Gilbert Moukheiber: Lebanon's Hidden Adventures — The 400km Boukaat Loubnan Trail

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What if your next adventure wasn’t just a hike—but a journey into ancient traditions, mountain culture, and deep human connection?

In this episode, I sit down with Gilbert Moukheiber—Lebanese adventurer, wilderness guide, and founder of 33 North—to explore one of the world’s most unexpected adventure destinations: Lebanon.

From snow-covered peaks to ancient shepherd migration routes, Gilbert reveals how Lebanon’s dramatic geography lets you ski in the morning and swim in the Mediterranean by afternoon.

We dive into the Boukaat Loubnan Trails, a 400km network winding through forgotten Roman temples, Phoenician trade routes, and remote shepherd communities. But this is far more than a trek—it’s a cultural expedition where you walk alongside shepherds, share their meals, and even help tend their goats.

Gilbert also shares his vision for sustainable, community-driven tourism through his Wilderness and Adventure Academy, which trains guides and outdoor lovers in safe, respectful adventure practices—protecting both nature and heritage.

What You’ll Learn:

• How human-powered adventure helps preserve Lebanon’s culture and landscapes
• The magic of transhumance: shepherds’ seasonal migrations through the mountains
• Why Lebanon remains an underrated but world-class adventure destination
• How adventure tourism uplifts and sustains remote mountain communities
• Practical ways to explore Lebanon responsibly, beyond mass tourism

Expect campfire stories, fresh-baked bread, and unforgettable moments of connection—this one is a true hidden gem.

Please Check Out

Boukaat Loubnan Trails | 33North

https://www.instagram.com/33northleb/

Transcript

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 When I spoke to the Shepherd, the idea was not only to promote tourism, the idea is a human interaction. And this is what, this is the first thing that I tell to our clients. So it's not tourism, it's beyond tourism. Because for the chef, tourism is not primary. What's primary for them is to take care of their herds or their goats, and we are here to support them.

And the good thing about Lebanon, as I have mentioned previously, that we have the fourth season that in April and in March and May, you can ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon with a driving time, only 40 minutes or 30 minutes. You go down from 2000 meter up to sea 11. You can swim or you can, you can dive.

So it, just to give you an idea about the. And geography. topography of the terrain. welcome to the Adventure Diaries Podcast, where we share tales of adventure, connection, and exploration from the smallest of creators to the larger than life adventurers. We hope their stories inspire you to go create your own extraordinary adventures.

And now your host, Chris Watson. Chris Watson.

Welcome to another episode of The Adventure Diaries. Today we're joined by Gilbert Moukheiber, an expedition leader in mountain guide, who's been leading people into Lebanon's back country for nearly three decades. Gilbert's the founder of 33 North, an adventure company that draws inspiration from the best global experiences and delivers them in the wild terrains of Lebanon.

Gilbert also created the Booukat Loubnan trails. A 400 kilometer network that weaves through 50 remote communities, blending mountain culture, Roman ruins, and UNESCO recognized traditions. And each year, trekker get to live like nomads during the trans humans experience, which is a seasonal livestock migration where you get to walk ancient trade routes and share food by the fire with the herders.

But adventure in Lebanon, it goes deeper. Still think alpine landscapes, snowshoeing skiing and wilderness trailing when high altitude p plateaus. Lebanon may not be the first place that comes to mind when you think of adventure or through hiking, but hopefully this episode will change your mind. And as Gilbert says, this isn't tourism, it's small group, slow encounters with people, place, and with purpose.

It is time to shine a light on adventure and culture in Lebanon. So settle in and enjoy this fantastic conversation with Gilbert Moukheiber welcome to the Adventure Diaries. How are you? Thank you, Chris. I'm doing great. How about you? Yeah, excellent. So excited to have you on today. Got a few technical difficulties, but we're on eventually, and hopefully I pronounce your name correct and hopefully I pronounce some of the trails and the places in Lebanon.

Correct. When we come on to talk to that. And if I do butcher the pronunciation, feel free to correct me. So welcome. Thank you. So Gilbert, the frame for today, you're 33 North, your adventure company has really kinda captivated my imagination a little bit in terms of some of the trails. The adventures cultural side of those adventures and some of the sustainability aspects to them.

The trails I want to get into later in the conversation are the Bouukat Loubnan trails, I think. Yes. The name, exactly. It's Nan Trails. Yeah. Perfect. So, and some of the educational programs you're doing in the wilderness side as well. But, so let's just roll right back, uh, to the beginning. I'd like to understand a little bit more about Gilbert.

What was it like growing up? Did you grow up in Lebanon? What were your formative experiences like in terms of adventure and hiking and all that good stuff? I have spent all my life in Lebanon, but since I was a kid, I'm an adventure source person. I'm a person searching for adventure. I love the mountains.

It's a passion I have, love the mountains community. I start working as a hiking guy. As a mountain leader, leading people to the mountains, letting them discover the beautiful areas of Lebanon, because the Lebanon is not well promoted on the international tourism level. So whenever we meet a person from outside Lebanon, they don't know that we have mountains.

