Park Hazahav, Urban park in Kiryat Shmona, Israel
Park Hazahav covers about 110 dunams in eastern Kiryat Shmona, where the Ein Zahav stream runs north to south and meets the Shoshan stream. Its northern part lies at 121 m above sea level, the southern at 91 m. A grove of giant Taxodium trees, over 20 m tall, stands beside an enlarged pool of the stream.
The spring of Ein Zahav, whose Arabic name Ein a-Dhahb gave the park its name, fed the stream that crosses the site. In the 1950s its water was piped to the intake pools of the Mekorot stations of Ein Zahav and Kiryat Shmona, and the surplus spilled into the channel. Pumping and a mineral water plant later dried the stream; in May 2011, after a campaign begun in 2008, 50–70 m³ of water were returned to the bed, later raised to 150–200 m³.
The park's name comes from Nahal Ein Zahav, the stream crossing it; its earlier Arabic name, Ein a-Dahb, also means golden spring. The shallow pool on the stream, developed in 2018, is called the Kurdish Spring after Kurdish immigrants housed in a tent camp above it around 1950, who carried water up to the camp and washed clothes and children there.
The park is fairly easy to walk through, with marked trails and informational signs about plants and animals along the way. Sturdy footwear is recommended, especially after rain when the paths can become slippery.
The park contains Taxodium trees, a species rarely seen in Israeli landscaping. These trees form a wooded area near water pools and create an environment similar to the nearby Banias Nature Reserve.
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