turning a big bend, the Dead Sea is in front of you. Israeli official materials say that this is a unique sea area in the world, winding through a landscape composed of stone mountains and deep canyons. Data show that the Dead Sea is 75 kilometers long from north to south and 5 to 16 kilometers wide from east to west. The sea surface area is only 1,000 square kilometers, and the water level is declining year by year. In terms of scale, it is at best a small or medium-sized lake.

Close to the Dead Sea, the tour guide led us to visit the Masada Fortress on the mountains next to the Dead Sea. The Jews who escaped from Jerusalem in AD 73 fought against tens of thousands of Roman troops for three and a half years. Finally, the fortress was captured. 960 Jews chose to commit mass suicide rather than be captured as slaves in Rome. Here, it has also become one of the bases for patriotic education for young people in Israel.

When you arrive at the Dead Sea, be sure not to jump down

Stepping out of that soul-stirring history, you arrive at the Dead Sea in an instant. After finishing the buffet at the resort, it was finally time to enjoy the Dead Sea.

I brought my swimming trunks from home before departure, and my sun hat was also ready. A colleague forgot to bring swimming trunks, so he had no choice but to buy a pair for $20. It’s so expensive, you can almost buy a low-quality suit! Of course, this is not a deliberate attempt by the hotel to rip off customers. Prices in Israel are already high. There is no way, this is a country with a per capita GDP of nearly 17,000 US dollars, and the monthly salary of an ordinary middle school teacher can reach 1,500 US dollars.

The Dead Sea is located more than 400 meters below sea level and is the lowest point on land. Its seawater is 10 times saltier than that of the ocean, and splashing seawater into your eyes is no fun. Therefore, when swimming in the Dead Sea, be sure not to jump in with a plop.

Following the tour guide’s instructions, I walked step by step deeper into the sea. When the water reached my knees, I slowly squatted down, leaned my head back, stretched my feet forward, and straightened my body. .