Alexander river & the turtles bridge

“Alexander river” & the turtles bridg

Only 7 km. from the Viker birds observatory , lays the “Turtle bridge”, overlooking the “Alexander river”, who is famously known for the softshell turtle that lay their eggs there between May till June, and can be viewed around the year. The African softshell turtles, also known by the name “Nile (the river in Egypt which they originated from) softshell turtle (Trionyx triunguis) population is mostly concentrate in the Alexander river, but their numbers are being reduced in the last 50 years of this century since the river was heavily contaminated. The Israeli nature park reserve organization take several steps for rehabilitation of the softshell community by trying to recover the river to a cleaner state , also carrying out extra safeguards activity such as protecting the turtles eggs. In 1991 due to heavy rains in the area, the river went overflow and few dozens of the turtles flood into the sea, which killed them because they are used to fresh Not salty waters. A full grown up Softshell turtle can reach the age of 100 and can weight up to 50 kg. by size, it can be as big as 1 meter. Its food preference are mostly warms, little fish and river greenery. The entire reservoir suspected to contain between 150-200 items which are one third of the African’s softshell turtle world population, which inhabitant in the Mediterranean Levant countries of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey.

The walk tour from Alexander river “turtles bridge” to the Sea shore of “Yanai” (Alexander Yanai the Jewish king which presumably gave the area its name) end-to-end is around 45 minutes, each direction, so a trip back and forth needs an hour and a half, Not taken into account stops. Great part of path is part of to the “Israeli trail”. While enjoying a nice walk in the national park, or even having a BBQ picnic, is also worth mentioning the “Samara ruins” which used to be a Turks Tax station for Watermelon export from the locals to Egypt from the little port used to exit in the “Yanai” beach. The overlooking “Samara” ruins on the hill at midway, gives a great photo opportunity with full panoramic view.