Travel to Israel: The Jordan River Below Kinneret

The Jordan from Kinneret--the Sea of Galilee or Lake Tiberias--downstream along the fortified border with Jordan.

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Kinneret was very low in 1999, when this picture was taken near the outlet. In the background: the hills of the Golan.

The Jordan River as it leaves Kinneret. It is already below sea-level but is headed... well, downhill.

The banks of the Jordan River are almost completely inaccessible, because the river forms the heavily fortified border with Jordan along most of its length below Kinneret. For a couple of miles below its outlet, however, both the river's banks are in Israel, and groups of Christians seeking baptism in the Jordan come by the busload from around the world.

A closer view of the larger group shown in the previous picture.

All the earmarks of an American irrigation project from the 50s? Well, it was probably financed by American foreign aid, but this canal, which once brought irrigation water from Kinneret to Jordan, has been dry since 1967.

Wide-open sluice gates.

Once the river becomes the border--which happens very soon--even a glimpse of it like this is rare.

Border fencing.

A bit of height allows a peek beyond, into the irrigated Jordanian side of the river. The irrigation water comes from the tributary Yarmouk River.

The lowest railway on earth: the bridge across the Jordan, on the long-defunct Turkish line from Syria to Haifa. This is as close as you're going to get to it!