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Israel Israel forest

Ben Shemen forest

StateofIsrael · CC BY-SA 2.0

50% trees around it and 260 species recorded.

49Forestyas Score

ForestBirds

  • trees within 3 km50%
  • wild within 10 km55%
  • species recorded260
  • Altitude134 m

The forest around

50% trees.

Read like the rings of a cut trunk: from the centre out, the land within 1, 3, 6 and 10 km, coloured by what covers it.

Trees 87%Shrubland 3%Grassland 3%Cropland 2%Built-up 5%Trees 46%Shrubland 10%Grassland 26%Bare ground 0%Cropland 10%Built-up 7%Trees 13%Shrubland 11%Grassland 32%Water 0%Bare ground 4%Cropland 20%Built-up 20%Trees 10%Shrubland 7%Grassland 30%Bare ground 2%Cropland 24%Built-up 27%50%trees · 3 km

Trees, ring by ring

  • 0–1 km87%
  • 1–3 km46%
  • 3–6 km13%
  • 6–10 km10%

What covers the land (1–3 km)

  • Trees46%
  • Shrubland10%
  • Grassland26%
  • Bare ground0%
  • Cropland10%
  • Built-up7%

ESA WorldCover 2021 (10 m, from Sentinel satellites), sampled every 120 m. A clearing, a road or a lake counts as what it is.

Who lives here

260 species recorded.

The plants, fungi, birds and mammals people have recorded here most often.

Animated oat
Animated oatAvena sterilis143 recordsEpgrande · CC BY 4.0
Spontaneous barley
Spontaneous barleyHordeum spontaneum103 recordsDaderot · Public domain
Slender Oat
Slender OatAvena barbata15 recordsJose Hernandez · Public domain
Friar's cowl
Friar's cowlArisarum vulgare14 recordsGiuseppe Frizzi · Public domain
Lilies-of-the-field
Lilies-of-the-fieldAnemone coronaria9 recordsAviad2001 · CC BY-SA 4.0
St. John's Bread
St. John's BreadCeratonia siliqua9 recordsUnknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
Shield clover
Shield cloverTrifolium clypeatum6 recordsHanay · CC BY-SA 3.0
Field marigold
Field marigoldCalendula arvensis5 recordsAlvesgaspar · CC BY-SA 3.0
Mastic tree
Mastic treePistacia lentiscus4 recordsFranz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen · Public domain
Butterfly orchid
Butterfly orchidAnacamptis papilionacea3 recordsHans Hillewaert · CC BY-SA 3.0
Withania
WithaniaWithania somnifera3 recordsSAplants · CC BY-SA 4.0
Silverleaf nightshade
Silverleaf nightshadeSolanum elaeagnifolium3 recordsPLAKLE · CC BY-SA 4.0

Open records within 5 km (GBIF, licensed for any use). Busy places are better recorded than remote ones.

In numbers

The forest, measured.

49out of 100

Our own rating, from open data only: tree cover (40 points), wildness (20), species recorded (30) and protection or heritage (10).

  • 50%Treesof the land within 3 km
  • 55%Wildno towns or farmland within 10 km
  • 260Speciesrecorded more than once within 5 km
  • 134 mAltitudeabove the sea

When to walk

Best for walking in March.

How good each month is for a walk: mild days and little rain make the bar taller.

  1. Jan16°7°88 mm
  2. Feb17°8°62 mm
  3. Mar20°9°37 mm
  4. Apr24°12°21 mm
  5. May28°15°5 mm
  6. Jun31°18°1 mm
  7. Jul33°20°1 mm
  8. Aug33°21°0 mm
  9. Sep31°20°2 mm
  10. Oct28°17°14 mm
  11. Nov23°13°46 mm
  12. Dec18°9°83 mm
  • Bar: walking comfort; the number on top is the average maximum.
  • Below: average minimum (NASA, 1991–2020).
  • Rain: monthly total.

The place

Ben Shemen forest.

Forest in central Israel

Ben Shemen forest is a forest in Israel.

Seen from space, 50% of the land within 3 km is trees, and 55% of the land within 10 km has no towns or farmland.

260 species have been recorded around it: 33 plants, 1 fungi, 222 birds and 4 mammals.

