Makhtesh, meaning also Crater in Hebrew, is a natural phenomenon special to the Negev desert in Israel. It's kind of in the middle between a canyon and an impact generated crater. The most popular speculation about its origin, is that erosion started at the peak of a mountain made by pressures from the formation of the Syrian-African Rift. The peak is where the hard top layer was the thinnest, and after it was cracked, the soft layers below where easily swept away , creating steep cliffs being the borders of Makhtesh Ramon.
Today, on the bottom of Makhtesh Ramon, you can find a variety of minerals, seen sometimes as colorful sands, including black, blue, red, green, yellow white and those in between. If you're careful, you could see various desert animals. There are four kinds of grazing mammals, some predators (including two or three leopards, that soon will be extinct), and many snakes and other reptiles.