Dead Sea: Mother Nature’s Very Own Mud Spa

Oh wow! My skin feels as supple as a baby’s bottom. This was my first reaction after showering post a dead sea mud spa session. My excitement knew no bounds as this was the very first instance in my 34 year old life that I felt my rough, weather beaten skin to be silky smooth. And the credit for all this goes to mother nature’s very own mud spa, the Dead Sea, that exists naturally in Jordan, Palestine (West Bank) and Israel, the 3 countries that shares this landlocked water body.



Dead Sea is definitely a popular geographical highlight the world over. At 429 metres below sea level, it is the lowest point on planet Earth. At 304 metres deep, it is the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. And it is approximately 10 times as salty as the ocean, making it one of the world’s saltiest water bodies. Among the travel fraternity, the internet and social media is full of pictures of holidaymakers reading a newspaper or a book while floating on the Dead Sea. It is the heavy density of this super saline water that allows human beings to float effortlessly.



I got my chance to experience all of this in person on my recent trip to Jordan. I floated effortlessly, my eyes stung, my minor cuts and bruises felt like they were on fire, my taste buds balked at the salinity when I bravely attempted to taste the water of the Dead Sea and last, but not the least, I nicely covered myself in the famous mud of the Dead Sea to give myself a mineral-rich Dead Sea mud spa.



One of the world’s first health resorts (for Herod the Great – 73 BC to 4 BC), the Dead Sea of today is a hotspot when it comes to health research and possible treatments. Whether it is the higher atmospheric pressure, the mineral-rich water, reduced ultraviolet radiation or the low content of pollens or other allergens in the atmosphere, the Dead Sea water, mud and atmosphere offers some serious health effects. From balms that were used for Egyptian mummification processes to the herbal products, bath salts, facial masks  and cosmetics, the world over believes in its healing and restorative abilities.



I certainly do. Not that I personally like my skin to be silky smooth, but I know a lot of people do. And in the process, you get to experience one of nature’s best wonders, a geographical delight and have a thrilling holiday.



The Dead Sea experience is surreal. Go and experience it soon before it shrinks and disappears in the future, which is pretty likely if one looks at the rate at which it has shrunk in the last four decades!!