From Jerusalem, the only route to the Dead Sea runs through Palestinian territory. In less than an hour, you experience a completely different environment. Green hills turn into a dry barren desert. At the sea level marked with a concrete obelisk, you cannot see any sea. There is only hillside landscape around. The Dead Sea is a little bit farther, quite a bit down the hill.
The Dead Sea is the lowest place and the lowest water reservoir on Earth. Until the mid-20th century, the value for the lake surface level was about 399 m/1,309 ft. below sea level. However, from the 1960’s Israel and Jordan began diverting the Jordan River’s flow, the main source of water for the Dead Sea. In addition, the increased use of water from the lake itself for the production of various chemicals causes a continuous drop of the Dead Sea’s water level by about 1 m/ 3 ft. per year. Measurements of the lake level taken in 2016 indicated that it was about 430 m/ 1,410 ft. below sea level.
Walking lake’s shoreline is dangerous in many places. This is because of sinkholes. Decrease in the Dead Sea’s water level resulted in the rise of groundwater which dissolves salt layers from under the surface, leaving hidden caverns waiting for an unexpected collapse. If you want to immerse yourself in one of the most saltiest waters on our planet, it is worth going to one of the artificial beaches near the hotels in the southern part of the lake in Israel.
