A Spa That Slithers

Forget mud from the Dead Sea. Israel's latest tranquillity treatment has snakes on the brain

Uriel Sinai / Getty for TIME

At an offbeat spa in northern Israel, tourists - and repeat customers - relax as snakes knead and strangely soothe.

Most spas have names that conjure up an atmosphere of bliss and tranquillity. So I am a little taken aback by the sign outside the spa in the orange groves of northern Israel. It reads, ADA BARAK'S CARNIVOROUS PLANT FARM. Barak makes most of her income by showing off her plants, which eat everything from insects and reptiles to small mammals and schnitzel. She started grabbing one of the little snakes slithering in and out of the hungry plants' jaws and passing it around to visitors at the end of her act. And that was how she hit on the snakes'...

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