Ma’Ale Gilboa Trance

During my trip to Israel last October, I was fortunate enough to join my brother-in-low and a group of friends to one of those “secretive” trance parties, that were periodically taking place in different parts of the country. This time we were headed up north to a place called Ma’Ale Gilboa — an area surrounded by mountains and a few forests just north of the West-Bank. Eager to see that part of the country and up for a bit of adventure and some dance music, I was excited to join and perhaps take some pictures!

Driving for about 2 hours through the night (with a few stops), we arrived to another slow cautious drive up a mountain till reaching what looked like a traffic-jam up a mountain. Well that was an endless row of cars in front of the gate. It was 5am, and we were 5 hours late. But we were there! After an hour wait we were finally able to move and find a parking space. The place was packed! By the time we found one it was breaking dawn and we headed for a bit of a walk to the party location stepping on every Cow-manure in our way. The sight looked like a huge camping area surrounded by many sleeping tents full of people dancing or looking for their place. In the middle was a big tent covering the central dance area with the DJs on their podium at the front leading the party. This was going on all night and supposed to go on all day and afternoon. Sweet! There are many photos I couldn’t share here, but hopefully this small selection will give you an idea.

I must say it was quite an experience, like a today version of small Woodstock — in the best sense of the word. It ended in the early evening. Tired and hungry but happy, we headed for for some dinner place to get some food into our bodies before going back home to Tel-Aviv. But I just had to stop down the mountain to catch this lovely sunset.