Dead Sea and Masada

The Dead Sea & Masada, Israel - darkometer rating : 5 - A typical tourist excursion in Israel (and Jordania) which also has its rather dark sides. Why? Come on – the name " Dead Sea " alone couldn't have a much darker ring to it. Throw in the fact that Sodom and Gomorrah were located here! Moreover, the Dead Sea's shores represent the deepest depression on Earth that you can reach on dry land! But you won't need to take any Prozac along when going there (only lots of drinking water!). It's merely geographically the lowest point on the planet, some 1300 feet (400 metres) below sea level, in fact the northern end of what extends all the way down to South Africa as the Great Rift Valley with all its volcanoes and earthquakes (cf. Nyiragongo ). The Dead Sea is in fact not a sea at all but a salt lake, at 42 miles (67 km) long and 11 miles (18 km) wide it's not the world's largest by any means, yet it is one of the saltiest (cf. Garabogazköl ). Because of its high salt levels, it is quite literally dead – it supports no life whatsoever, no plants, no fish, no nothing. Except for a small bit in the north where fresh water from the Jordan river flows into the lake. In this section some fish manage to live – on a knife edge, as it were … And then of course there are humans, such as the many tourists who come for a quick dip in these dead waters. It's said to be very good for the skin too, just like the black mud that people smear themselves with by the shore … The main thing, however, is the bizarre sensation of simply floating on the waters without any effort. The water's saline density has such a buoyancy that you can lie on you back and read a paper while gently bobbing on the water's surface. But apart from the name, religious mythology, biology and the symbolism of its geography and its physical bizarreness, there are more concrete reasons why the Dead Sea is a dark tourism destination.