The Ein Afek Nature Reserve (also En Afek, En Afeq, Ain Afek) is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologic ...

in the Acre Valley within the

Zvulun Valley The Zevulun Valley or Zvulun Valley (, Emek Zvulun) is a fertile coastal territory in the North of Israel, part of the Israeli coastal plain along the Haifa Bay. The length of the valley is 14 km, with its maximum width is up to 9 kilometers ...

, Israel. It covers the swamps and springs at the source of the Na'aman River, as well as the

Tel Afek Tel Afek, (), also spelled Aphek and Afeq, is an archaeological site located in the coastal hinterland of the Ein Afek Nature Reserve, east of Kiryat Bialik, Israel. It is also known as Tel Kurdani. History Chalcolithic The site has remains ...

archaeological site. The origin of the name is the biblical city of Afek. The nature reserve, declared in 1979, covers 366

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; ; ; ), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area analogous in role (but not equal) to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amo ...

s. An additional 300 dunams were declared in 1994. The highlights of the park include the

Crusader Crusader or Crusaders may refer to: Military * Crusader, a participant in one of the Crusades * Convair NB-36H Crusader, an experimental nuclear-powered bomber * Crusader tank, a British cruiser tank of World War II * Crusaders (guerrilla), a C ...

fortress and the natural water canals and lake, which draw their waters from the year-long flowing springs of Afek, which are the source of the Naaman river. In 1996 it was recognized as a

Ramsar site A Ramsar site is a wetland site designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention,8 ha (O) *** Permanent 8 ha (P) *** Seasonal Intermittent < 8 ha(Ts) **

"Not your typical day job. When your office is in a nature reserve"
''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

''. August 27, 2015 TelAfekPanorama

References

Nature reserves in Israel Ramsar sites in Israel Protected areas of Haifa District {{Israel-geo-stub