Wow, I thought--what a BEAUTIFUL place! How come I had never been there before or even heard of anyone going there before??
Now don't get me wrong, I spend my summer traveling around Lebanon visiting all the beautiful sites and I could certainly believe that this place was in Lebanon--but the fact that I had never been there before was a tad bit suspect...
Something seemed a little fishy...it wasn't the first time I had seen these photos either, I had seen them in YouTube videos of Lebanon mixed in with pictures of Beirut, Byblos and the Cedars of Lebanon.
Still...something was not right...
And then I figured it out...these supposed pictures of this beautiful oasis in Baysour, Lebanon are in fact the Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia.
Ok...so what the hell happened? Go ahead and Google Image "Baysour, Lebanon" and then "Plitvice National Park." Even sites such as Souwar.com incorrectly show pictures of the Croatian Park and label them Baysour, Lebanon.
So unfortunately, it is undeniable that this is not Baysour, but actually Croatia--but how did this hoax begin??
I would personally like to think that it was a stroke of genius by the Tourism Board of Baysour, Lebanon--after years of extraordinarily low tourism in Baysour, the old village-people got together over Lebanese coffee and thought up this genius scheme! Perhaps they thought up the idea in 2008 after the assassination of Saleh al-Aridi, a leader of the Lebanese Democratic Party, in a carbomb in Baysour--that couldn't have been good for Baysour's image...
And I, for one, think as Lebanese citizens, it is our duty to increase tourism in Lebanon by following in the footsteps of the people from Baysour and posting picures online and labeling them as different places in Lebanon.
In fact, I have already begun this quest by posting millions of copies of the following pictures online and labeling them accordingly (The Seven Wonders of the World would be a good place to start):
Ras Osta, Lebanon
Baalchmay, Lebanon
Richmaya, Lebanon
Ghassaniyeh, Lebanon
Bahbouch, Lebanon
The Lebanese Ministry of Tourism should've employed this strategy years ago!!
For what it's worth, I do think that Baysour does have a river, and I believe that this is it:
I'm not sure though--perhaps a Baysourian could confirm??
Actually, nevermind, they're not to be trusted...
~LZ
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LOL! I remember when I first came across the same images . . . it was about 2 or 3 years ago, my husband and I were putting together our "must see" list when my husband found these images and couldn't believe that he never heard of such a place (he was born & raised in Lebanon). He was all excited to show me the pics but unfortunately for him, I'm from the Former Yugoslavia and immediately recognized Plitvice.
ReplyDeleteLOOOOL!!! I remeber one particular situation. Here I was, abroad, praising about Lebanon in front of my international group of friends and showing them videos about Lebanon on Youtube (quickly changing the war videos so they will go unnoticed), and the images of "Baysour" came across. One of my friend was from Croatia and she was so shocked and told me that the images were from her country. After I verified the information on Google I felt sooo embarassed!!!!
ReplyDeleteBut I m still doubting maybe we have something similar in Baysour :S I will have to check it myself!
WTF man i just went there and its a shity restorant on the river....and didnt know that till i read ur article
ReplyDeletethat sucks as im lebanese
dont bother yourself i am lebanese and when i saw the pictures i was surprised do we really have something like this in lebanon, i went with my friends to check out we searched and searched every single mile in baysour to finally find a small river and sonething looks like a mini waterfall :P:P
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you guys, we went there hoping to see the images posted on the web and we were so disappointed to find a dirty small river with a restaurant in which people were sleeping on the table... the funny thing is that also foreigners have checked for beautiful places to see in Lebanon and ended in that dirty place.. this is not our policy in Lebanon!! this is not acceptable, it is true that we are a country that relies on tourism but this is not a way to impress others by lying on them, it is a very bad image to have about Lebanon.. and especially about Lebanese!!!!
ReplyDeleteI dont know who posted these pictures and if they are false or true,but, I can tell you that we do have many many beautiful places to see in Lebanon, some up North and some in the Shouf mountains as I have seen them for myself. So please dont be put off by these pictures and what they say
ReplyDeleteguys these pictures are not inlebanon how ever yesterday i was in shouf i found a place its called paradise its amazing!!! believe me! huge waterfall !!!
ReplyDeleteThis is sad but yet there are still many things to see in Lebanon! BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY! BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY AND I REPEAT BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY! TOURISM SHALL THRIVE THERE THIS YEAR!
ReplyDeleteUff uff Taj Mahal Eiffel Tower and the Pyramids are suddenly in Lebanon woohoo.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, Lebanon is one of the most beautiful countries!!