Jeita grotto

At مزرعة الراس, Lebanon, in the valley of the dog river you can find a giant flowstone cave called the Jeita grotto. It is 10 km long and separated into two parts: the upper grotto is the opposite of narrow (with heights of more than 100 meters) and you can see spectacular formations and very long stalactites (up to 8.2 meters long) while walking 700 meters through the grotto. The lower grotto is rather short but contains an underground lake on which you can have a short boating tour (400 meters). The navigation skills of the staff are quite impressive.

The Jeita grotto is different from most other flowstone caves I’ve seen before because of the vast height of the upper grotto. It feels like being in a giant dome. Here it is not a high number of stalactites that impresses the visitor – but there are giant structures looking like waterfalls or big mushrooms. What feels a bit odd is that you are not allowed to take pictures in any of the caves. This is enforced by lockers placed in front of the entrances where you are asked to leave your cameras and smartphones. Even if it is pretty useless underground, I dislike giving my phone away. 😉

Reaching the upper and lower grotto would be easily possible from the car park. But somehow somebody decided that there needs to be ground transportation. Therefore you can now use a cable car with four connected cabins transporting you the few meters up the hill. The technology comes from Austria and the system has been installed by a German company. Additionally, there is a shuttle (with one of those small busses looking like trains). Jeita grotto is a nice experience and it is worth to visit both parts of the cave – even though the boat tour is rather short.

مغارة جعيتا / Jeita grotto
مزرعة الراس / Mazraat El Ras
Lebanon