Bekaa Valley hike

On our last hike with Cam here, we head to the Bekaa Valley. The main road passes by the long, high bridge bombed by the Israelis in 2006. We note the reconstruction progress since last we passed by: all the support towers are now in place and only the roadbed on one side is still missing.


We are heading for the wetlands at Aamiq. But the wetlands, home away from home for migrating birds on their way to/from Africa/Europe, that should be good and wet in February, are almost completely dry.

No birds to see, we hike on, stopping to view the only herd of buffalo in Lebanon, imported from Syria. Apparently there used to be lots of them in Lebanon, but no more. The milk is prized for buffalo mozzarella. They are much smaller than buffalo I've seen in either E. Africa, and somewhat smaller than those in Thailand.

Next stop is a Druze shrine where a woman is buried who pretended to be a man so that she could worship with the men. Somehow she became a saint-like figure. The Druze are both a religious and ethnic group. They split from Shia Islam in 1000 AD, and have been heavily persecuted pretty much ever since.

Here are photos of the Druze leader of the area and our local guide, the interior and exterior of the shrine.

It was a hazy day.

Above is a view of the dry wetland from above. The Litani River is at the far side.

At left are Cam and Tom and group descending a hillside.

We passed through farmland on our way to a village where we had lunch.

After the hike we stopped at one of Lebanon's most famous wineries, Kefraya, for a bit of wine tasting. Here are Cam and ACS teacher Sharon R.

And the vineyard.

Back at home, on Cam's last night Tom has a nargileh delivered. We sit on the balcony on a surprisingy warm February evening, before heading the the airport and his flight to Gabon (via Addis Ababa) at 2 a.m. We will miss the boy terribly, and wish him Godspeed on the challenging road ahead.