Come Visit the Bedouin in the Negev

Would you like to visit the Bedouin in Israel, and experience traditional Bedouin life in the 21st century? We present you with the opportunity to come and stay with a Bedouin family and experience true Bedouin hospitality in the Negev. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and an essential component of any trip to the Holy Land.

We offer tours, overnight stays, meals, and more. If you would like simply to eat a meal with a Bedouin family, we can put you in touch. We promise you the most eye-opening experience you'll find here in Israel. If you would like to visit Israel and get off the beaten path, visit a culture standing on the very edge, and meet the amazing and beautiful people that are the Bedouin, this is the site for you.

The Bedouin people are a historically nomadic Arab people who call the desert home and follow their flocks for sustenance. There are Bedouin in almost all Arab nations, and they are regarded as embodying the true essence of what it means to be Arab. In fact, throughout history it was customary for city-dwelling Arabs to send their children to the desert during the summers to live with a Bedouin tribe, so they could learn what it truly means to be Arab, an experience impossible in the city. They are also known for the eloquence of their language, and the culture of poetry recital among the Bedouin remains a staple of Bedouin identity.

In the modern world, however, the traditional Bedouin way of life is a threatened culture. In the Israeli state, the powers that be regard the Bedouin as an inconvenient relic of a forgotten past, and have taken measures to ensure that the Bedouin remain marginalized. There now exist 45 Bedouin villages in the Negev, the southern desert of Israel, where close to 80,000 people live without access to government-provided basic services such as water, electricity, and paved roads. The existence of these villages is the direct result of government attempts to destroy the traditional life of the Bedouin and settle them in cities.

To learn more about the opportunities for you, click the menu to the left. To see a map of the villages, click here.