There is no doubt that the magnificent pyramids in Egypt have confounded many scientist who struggled to find out how ancient Egyptians built this great structure in an era when heavy machines, powerful bulldozers and fast computers did not exist. It was not surprising that the pyramids remained in the top list of the Seven Wonders of the World for many decades. However, one should also look with great admiration at the natural beauty of some mesmerizing natural locations that dot many areas around the world.
Artists and sculptors can turn a rock into a statue and a blank board into a painting. But it seems that the work of nature and God has more profound impact on the human beings who dwell some of these breathtaking locations. One such fascinating location that has grabbed the hearts and minds of Lebanese and foreign tourists is the Jeita Grotto, which for many years became one of the main tourist destinations in Lebanon.
Jeita has in fact made history when it became one of the top contenders of the Seven Natures of the World, a competition which put Lebanon in the radar screen of the world although the pre- historic cave did not win one of the top spots. Despite the bitter disappointments of millions of Lebanese who casted their votes by emails and SMSs for Jeita cave, the inhabitants of Jeita are very pleased that their small and serine town has become very popular spot for inquisitive tourists and adventurers who try to explore the grotto closely. Jeita has become a landmark name in Lebanon as more tourists converge into this breathtaking site, capitalizing on the fame it acquired during the voting for the Seven Wonders of the World.
Until this date, archeologists believe that Jeita could be the biggest grotto in the world and assure that the unexplored cave maybe even be much larger than the one marveled by tourists. But some tourists’ operators feel that the Tourism Ministry has not yet aggressively promoted Jeita, noting that the number of visitors to this site should easily reach 10,000 a day if a proper media blitz was launched.
Located five kilometers (3.1 miles) east of the Mediterranean coastline and 18 kilometers (11 miles) north of Beirut, Jeita cave is situated at the center of the western flanks of Mount Lebanon, more specifically in the Nahr al-Kalb valley. Its natural entrance is about 100 meters (330 ft) above sea level.
Reverend William Thomson (an American missionary) was credited in making the first discovery of Jeita cave in 1836. Historians say that Thomson vented only 50 meters into the cave and has reached the underground river. It was also reported that Thomson fired a shot from his gun and the resulting echoes convinced him that he had found a cavern of major importance.
It was not until 1873 when other men delved deeper into the cave to discover more hidden natural scenes. W.J. Maxwell and H.G. Huxley, engineers with the Beirut Water Company, and their friend Reverend Daniel Bliss, president of the Syrian Protestant College (later the American University of Beirut) explored these caverns. The inquisitive explorer penetrated 1,060 meters (3,480 ft) into the grotto which is the principal source of the Nahr al-Kalb that supplies Beirut with water. Both explorers engraved their names on the walls on a limestone pillar some 625 meters from the entrance of the cave. About 200 meters (660 ft) further on, in the so-called "Pantheon", they wrote their names and details of the expedition on paper, sealed it in a bottle and placed it on top of a stalagmite.
Between 1892 and 1940 further expeditions were carried out by English, American and French explorers. Their expeditions brought them to a depth of 1,750 meters (5,740 ft). Lebanese adventurers and explorers eventually made further deep exploration in the cave and had even reached points which their western peers did not reach. Among the highly recognized Lebanese explorers were members of the Speleo Club du Liban (Lebanese Caving Club) founded in 1951 by the first Lebanese speleologist Lionel Ghorra who pushed even deeper into the Jeita grotto. Their expeditions revealed a great underground system which is now known to an overall length of nearly 9 kilometers (5.6 miles).
In 1958 the lower caverns were opened to the public, meanwhile exploration was still underway mainly by the Lebanese Caving Club. This exploration led to the discovery of the elevated dry branch of the grotto later referred to as the upper galleries. In 1962, the Spéléo Club contributed to a study of the upper galleries aiming to provide an access tunnel which was to be dug for touristic development purposes. Work on the access tunnel begun in 1968. Its opening was followed by the installation of a series of walkways which permitted tourists safe access to the upper galleries without disturbing the natural landscape.
In 1969, a concert with electronic music by the French composer Francois Bayle was held in the cave to celebrate the inauguration of the upper galleries. This event was organized by the Lebanese artist and sculptor Ghassan Klink. Other cultural events have taken place in this unusual surrounding, including a concert by the world acknowledged German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen in November 1969, and more recently, in 2008 a classical music concert by Lebanese-Armenian composer and pianist Guy Manoukian.
The caverns closed to the public due to the Lebanese civil war in 1978. Both tunnels leading to the lower and upper galleries were used to store munitions, the outside buildings for military purposes. The caves reopened in 1995 and remain one of the country’s key natural attractions. According to geologists and experts, the Jeita caves are solutional karst caves which have formed over millions of years due to the dissolution of limestone. The limestone is dissolved by carbonic acid charged rain water and groundwater when the limestone, which is originally water proof, contains cracks produced by tectonic forces the water oozes into the rock and starts to widen the cracks and solute caves inside the layers.
Jeita is the longest cave complex in the Middle East; it sits at 300 meters (980 ft) above sea level and has a height difference of 305 meters (1,001 ft). Geologically, the caves provide a tunnel or escape route for the underground river, which is the principal source of Nahr al-Kalb. The Jeita grotto is the longest explored cave in Lebanon. The Jeita upper cave has an overall length of 2,130 meters (6,990 ft) of which only 750 meters (2,460 ft) are accessible to visitors via a specially conceived walkway; access to the remainder of the cave was restricted to prevent ecological damage which may occur due to the flocking tourists.
The upper cave contains a great concentration of a variety of crystallized formations such as stalactites, stalagmites, columns, mushrooms, ponds, curtains and draperies. The upper gallery is famous for its formations, lit by an effective lighting system. It is entered through a 117 meters (384 ft) long concrete tunnel. The part accessible by visitors has three huge chambers. The first is called White Chamber, the second Red Chamber, due to the color of the formations.
Jeita received many accolade and awards most notably from former French President Jacques Chirac, the United Nations World Tourism Organization. The World Bank accorded the top Sustainable Development in Tourism prize to MAPAS (the company that manages the site) at a summit dubbed “New Ties between Tourism and Culture” in Geneva.
Oussama Habib
NNA- Lebanon
