Lebanon - Nature: Sea, Cedars and Caves
Date: 21 February 2012 00:59:48
Part II of the belated travelogue/photologue; part I on history and the ruins is here.
For a country with an area of only 10,452 square kilometres (4,036 square miles) Lebanon has a huge amount to offer in many areas, and nature is definitely one of them. As a size comparison, Wales is almost twice as large at 20,779 square kms and Lebanon would fit into Australia (7,617,930 square kms) almost 729 times! Diversity ranges from the Mediterranean to the plains around Baalbek to amazing caves to the mountain areas running through the middle of Lebanon, each unique in its geology and flora, the most famous of which are the cedars -- so famous and rightly so, they are majestic.
From any of the cities on Lebanon's west coast you have a wonderful view of the Mediterranean. The Lebanese love to stroll along the croniche in the cities and towns of an evening, and fishing and swimming are popular as well. Though many beaches are privately owned and you must pay to go in; a situation I seem to recall in France when I was there in 1998 (oh my!; was it *that* long ago!?!)
As I looked west, often as the sunset (in Sydney the sea is to the east so a sunset over the sea is a novel experience), my mind went to the many, many mentions of the Mediterranean in the Bible, particularly the Psalms such as Psalm 104 (103 in the Orthodox numbering), the Psalm chanted at Vespers:
Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
Another reference from the Bible, and an emblem of Lebanon, is the cedar. Sadly there are not a great number left, compared to what there were, and I heard disease is affecting a number of areas, but I was blessed to visit the Al Shouf Cedar Reserve, Lebanon's largest nature reserve at 550 square kilometres covers 5% of the country, and the Cedars of God, a small grove of around 300 Cedars in the Qadisha Valley. They are truly majestic trees: so grand, their branches spreading out to give that well-known profile of the cedar.
The Maronite Patriarchs of the nearby city of Bsharre placed the Cedars of God under their protection, building a small chapel there, and in 1867 Queen Victoria financed a protective wall to keep out grazing goats. My experience there was odd in a sense; the guide I hired rushed me through as if there were a time limit, and though well-informed he took my camera and would not let me use it, telling me he takes good photos and I should concentrate on walking through. Unfortunately, unbeknown to me at that point, my camera's auto focus when zooming was kaputt, so most photos did not come out as the zoom was used. But a few did, and I have the memories.
My trip to the Al Shouf Cedar Reserve was different; I wandered throughout at my own pace, and when I returned to the ranger's hut they shared their lunch with me and made me delicious Lebanese coffee. We chatted and they answered my questions (in English). And, when I asked about getting back to town (I'd caught a taxi up), one of the rangers organised for me to be driven back with a colleague who was dropping by. And with typical Lebanese hospitality and lvoe for the visitor, they would not accept any money at all.
The final area for this post is caves. Jeita Grotto is amazing and a must-see; and as photos were verboten (though I saw the rule was more observed in the breach...), please look at the website for the sheer beauty and majesty of these caves. Unlike caves here, where the path is narrow and the integrity of the caves is attempted to be preserved, the upper grotto, containing a huge number of caverns and lit stalagmites and stalactites, has a huge concrete path on which you can walk. Very easy access, though later their were steps. The lower grotto, while not as large, has its own beauty: and one of the beauties is travelling in a motorised boat through the water-filled caverns: a superb way to see the caves!
Qadisha Grotto, while smaller, is well worth a visit with a water lake and some beautiful formations: it is also a lot less busy -- there were a group of 4 people who wanadered around as my guide and I did.
Truly a land of natural diversity; and in my next blog I will cover the mountain regions of the Qadisha Valley, the highlight for me of my trip, and the Shouf Mountains.