The most recorded plants are: Animated oat, Spontaneous barley and Slender Oat.

The best time to walk is in March.

Israel Ben Shemen Forest (8115567667)
StateofIsrael · CC BY-SA 2.0

Get there and walk

Plan the visit

A guided walk, a bed nearby, a car.

Car hire at TLV airport (Tel Aviv)Discover CarsSee prices 

Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.

From above

The forest and its surroundings.

The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the place, with the trails, notable trees, picnic sites and huts that OpenStreetMap shows.

Ben Shemen forest seen from above (Sentinel-2)
Seen from above: Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6 × 6 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Around, in OpenStreetMap

  • 19marked trails within 5 kmשביל ישראל, נאות קדומים, שביל גולני and 16 more
  • 1named and notable trees within 6 kmשיזף
  • 42picnic sites within 4 kmחניון שיזפים עתיקים and 41 more
  • 12shelters and huts within 6 kmסככה and 11 more
  • 12viewpoints within 5 kmחורבת רגב, מצפה חן, מצפה השניים and 9 more
  • 48car parks within 3 km
  • 6campsites within 10 kmTeen's camp site, دار سبعي, واد العين and 3 more
  • 6places to stay within 10 kmبلال سبعي, بيت يوسف سبعي, بيت الاستاذ عزمي العالم and 3 more
  • 5restaurants and cafés within 3 km
  • visitor centres within 6 km

Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.

In our other atlases

Around Ben Shemen forest.

The mountains, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and canyons around this forest, the viewpoints above it, the birds and the night sky, in the family's atlases.

Peakyas41 mountains within 25 km
Har Haruach771 m · 19 kmGivat ha-Radar880 m · 21 kmHar HaHaganah815 m · 21 kmHar Tayyasim796 m · 23 kmHar Ya‘ala645 m · 23 kmAl-Qastal779 m · 24 kmHar Etan788 m · 24 kmMount Heret780 m · 25 km
Darkskyas2 dark-sky places within 30 km
Givatayim ObservatoryBortle 9 · 19 kmPlanetarium WilliamsBortle 9 · 29 km
Cavernyas4 caves within 20 km
Ayalon Cave4.7 kmTinshemet cave6.1 kmShuqba cave9.2 kmB'nai B'rith cave20 km
Riveryasthe river nearby
Ayalon River50 kmNahal Modiim

Figures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.

Photographs

The forest, as people saw it.

Israel Ben Shemen Forest (8115579714)
StateofIsrael · CC BY-SA 2.0
145428 ben shemen forest herzl trail PikiWiki Israel
ישראל פרקר · CC BY 2.5
145419 ben shemen forest herzl forest gate PikiWiki Israel
ישראל פרקר · CC BY 2.5

Other forests nearby.

Ben Shemen forest

Israel

  • 49Forestyas Score
  • 50%Trees
  • 55%Wild
  • 260Species

Forest of the Martyrs

Israel · 21 km

  • 65Forestyas Score
  • 59%Trees
  • 86%Wild
  • 255Species

See the guide

Eshtaol Forest

Israel · 16 km

  • 54Forestyas Score
  • 44%Trees
  • 74%Wild
  • 303Species

See the guide

Atatürk Forest (Israel)

Israel · 79 km

  • 71Forestyas Score
  • 65%Trees
  • 89%Wild
  • 343Species

See the guide

Where these figures come from

Name and typeWikidata (Q6953015) · CC0
Land coverESA WorldCover 10 m 2021 v200 · © ESA WorldCover project / Copernicus Sentinel data · CC BY 4.0
Species41,992 open records within 5 km (GBIF, CC0 and CC BY 4.0 only)
See these recordsgbif.org
Names and photosWikidata (CC0); GBIF Backbone Taxonomy · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
AltitudeCopernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Temperature and rainNASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2)
What is around© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Sister atlasesPeakyas, Darkskyas, Cavernyas, Riveryas

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

The family

Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit cavesCavernyasEvery cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit dark skiesDarkskyasWhere the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit
viewpointsViewyasEvery viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.Coming soonVisit
birdwatchingBirdyasEvery bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit
forestsForestyasEvery forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.You are here