Hai Bar Yotvata Nature Reserve

If you're lucky, you may get to spot desert animals when you take a tour into the wild and rugged landscape just outside Eilat but to have a better chance of coming face to face with a hyena, oryx or wolf, Hai-Bar Yotvata is the place to head.

This nature reserve has been breeding endangered desert animals since 1968. On a guided drive through its 45 square km of safari park you can see ostriches, oryx and stripy legged Somali wild ass roaming among the acacia trees.

In the reserve's Predator Centre, hyenas, jackals, caracal and snakes are among the less than cuddly animals you can watch enjoying their lunch in the glass fronted enclosures. A darkened nocturnal hall introduces you to bats, owls and other night hunters of the desert.

Despite its great viewing possibilities Yotvata is no zoo. The animals in the park have minimal human contact and are encouraged to hunt and defend themselves so that they or their offspring can be released into the wild and boost dwindling numbers of their species.

This nature reserve has been breeding endangered animals *that are mentioned in the Bible* since 1968.