Shouf cedars forest — Virtual Tour
In southern Mount Lebanon, the Shouf cedar forests extend across a territory far larger than the groves of Jaj or Bsharri.
The Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve includes the forests of Maasser el-Shouf, Barouk and Ain Zhalta–Bmohray. Together, they form part of a much wider mountain landscape where forests, pastures, farmland, villages and rocky slopes are closely intertwined.
Here, cedar is not isolated from its surroundings. It belongs to an entire territory.
Explore Shouf Cedars Forest in 360°
This 360° view opens onto one of Mount Lebanon’s broadest forest landscapes.
Cedar trees spread across the slopes alongside other vegetation, while the mountain continues far beyond the immediate view. Here, the sense of scale is part of the experience.
The Shouf, another scale
n the Shouf, the story of the cedar unfolds at the scale of an entire landscape.
The forests of Maasser el-Shouf, Barouk and Ain Zhalta–Bmohray form part of a mountain territory where cedar groves coexist with oak woods, pine forests, high-altitude pastures, farmland and rocky outcrops.
In At the Heart of Our Forests, the Shouf was already approached as a broad forest territory rather than a single grove. That scale remains one of its defining characteristics.
Today, the biosphere reserve extends well beyond the cedar forests themselves, including villages and agricultural areas. Cedar is therefore part of an inhabited and long-used mountain landscape, not an isolated sanctuary.
The trees are found mainly on steeper and less accessible slopes, while conservation efforts have helped natural regeneration return in several areas.
Within the wider story of Byblos and the cedar, however, the Shouf must remain separate from Jaj.
The sources gathered so far do not establish a direct link between these southern forests and the timber cargoes that once passed through the port of Byblos.
The Shouf offers something else: a sense of scale.
It shows the cedar not simply as a tree or a forest, but as part of a wider mountain world shaped by vegetation, grazing, agriculture, villages and human movement.
The perspective widens here: from individual trees to forests, and from forests to an entire territory.
Photo gallery — Shouf cedars forest
For the wider story connecting these mountain forests with Byblos: Byblos and the Cedar — from the mountains to the Mediterranean.
Sources and references
Shouf Biosphere Reserve — official website: organisation of the reserve, its geography, and the forests of Maasser el-Shouf, Barouk and Ain Zhalta–Bmohray.
Shouf Biosphere Reserve — National Standing: establishment of the nature reserve in 1996 and recognition of the Biosphere Reserve in 2005.
Shouf Biosphere Reserve — Landscape: description of the landscape mosaic combining forests, agriculture, pastures and rocky areas.
Shouf Biosphere Reserve — Cedrus libani: distribution of cedar populations and current patterns of natural regeneration.
Melkan Bassil — At the Heart of Our Forests, “The Cedars of the Chouf”: earlier photographic and editorial work on the different cedar forests of the massif. AU COEUR DE NOS FORETS - TEXTES…
Visit Byblos aims to provide documented content based on identified sources. Some information may nevertheless evolve as research advances and new discoveries are made. Documented corrections or additional information are welcome.
Explore Lebanon’s other cedar forests and discover, step by step, the landscapes in which the cedar has endured through the centuries. Jaj, Tannourine, Bsharri and the Shouf: each panorama reveals a different relationship between the tree, the rock and the mountains.
Move along the line to discover another virtual tour.