The Wadi al-Hawa (Arabic: وادي الهوى, romanized: Wādī al-Hawā); also known as Wādī al-Fākhūra[1] or Wādī al-Zakī[2] is a river located in the Golan Heights, within the Quneitra Governorate of Syria. The stream is referred to by Israeli authorities as the Meshushim Stream (Hebrew: נחל משושים, romanized: Nahal Meshushim, lit. 'Hexagons Stream'), and, under Israeli occupation, it is administered as part of the Yehudiya Forest Nature Reserve.[3]
35 km long, it starts from the foothills of Mount Avital and discharges via the Butayhah Basin into the Sea of Galilee.[4][3]
The stream owes its Hebrew name to the hexagonal basalt columns visible on the banks in the central part of its course. A prominent example of this kind of geology and a tourist attraction is the Hexagon Pool.
Of the many affluents from the steam's 160 km2 drainage area,[3] the most prominent ones are the Zavitan Stream and the intermittent Katzrin Stream.
It is the only river in the Quneitra Governorate not impounded in reservoirs.[3]
References
- 1.Arabic: وادي الفاخورة
- 2.Arabic: وادي الزكي
- 3.[3.2][3.3][3.4]Meshushim Stream, (part of) Yehudiya Nature Reserve, an Israel Nature and Parks Authority brochure, accessed january 2022.
- 4."The Meshushim Stream and Meshushim Pool (Pool of Hexagons) in the Yehudia Nature Reserve" at galilandgolan.com.