It has an exotic nature, beautiful to look at it, pleasant to get in. A national global treasure, a magical place with fresh air that nourishes everyone. Its salt sculptures are mesmerizing and with dark aqua marine color at its depths, the water blurs to emerald. The shores are lined with salt crystals, the sun there is affectionate, with surrounding mountains overlooking Jerusalem, and mount Nebo standing opposite to the sea, rich of history and legends, its waters concealing many secret treasures, it’s a great lake with many secrets.
The home of ancient mankind, the origin of the monotheistic religion, appears in the Bible, the Torah and the holy Qur’an. The place where king David sought refuge from king Saul, inhabited by Prophet Lot and his people, the infamous tales of sin cities; Sadom and Ammora… that were burned to the ground (Genesis, Holy Qur’an). The deepest hyper saline lake in the world, the lowest point on earth, it is the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is located in Jordan, only 55 km from the capital Amman; it was called "Sea of Salt", "The Sea of Death" and "The Salt Sea". The Dead Sea is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east, and Palestine and Israel to the west, it is 377 m deep, and is the deepest hyper saline lake in the world. The sea is called "dead" because its high salinity prevents macroscopic aquatic organisms, such as fish and aquatic plants from living in it. The Dead Sea is also rich of raw materials, mineral salts, thermo mineral hot springs, mineral mud, an enriched oxygen atmosphere, therapeutic UVB solar radiation and a hot to temperament climate around the year.
Research has shown that the combined climatic factors have a long lasting positive therapeutic effect on dermatological diseases such as psoriasis, eczema and rheumatic or degenerative joint diseases, also an unusual feature of the Dead Sea is its discharge of asphalt. From deep seeps, the Dead Sea constantly spits up small pebbles and blocks of the black substance. Asphalt coated figurines and bitumen coated Neolithic skulls from archaeological sites have been found. Egyptian mummification processes used asphalt imported from the Dead Sea region.
In old era, the Dead Sea was one of the world’s first health resorts for Herod the great, queen Sab’a , Cleopatra, and Aristotle. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, hundreds of religious documents dated between 150 BCE and 70 CE were found in caves near the ancient settlement of Qumran, about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea by two Bedouin Grazers from Al T’amerah Tribe. They became known as the famous ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’.
Despite the fact that nothing can live in the waters of the Dead Sea, the region boasts an impressive range of wildlife, such as camels, hyrax, leopards, ibex, donkeys, striped hyena, lanner, barbary falcon, egyptian vulture, and the golden eagle. The region is also a bird watchers paradise. The Dead Sea area has become a major center for health researchs, treatments, alternative medicine. In addition to Christian pilgrimage to the Jordan river and baptism site. The area attracts visitors from around the world, is rich in resorts and hotels and the only place in the world that combines it all!