Every spring and summer, a Jurassic limestone cave in the Mount Lebanon range turns into a 800-foot waterfall. The Baatara Gorge Waterfall drops through the Three Bridges Chasm. At the bottom, the water falls into a cave system and reemerges in the Dalleh Spring nearly four miles away.
The hole and cave were formed by the rock’s Upper Jurassic limestone reacting with weak acids naturally occurring in rainwater, causing erosion. Freezing winter temperatures also caused the rocks on chasm’s walls to break off, widening the hole.
Two natural bridges overlook the waterfall, as well as one at the ground level, giving the chasm its name. Despite its astonishing beauty, the Baatara Gorge Waterfall is little-known internationally. It was not known outside Lebanon until French speleologist Henri Coiffait visited the site in 1952. The hole’s location was added to maps starting in the 1980s.
