Balou Balaa Waterfall

The Guardian named Lebanon's Balou Balaa one of the World's Best Waterfalls in 2019! The Balaa gorge sinkhole (Baatara gorge waterfall) is a waterfall at Balaa in Tannourine, Lebanon. The waterfall cascades 255 meters (837 feet) into the Balaa Pothole, a Jurassic limestone cave on Lebanon Mountain Trail. The Cave of the Three Bridges is another name for this cave. Traveling from Laklouk to Tannourine, the Three Bridges Chasm (in French, Gouffre des Trois Ponts) is a five-minute trek into the valley below, where three natural bridges rise one over the other, overhanging a chasm dropping towards Mount Lebanon.

French bio-speleologist Henri Coiffait introduced the waterfall and associated sinkhole to the western world in 1952. The waterfall and sinkhole were completely surveyed in the 1980s by the Spéléo club du Liban. The spring of Dalleh in Mgharet al-Ghaouaghir was where the water first emerged, according to a 1988 fluorescent dye test. The Balou Balaa waterfall, which is naturally built of limestone and has three bridges stacked on top of one another, draws tourists from all over the world. The attraction is worthwhile to visit all year round, but the best time to go is in the spring when a stream of water shoots 250 meters to the bottom of the cave and the area is lush with greenery.

Location: Tannourine, Lebanon