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…

Balou balaa 7

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.

Balou balaa 1

And we’re gettig closer..

Balou balaa 2

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.

Balou balaa 3

As you can see, the place IS dangerous, the edges are a bit slippery and you really don’t want to risk falling down.

Balou balaa 4

The bridge in the middle is reachable, and the below photo is taken from its top.

Balou balaa 5

Balou balaa 6

Yep, 250 meters deep!

The location is suitable for a picnic by the way, but camping is forbidden as per the ministry of environment.

My next destination will hopefully be ammiq.

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17 Responses to Freeze Balou’ Balaa! I will shoot you!

  1. ghassan October 5, 2009 at 2:10 am #

    Great Pictures, good work!

  2. mir October 5, 2009 at 8:36 am #

    ammaaaa… nice pics !

    I am taking you to tons of new places … just so u can “Freeze” them

  3. mir October 5, 2009 at 9:39 am #

    btw same area in spring
    http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/1676282.jpg

  4. Chantal October 5, 2009 at 10:04 am #

    WAWW..its seems a very nice region!!
    Great pix!

  5. Maya October 5, 2009 at 11:46 am #

    Beautiful photos & place! i want to go there!!!!

  6. Liliane October 5, 2009 at 10:20 pm #

    Isn’t this Arz Jeij?

  7. George October 6, 2009 at 9:32 am #

    one of my fav locations … http://www.flickr.com/photos/adaimi/3030319466/
    summer 08′

  8. Rami October 6, 2009 at 10:12 am #

    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”

  9. Jad Aoun October 6, 2009 at 5:48 pm #

    Amazing pics! Can’t wait till the next episode. Keep up the amazing work.

  10. philippe October 18, 2009 at 11:03 pm #

    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

  11. philippe October 18, 2009 at 11:06 pm #

    And yes the place is great in winter!

  12. MauriX January 5, 2010 at 3:37 am #

    Hi Rami,

    Could you please provide detailed directions on how to reach this site ?

    Thanks a lot.

  13. Rami January 6, 2010 at 5:22 pm #

    @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.

  14. Michael Ghosch December 28, 2010 at 4:40 pm #

    @Maya
    i’m from Chetine (bal3a) and i’m ready to accompany you to visit the balou3 and other bawali3. we can also visit arz jej w arz tannourine…

  15. Romeo Chaer September 16, 2013 at 3:08 pm #

    I have a restaurant and a place to camp, named: Beit el Jabal. Please like my page and check the pictures we are taking for our Lebanese Mountain Restaurant along with our camp side đŸ™‚
    http://www.facebook.com/beiteljabal
    Founded and mananged by Romeo Chaer 03-876437

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