Plan on about two hours for the tour, which includes a boat ride through the lower galleries,the visit to the upper galleries on foot and a film presentation.
In summer you can visit both the upper and lower galleries while enjoying the refreshingly cool temperature inside the caves. The lower section is sometimes closed in winter when the water level is high, but the extensive upper galleries are open all year.
The Lower Galleries
This part of the cavern takes you to a beautiful underworld millions of years in the making. Both the 600 metre boat trip on a subterranean lake is only a sampling of the systemthat has been explored for almost 6,910 metres.
The first impression is the sound of rushing water and a sensation of clean cold. But the roarof the waterfall at the entrance gives way to profound silence as you glide deeper into the cave. An effective new lighting system illuminates expert rock climbers-and marvel at the columns and sculptures fashioned by those great architects-water and time.
The Upper Galleries
The approach to these dry galleries through a 120 metre long concrete tunnel does little to prepare you for the surprising world beyond. Formed several million years before the lower caverns, this section shows what the entire cave system was like before geological conditions displaced the subterranean river to its present level.
For 650 metres you wind your way through different levels of the caverns, contemplating the flowing stone draperies and other formations. Perhaps the most dramatic sight is the yawning canyons and sink holes, some seen at a drop of over a hundred metres.
Near the entrance to the upper galleries is an air conditioned theater which has scheduled showings of a film about Jeita in several languages. Check which time the language you want isshown so you can coordinate the film with your visit to the cave.
