Freeze Balou’ Balaa! I will shoot you!
Today’s episode of “Freeze I will shoot you” is brought to you from a nice village called “Balaa” in Tannourine, located around 70 kilometers from Beirut. I went there 10 days ago with some friends under the guidance of Mireille (from Life Geeked), who showed us a lot of nice places in both of Batroun, Tannourine, and Laklouk. So Balaa was actually just a stop on a one day road trip.
Balaa is very famous for its 250 meters deep natural sink hole that has been carved by water 160 million years ago! According to Mireille, a magnificent waterfall can be observed during winter and spring with water vapors rising up to the surface, so I’m definitely going to revisit Balaa again.
Moving to the photos…
There’s a distance of around 300 meters separating the sinkhole from the main road, and yes you have to walk to get to it.
And we’re gettig closer..
And here we are! The photos actually do no justice to the location. What appears like a shade in the middle is actually is small waterfall.
As you can see, the place IS dangerous, the edges are a bit slippery and you really don’t want to risk falling down.
The bridge in the middle is reachable, and the below photo is taken from its top.
Yep, 250 meters deep!
The location is suitable for a picnic by the way, but camping is forbidden as per the ministry of environment.
Great Pictures, good work!
ammaaaa… nice pics !
I am taking you to tons of new places … just so u can “Freeze” them
btw same area in spring
http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/1676282.jpg
WAWW..its seems a very nice region!!
Great pix!
Beautiful photos & place! i want to go there!!!!
Isn’t this Arz Jeij?
one of my fav locations … http://www.flickr.com/photos/adaimi/3030319466/
summer 08′
Thank you all for your comments!
@mir
and I’m ready!!
@Liliane
not sure where Arz Jeij is (close to Chahtoul maybe?) but this village is called “Balaa”
Amazing pics! Can’t wait till the next episode. Keep up the amazing work.
Arz Jej are located west of Balaa, at approx 8 km, but there is no direct road so it takes at least one hour by car to go from here to there.
Administratively speaking, Balaa is a district of Chetine (people there are on Chetine’s electoral list, where they elect one Moukhtar) , one of the 4 villages in Baladiya Tannourine (Tannourine Al Tahta, Wata Houb, Tannourine Al Faouqa, Chetine).
Historically speaking, the Balaa zone was a summer residence for many inhabitants of Chetine, living mainly from agriculture. When people began to work in Jbail or other major cities, they kept their house in Balaa, where they still spend their week-ends, and abandonned their winter house in Chetine, which is filled with ruins of old houses
And yes the place is great in winter!
Hi Rami,
Could you please provide detailed directions on how to reach this site ?
Thanks a lot.
@MauriX
Well it’s located somewhere on the road to tannourine, and there’s plenty of signs to it, I really don’t know how to provide directions as I went there under the direction of a friend.