Yatir Forest

Located south of Mount Hebron this 30 km² forest is the largest planted (man made) forest in Israel. The forest has more than four million trees, mostly Pine and Cypress and is a popular spot for excursions and a beautiful place to visit. The name Yatir is derived from the biblical city of Jattir (Joshua 21:13-14). A part of the famed Israel National Trail runs through the forest. Yatir forest is also a venue for many research projects conducted by prestigious institutes and organizations like NASA, Weizmann Institute of Science, Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. Inside the forest one can find a few biblical and archaeological sites like Khirbet Yatir and Khirbet Anim.

(Derived from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yatir_Forest)

Yatir Reservoir

Yatir Reservoir was built by KKL-JNF (Jewish National Fund) to help the villages of this desert region, which suffers from a chronic water shortage; and also to irrigate agricultural crops in the area. The reservoir spread in an area of approximately 40 acres has a capacity of 650,000 cubic meters. See more http://www.kkl.org.il/almanac/ENGLISH/About/blue.htm

Agriculture@Yatir

Har (Mount) Amasa

Near Yatir forest stands this hill called Har Amasa (859 meters/2,818ft). Next to the hill is a communal settlement by the same name.

Yatir Forest-from Mount Amasa

See the multi-coloured lines on the stone (1P). These 3 lines (orange, white and blue) mark the routes of the famous 940 km long Israel National Trail. I will attach more details later....

Negev Desert-you can see an Israeli army base in 1P

Quarry near Drejat

The Village of Drejat / Drogot (Heb)

The word Drogot in Hebrew means "steps". The village shares tale of the lives of a wonderful people, who have preserved their heritage and ancient civilization to this day. Their near forefathers were cave dwellers and led a life prevalent from the days of biblical patriarchs. The settlement was founded next to a famous biblical path on which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob traveled from Beit El and Hebron south to Beer Sheba, the Negev, and on to Egypt as mentioned in the Bible. See introduction for more details.

Do visit the official site of Drejat: http://drejat.lanegev.co.il/index6.html

I also found this blog which has some very beautiful photographs taken from Drejat and some interesting stories to share:

http://fromathinplace.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html