Kule Forest – Givat Koah Forest – Visitors Guide

Kule Forest (Givat Koah Forest) near Elad offers hiking trails, picnic areas, memorials, ruins, and even a Roman mausoleum.

Note: sometimes Kule Forest is also called Elad Forest.

Map

Kule Forest (Givat Koah Forest) is located south of Elad, near Rosh Haayin.

Enter “Givat Koah Forest” into the navigation app to get there. You can also drive along Road #444 until you turn to Road #465. After several minutes on #465, you will see a turn left to the Alexandroni memorial. Turn to the dirt road and park by the monument.

Directions for drivers: Link to Waze and Link to Google Maps
Directions for public transport: Link to Moovit

Interactive map of the area:

Here is a map of Kule Forest (Givat Koah Forest):

Note: you can click on the map to enlarge it.

As you can see from the map, there are two picnic areas. One is near the Alexandroni memorial (near the bottom right of the map), and the other is near Elad (near the top left corner).

Trails

Many trails, including the Israeli National Trail, pass through this forest. And you can combine them into a loop or one-way trail. And here is an interactive map from israelhiking.osm.org.il where the trail that we did is marked:

And here are the details of these tracks:

Name	Color of the Trail on the Map above	Description	Distance (km)	Total climb and descent (meters)	Notes
Loop Trail	Blue	Take the black trail from the Alexandroni memorial, then continue using the Israeli National Trail to the mausoleum. And return using the blue and black trails.	5.5	186	You can make this route longer or shorter (by skipping the mausoleum and driving to it later).

Here is the sign with the map that you can find at the parking by the Alexandroni memorial:

Entrance Fee

Free.

Opening Hours

You can visit at any time. Just finish before dark, as there is no illumination along the route.

Names

This forest has three names. They are:

• Kule Forest – Kule was an Arab village. You can find its remains in the park.
• Koah Forest – in Gematria, Koah is 28. Twenty-eight soldiers from the Alexandroni brigade died during the Kule fights, and this name commemorates them.
• Elad Forest is located near the city of Elad, hence the name.

Now, I will take you along the trail mentioned.

Alexandroni Memorial

We parked near the Alexandroni Memorial, which is also the place where we began our hike.

At the memorial, you can find a short description of the events. It also explains the origin of the name Koah (see the Names section above).

And here are the names of the fallen soldiers:

Following the Warriors Trail

From the Alexandroni memorial, we took the black trail called Following the Warriors.

The length of this trail is about 2 km, and it was made in 2012 – 2014 by junior high students to commemorate the memory of the soldiers who fell during the Independence War.

As you can see from the following photo, the trails are marked clearly, and you can hike without a dedicated trail map.

Many people love having picnics in this forest. And if you go hiking during the weekend, you will see them.

We continued along the black trail until we saw the first sign. This sign told us about the water cistern found nearby. It is a common bell-shaped water cistern, one of many archeological remains found in this area.

Cork oak (Quercus suber) is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree. From its bark, people produce cork. After peeling, the outer layer grows back for ten years. This way, people continue using the same tree for 150-200 years.

We visited Kule Forest in December 2020, and though it was still winter, we saw Cyclamen.

Further, on our way, we saw a bat cave. But the entrance to this cave is forbidden.