The Ramat Gan Safari Park is the main zoo of the Tel Aviv area and is home to the largest collection of animals in the Middle East. Arranged as a 250 acre African Safari Park, unique in the world as the African animals who live here are able to roam around the park, and visitors are able to have an African safari experience, just minutes from the center of downtown Tel Aviv. There is also a zoo within the park.

Beautiful Mount Carmel stands tall alongside the Mediterranean Coastline of Israel, just to the south of the city of Haifa. In December 2010, the beautiful forests were hit by terrible forest fires. Now, a three hour program allows tourists, as part of their trips to Israel, to reforest the Carmel. Running every Sunday through Thursday, this unique thing to do in Israel is totally free.

There are over forty national parks in Israel ranging from archaeological sites such as Caesarea National Park and Masada to sites of natural beauty such as the Carmel National Park. With so many national parks to visit, which are the ones that a tourist should try to find time in their itinerary to experience? In this article, we will list the ten best national parks in Israel to visit.

The Jerusalem Bird Observatory lies in the heart of Jerusalem, just below the Knesset, the Parliament building. The observatory first opened about twenty years ago, and in January 2010, a visitor center, Israel’s first living building, also opened at the site to enhance the visitor experience and the wonder of this spot of nature where birds and birdwatchers can gather. The site also hosts a research center as well as the observatory and visitor center, and is a great place to visit among the hustle and bustle of modern Jerusalem.

Horse Riding in Israel provides a unique perspective over a unique land. From the saddle of a horse, whether it is along a trail in Mount Hermon’s alpine summer meadows, overlooking the Sea of Galilee in the region’s stunning terrain, at sunset, riding along the beach or cliffs of Israel’s dramatic and beautiful Mediterranean coastline, or the ridge of the amazing Ramon Crater in the Negev Desert, Israel’s “Grand Canyon,” a horseback rider gets an amazing experience in incredible surroundings.

There are so many different ways to experience Israel and volunteering in Israel is just one. GoEco runs environmental and cultural exchanges in which participants come from around the world to volunteer across Israeli society in a huge range of cultural, environmental, ecological, and other meaningful programs ranging from ecotourism internships to nature conservation, and coexistence summer camps to family volunteering.

Mount Carmel towers over 15 miles of Israel’s Mediterranean Coastline between Hadera and Haifa. The Carmel mountain range has always been a symbol of beauty, and whilst it is not especially high, with a peak of just 550m above sea level, the change in scenery from the flat Coastal Plain makes it a striking landform. Ranging views across the flat coastal plain and onto the Mediterranean to the West, and the Alona and later Jezreel Valleys in the Galilee to the East are breathtaking.

GREAT FOR THE FAMILY! The beautiful rural Moshav of Mevo Modi’im, is located in the heart of the Ben Shemen Forest about half way (about 30 mins) between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, near the town of Modi’in.

The 30-acre oasis that is the Jerusalem Botanical Gardens on the southeast corner of the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus houses about 10,000 species arranged according to geography, with sections for plants native to the Mediterranean region, Central and Southwest Asia, Australia, North America, Europe and Southern Africa. It also has a large collection of bonsai trees, a tropical conservatory and an herb and medicinal plant garden.

High in the remote Golan Heights region of Northern Israel lies the Gamla Nature Reserve, a magical place where eagles nest, archaeological ruins lie, and breathtaking views just take your breath away! Whether you have half an hour in a hectic itinerary or can spare an entire day, Gamla is somewhere for lovers of nature, history, and hiking.