Timna Reserve is a desert valley north of Eilat, surrounded by steep cliffs. Legend has it that this is where King Solomon's famous mines were located.
The valley lies on a tectonic fault that exposed the surface of minerals containing copper, iron and sulphur. Iron stains the rocks red, copper green, and sulphur yellow. One hundred million years ago this waterless region was the bottom of an ancient sea, and powerful sedimentary layers were formed here. The properties of the rocks are different, and over millions of years, water, wind and sun have sculpted a truly alien relief. The reserve is full of natural sculptures of the most bizarre forms. There are huge stone "Lion" and "Sphinx", "Mushroom" floating in the air on a thin leg, a lot of non-man-made arches. There is a Spiral Hill girdled with a real spiral staircase. A strong impression is made by Solomon's Pillars, colossal natural columns of red sandstone. Twenty storeys high, they rest on relatively small boulders.
Timna was well known to the ancient Egyptians. Ancient images of camels, chariots, warriors with axes and shields, goats, ostriches, and deer have been found on the rocks. At Solomon's Pillars on the rock carved image: Pharaoh Ramses III makes an offering to the goddess Hathor. Nearby are the ruins of the temple of the celestial goddess, which is thirty-five centuries old.
The reference to Hathor, the patron saint of miners, is not accidental: Timna is famous for the world's oldest copper mines. Copper was the first metal that man used to make weapons and tools. In the thirties of the last century, archaeologist Nelson Gluck suggested that it was here that King Solomon (10th century BC) mined it. Whether this is true or not, the name - King Solomon's mines - has stuck. Metallurgy originated in Timna six thousand years ago and reached its peak during the time of the Pharaohs from the XIV to XII centuries B.C. The Egyptians, skilful engineers, cut narrow tubular shafts with foot supports. They extracted ore from depths of up to 30 metres. There are thousands of such mines in Timna. You can see authentic tools used by ancient miners, their furnaces.
Copper is not the only wealth of Timna. Eilat stone, a semi-precious mineral, to which copper compounds give an amazing blue-green colour, has been mined here since ancient times.
The flora and fauna of the reserve are not rich. Here grows wavy acacia with fruits in the form of twisted pods, there are small desert wolves, mountain goats.
You should come to Timna by car: you can't go much on foot in the hot desert, but asphalt roads for cars are laid all over the park. The routes are marked with a lot of signposts. In addition to the natural sights, it makes sense to see a replica of the Tabernacle, the sanctuary where, according to the Bible, the Jews kept the Ark of the Covenant during their forty-year journey through the desert. At the end of the route, tourists can relax in an oasis by an artificial lake (swimming is not allowed, but water bikes are available) and fill a plastic bottle with the colourful sands of Timna as a souvenir.
