Jeita is an extraordinary site that could be one of the wonders of the world but remains an intimate experience. Nestled in the hills of Keserwan, Lebanon, lies one of the most breathtaking natural wonders of the world – Jeita Grotto. This limestone cave system is a marvel of nature, with its stunning stalactites and stalagmites, crystal clear waters, and underground river. It is one of the most famous tourist attractions in the country and is considered one of the world’s most beautiful caverns.

The Jeita Grotto is actually a compound of interconnected limestone caves spanning an area of about 9 kilometres. The two main caves that visitors can explore are the upper gallery and the lower gallery. The upper gallery can be accessed by foot, while the lower gallery is explored by boat on an underground river.

Stalactites and stalagmites are elongated forms of various minerals deposited from the solution by slowly dripping water. A stalactite hangs like an icicle from the ceiling or sides of a cavern. A stalagmite appears like an inverted stalactite, rising from the floor of a cavern. Not every stalactite has a complementary stalagmite, and many of the latter may have no stalactite above them.

We were discussing among our friends on stalactite and stalagmite earlier today. I recollected my visit to the longest cave complex in the Middle East. I visited Jeita Grotto about a decade ago during one of my trips to Lebanon.

Jeita Grotto, a monumental underground karstic wonderland and also the water source for over a million citizens of Beirut, is about 18 kilometres north of the Lebanese capital. It is an extraordinary site that could be one of the wonders of the world but remains an intimate experience.

The upper gallery features a walkway that takes visitors through a series of stalactites and stalagmites formations, beautifully illuminated to highlight their natural beauty. The lower gallery, accessed by boat, offers a unique perspective as visitors glide through a subterranean river surrounded by stunning rock formations.

One of the most notable features of Jeita Grotto is the Crystal Gallery, a section within the upper cave that showcases some of the most spectacular crystal formations found in the grotto. These crystal formations have been growing for thousands of years, giving them a unique and mesmerizing appearance.

The Lower Cave is home to an underground river some 6.2 kilometres long, while the Upper Cave features innumerable dazzling rock formations including one of the largest hanging stalactites in the world, measuring 8.2 metres (27 feet). Visitors can tour three chambers in the Upper Cave via platforms and raised walkways that permit exploration without disturbing the natural landscape. The Lower Cave can only be toured by boat.

The grotto is known for its incredible natural beauty, with breathtaking stalactites, stalagmites, columns, and curtains formed over centuries by the slow drip of mineral-rich water. The underground river flowing through the lower gallery adds an element of adventure to the exploration.

JEITA REDISCOVERED

Though inhabited in prehistoric times, the lower cave was not rediscovered until 1836 by Reverend William Thomson. The Jeita caves are solutional karst caves that 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 waterproof, contains cracks produced by tectonic forces the water oozes into the rock and starts to widen the cracks and solute caves inside the layers.

The Jeita grotto is located within the Lower-Middle Jurassic strata of Keserouane which has a stratigraphic thickness of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and consists of dolostone and micritic limestone. At the Nahr al-Kalb valley, the impervious Upper Jurassic volcanic rocks and Lower Cretaceous sand slant almost vertically forming a hydrogeological barrier and forcing the outlet of the Jeita underground river to the surface. Geologically, the caves provide a tunnel or escape route for the underground river, which is the principal source of Nahr al-Kalb, a river that provides fresh water to over one million people in Beirut. 

THE UPPER CAVE

On reaching the the base of the complex, we left our car in the parking area, and purchased entry and parking tickets from the ticket office there. From here we took a short ride up the mountain in one of four Austrian cable cars to reach the upper cave.

There is a small train also that takes the visitors to the upper cave. The gondola took us over the river called Nahr al-Kalb (or Dog River), through beautiful natural scenery.

The Jeita upper cave has an overall length of 2,130 metres (6,990 ft) of which only 750 metres (2,460 ft) are accessible to visitors; 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 grotto has strategically positioned coloured lights that showcase the stalactites and stalagmites in all their crystalline glory.

The first is called the White Chamber, and the second Red Chamber, due to the colour of the formations. White dripstones are pure calcite without defilement, the red colour is given by iron oxide (rust) in small amounts. In Lebanon, iron oxide has a red colour instead of the brown beige colour which is common in northern countries. The reason is a different chemical reaction caused by the high temperature which produces a different kind of iron oxide. The White Chamber is medium-sized but has the most impressive formations of the cave.

The Red Chamber is up to 106 metres (348 ft) high, and 30 metres (98 ft) to 50 metres (160 ft) wide. The third chamber is the biggest of all three chambers and has a height of more than 120 metres (390 ft). The longest stalactite in the world is located in Jeita’s White Chamber; it measures 8.2 metres (27 ft) long.

THE LOWER CAVE

After visiting the upper cave, we preferred to walk down to the entrance of the lower cave enjoying the natural beauty.

One of the most enormous and attractive statues found in Lebanon is placed at the entrance of the lower grotto and is called “Guardian of Time” heightening 6.6 m and weighing 65 tons.

The lower gallery which has an overall length of 6,200 metres (20,300 ft) is located 60 metres (200 ft) below the upper gallery. It is traversed by a smooth underwater river and a lake (the “Dark Lake”). The river is broken up by several small cataracts and rapids.

The lower cave’s “Thompson’s Cavern”, is a massive hall with impressive speleothems such as the Eagle Obelisk stalagmite. Other halls in the lower gallery include the Pantheon, Grand Chaos and Shangri-la.

To see the lower cave, we took a boat on the crystal-clear underground river, which feels like a fairytale — there is no scale of time or space. It is another territory, a parallel one, similar to the one we seek in art and cinema. I knew I was underground but felt I was also floating in space.

In 2002, then-French President Jacques Chirac, the United Nations World Tourism Organization and the World Bank accorded the top Sustainable Development in Tourism prize to MAPAS (the company that manages the site).

Few caverns in the world approach the astounding wealth or the extent of those of Jeita. Due to its outstanding geological significance and natural beauty, Jeita Grotto was a finalist in the New7Wonders of Nature competition, which aimed to identify the most remarkable natural sites in the world. Although it didn’t win the title, it remains a cherished landmark in Lebanon.

PS: There’s no photography allowed inside the caverns. We stowed our cameras and mobile phones in lockers placed at the mouth of the caverns. I could not take pictures and hence posted the images of the interior of caverns from the internet.