The Hula valley originally comprised vast (and malarial) wetlands, centring on lake Hula itself - an ancient body of water known to the 14th century BCE Egyptians as lake Samchuna, while the Torah called it Merom. By the 1st century CE, the Jewish-Roman historian Josephus referred to it as Semechonitis (in ancient greek Σημεχωνίτις), describing it as "thirty stadia [about 6 km] in breadth and sixty in length; its marshes reach as far as the place Daphne." Daphne is usually identified with Horvat Dafne sixteen kilometres north, and the name is continued in Kibbutz Daphne, founded in 1939. In the Jerusalem Talmud the lake is called Yam Sumchi and the name Hulata is mentioned as one of the "seas" surrounding the land of Israel, which may also refer to it. Today its Arabic name (Huleh) and Hebrew name (Hula) share the same Aramaic root, Hulata or Ulata, whose source may be the Aramaic Hilata, meaning valley. The word Hilat, of the same root, is used in Arabic as a name for the papyrus reed which is wide-spread in the Hula marshes.
The lake and its marshes was - and remains - a major stopover for birds migrating along the Syrian-African Rift Valley between Africa, Europe, and Asia. An estimated 500 million migrating birds now pass through the Hula Valley every year.
Both because the marshland around Lake Hula was a breeding ground for mosquitoes carrying malaria, and because the land was needed for agriculture. the marshes were drained in the 1950s. The lake itself nearly disappeared but, thanks to the foresight of a number of scientists and nature lovers, at least a small part of Hula's wetlands were preserved and in 1964 the Hula Nature Reserve - the subject of the first part of this post - was officially inaugurated, the first nature reserve to be established in the state of Israel. The reserve is listed by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands as a Wetland of International Importance. It is worth noting that subsequently to the establishment of the reserve, another area, Agmon haHula (Hula Lake Park), was established north of the nature reserve and distinct from it as part of a JNF rehabilitation project. When, in the early 1990s, part of the valley was flooded again in the wake of heavy rains, it was decided to develop the surrounding area and leave the flooded area intact. The new site has become the second home for thousands of migrating birds in the autumn and spring.
Despite the declaration of the Hula Nature Reserve in 1964, serious problems continued to arise as a result of the earlier draining of the Hula in connection with the ecological function of the nature reserve, mainly caused by percolation of water outside the reserve and a serious decline in the quality of the water in the Hula lake, which led to the extinction of some unique species. In 1971 a huge rehabilitation project was therefore begun., lasting seven years, during which the reserve was closed to visitors whilst new banks were built around the reserve, and a system of channels and dams established to regulate the water levels. The movement of visitors was regulated by a walking trail so as to minimise impact, and some of the water plants were restored to the reserve. Because the sources of water in the Hula Nature Reserve were exposed to agricultural pollution outside its boundaries, a new permanent good quality water source was arranged from the Enan spring, stabilising the quantity of good quality water entering the reserve, even in drier years. Further maintenance and rehabilitation was carried out in 2004. The Hula region is a varied mosaic of habitats, distinguished from each other by the quantity of water and the character of the vegetation. Since the original lake was drained, the preservation of the habitats has become a deliberate and artificial activity in order to ensure their continued diversity: open lake, shallow-water channels on the western side of the lake, wet meadow kept open by the water buffalo's grazing activities, a shallow wet marsh rich in water plants and birds, spring-water pools, and a flowing water habitat in the channel of the Enan stream.
Having chosen a quiet weekday to visit the Hula nature reserve, we were able to see quite a bit of undisturbed nature, the only other visitors being a small school party. You can see the pictures below.
Afterwards we headed to a fine fish restaurant, Dag al haDan (Fish on the Dan) north of the Hula, situated in a beautiful spot in a fig and willow forest with indoor and outdoor dining rooms “floating” at the confluence of the Dan and Hatzbani tributaries of the Jordan River. Surrounded by Syrian maples in autumn leaf, and with a carpet of crisp leaves, to prove that there is autumn in Israel, albeit in only a few remote and suitable environments in the Galilee panhandle and the Golan! Enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the food, with the local hens in attendance to pick up what we dropped.
