A weeks bird watching in Eilat region. Pt1

I've attended the Rutland BirdFair a few times, as it's relatively local. I've seen & heard many amazing people, and learned a few tips/tricks along the way. I've also been to the venue a few times when the Fair isn't there. It's at Rutland Water, the site of the first Osprey colony in England.

I understand. Rutland Water is also the largest man-made stretch of water in the UK. As well as holding a lot of water for the Eastern part of the UK, it also has sailing and fishing on its banks.

The BirdFair has a collection of sellers of Bird watching related companies. Tourism, equipment and information make up lots of the traders.

One of the companies was WildWings. They sell ornithological trips around the world. Two of their trips have Israel as a destination. In late March/early April they contribute to the Eilat Birds Festival. This is hosted by a few of Israel's best bird watchers, and they had a presentation during the show, and a slide show one evening, with nibbles.

I bought a seat on the trip the following year after watching 2 successive years of talks. This was to take place in March 2013.

My parents had gone to Eilat in around 1981 with some family members, and regaled me of how they had speedboats with armed men out in the Red Sea to stop errant swimmers, and should you walk too close to the Jordanian border, a few men with machine-gun equipped jeep would usher you back towards the newly opened hotels on the shore.

We had visited Aqaba, Jordan in 2005 on a day trip to Petra from Sharm-El-Sheikh, and the road from the airport into town had great views of Eilat.

Anyway, I'd bought lots of shirts and clothing for the trip If I was going into the desert, I'd do my darnedest not to sweat like crazy. The flight was booked, I'd got a big carry-on bag full of camera equipment. Flash guns, remote controllers, zoom lenses, a travel tripod, spare body. On days off I was hoping to capture the markets, the architecture, the history of Eilat..

I flew with El-Al Airlines from Heathrow. As expected my carry on luggage was scrutinised by the ground crew. Every item was swabbed by a very efficient, and friendly guy at the boarding gate. Even the insides of the pockets in the bag were gone through. As I got on the plane, I was handed a bag of rechargeable batteries I had put in my main suitcase now in the hold.

This was a great start to a holiday. Sadly my experiences with airport staff would be soured by the crew at Tel-Aviv airport.. but thats for another post..