Tannourine Cedar Forest Nature Reserve

The Tannourine reserve protects around six thousand cedars on a slope between about fourteen hundred and eighteen hundred metres, and it is the densest cedar stand left in the country: unlike the more famous groves, this is a forest rather than a remnant of a few dozen trees. Trails of different lengths run through it, some of the trees are over a thousand years old, and the reserve has fought a long battle with a sawfly infestation that killed a significant proportion of the stand in the 1990s.

The landscape

• The cedar stand - around six thousand trees, the densest in the country.
• The ancient trees - individuals over a thousand years old within the grove.
• The trails - marked walking routes of varying length through the forest.
• The mountainside - the reserve running up the slope from 1,400 to 1,800 metres.

When to go

May to November is the season; snow closes the reserve in winter. Autumn is the most comfortable for walking. Summer weekends bring picnic crowds.

Practical notes

The sawfly outbreak killed a visible proportion of trees and dead crowns are still evident. Facilities are basic and the trail signage is patchy. The road up is steep and rough in places.

Nearby

Baatara gorge is nearby, and the Qadisha valley is northeast.

Key facts