Each spring, as snow melts on the high mountains of northern Lebanon, a stream near the village of Balaa in Tannourine plunges into a limestone chasm and falls past three natural stone bridges stacked one above another. The Baatara Gorge Waterfall, also known as the Cave of the Three Bridges, is one of the most extraordinary landforms in the Middle East.
Where is the Baatara Gorge Waterfall?
The chasm lies near Chatine, in the municipality of Tannourine in Lebanon’s Batroun District. The usual approach is the mountain road from Laqlouq towards Tannourine, which passes the village of Balaa. From the roadside, a walk of about five minutes leads down into the small valley and the edge of the sinkhole. It appears on maps as Baatara gorge waterfall near Tannourine.
Lebanese cavers call the site the Ballouh Baatara sinkhole, and in French it is the Gouffre des Trois Ponts. In English it is often called the Three Bridge Chasm.
The three bridges and the Jurassic limestone
Baatara is a pothole, a vertical shaft dissolved out of limestone of the Jurassic period, around 160 million years old. Over millions of years, meltwater carved the rock into an open chasm, leaving three natural bridges spanning it, one above another, which is what gives the place its name.
The open-air entrance drops about 70 m past the three bridges. Below, the cave continues as a series of underground pits, the longest about 80 m deep, reaching a total depth of around 255 m according to the Spéléo Club du Liban’s description of Ballouh Baatara. Explorers have had to swim across deep pools to get through.
Discovery and exploration
The French bio-speleologist Henri Coiffait made the chasm known to Western science in 1952. Lebanese cavers explored its depths in the 1980s, and in 1988 a dye-tracing experiment showed that the water swallowed by Baatara re-emerges at a spring in Mgharet al-Ghaouaghir.
The waterfall is the visible start of that underground journey. In winter and spring the stream fills the shaft so completely that the cave below becomes inaccessible even to experienced cavers.
When to see the waterfall
The cascade depends on snowmelt, so its strength varies from year to year. The waterfall runs during the spring thaw, when it falls in a ribbon past all three bridges. Spring is the time for the full spectacle; in the dry months the bridges and layered rock are the main attraction.
The rim is a sheer drop, so keep to the established viewpoints, especially when the ground is wet. Before travelling, check the UK Foreign Office’s Lebanon advice or your own government’s guidance, which changes with the regional situation.
More caves and natural bridges
For more natural arches and spans, browse our bridge collection. Underground landscapes come in many forms, from caves, ice tunnels and slot canyons to the glowworm grottoes in our Waitomo guide.
Related reading
- Eight Cave and Canyon Scenes: Understanding the Different Landforms
- Saint Simon’s Cave Churches: Rock-Cut Worship Spaces in Cairo
- Waitomo Caves: Glowworms, Limestone and the People Behind the Tours
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