82% of our terrain is mountainous. We have summits that goes up to 3088 meters. We have four seasons. We have snow, we do skis, we do snow showing, we do winter expedition. We're gonna talk about them. So it was always a passion to discover and to lead people. Let them discover these mountains of Lebanon. So this is where I grew up.

This is where I spent all my life, scrolling, climbing in the mountains, skiing and hiking and standing lots of times with the mountains community, in particularly the shepherds. All my lot. And that's the whole idea behind the trade book. Nan is the John demands and. Shopper. So yes, and this is what pushed me also to do tourism development, to develop, to be a vector in developing these communities in Lebanon and to create programs in order to benefit these communities and to keep them in the mountains and let them, don't let them go to their cities.

So this is the whole idea. And even my company, when I created it was called 33 North and still called 33 North because it's the geographical latitude Lebanon. So whenever you put your compass on 33 North, it's lead to Lebanon when we reach the great destination. Yeah. Fantastic. So Gilbert put that into a perspective for us.

So for the layman or laywoman that is listening and watching. So in terms of, so Beirut comes to mind, Tripoli well-known location. So whereabouts are you located in Lebanon yourself, currently? So we are located like 20 minutes from the Beru. In what we call Mount Lebanon. This is standard, it's in the center of of Lebanon.

And as Lebanon is a small country, it's 10,452 square meter. So in two hours, three hours maximum, you can reach any destination in Lebanon. So living in the center at 850 meters. So this is the department point from to towards all over the place in Lebanon, towards the mountains and the the cities. And the good thing about Lebanon, as I have mentioned previously, that we have the four season that in April and in March and May, you can ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon with the driving time, only 40 minutes or 30 minutes, you go down from 2000 meter up to 11, you can swim or you can, you can drive.

So just to give you an idea about the geography or the topography of the terrain of Bannu. Wow, that's fantastic. I must admit, I didn't appreciate that. I had four seasons. In fact, I didn't appreciate it until today. I was looking at your Instagram and I was looking at the winter expeditions and the snowshoeing, and it had never occurred to me that you could do winter sports in Lebanon and it just, it's not something that comes to mind.

Yes, as I have said previously that Lebanon is not well promoted on the international, uh, tourism, unfortunately on the international tourism map. So whenever we say snow, people don't think that we have snow in Lebanon, we have regular snow season, regular winter season that starts in December and snow.

We have what we called eternal snow. So when you reach the high points in Lebanon, which is called the or, if you translate it, which is the Black Peak 3088 meter, you can find eternal snow. So you can find snow from year to year. Every year in June the 6th of June, there is a Nordic skiing competition that takes place in June.

So it shows on the high plateau. The mountains of Lebanon are so old that they are a high plateau at plateau that start at 1800 meter and three straight thousand 88. So these plateau are a great place to snowshoe Nordic skiing, back country skiing, or even alpine ski. We have five ski resorts in, in Lebanon and well developed in terms of safety as well.

So the sea, the snow season starts in December for the alpine skiing. It ends by end of April, March, and April. And for snow sewers and back country skiers till June, we can still ski on the highest plateau. So it give us a great adventure, terrain and Lebanon. And this is how also we, we have created the Lebanon Winter Expedition.

Which is only, which is the only winter expedition in the Middle East. It is a combination of snowshoeing polka. So you have to drag your Pul Q Sledge behind you for five days and pitch the camp, and then the SAN get there, remove the cab. And it's not only an expedition, it's also a training camp. So where participants have the chance to get trained on safety, what I mean by safety, the use of Stu, how to read map, use, how to create anchors, to do self arrests, to use crampons.

So all the technique that that you need to acquire or to have in order to have a safe travel in the back country. Hi everyone. Chris here with just a wee reminder. If you've been enjoying the stories here on the Adventure Dies, could you please take a moment to press that follow or subscribe button on Spotify or Apple Podcasts?

It's such a small thing, but it makes such a huge difference to the show. It helps to show, reach more ears, brings more voices to the table and really helps keep this adventure going. So if you're up for more wild stories, more adventures, and more thoughtful conversations, then please hit that follow button on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

And thanks for being here and spending time with us today. It is really appreciated. So hit that follow button and now let's get back to this episode. Oh, fantastic. So if someone was to come along on that trip, what type of experience or equipment would they need? Actually, not much. You only need your snow clothing, your snow clothing.

I would say your winter shoes, warm clothing because you stay for five days in tents. So we spend the night in a big tent and they sleep in small tents, 10 of swan or two persons. We provide the snowshoes. We provide the sledges, we provide the tents, we provide all the food, and even all the technical equipment like ice acts and crampons, we provide them.

And even those who are not well equipped, we are capable of providing them with down and warm sleeping bags and jackets. So you have the will in order to come to Lebanon and join the the Winter Expedition. Yeah, it's fascinating and maybe it's my just lack of awareness, but Middle East and Winter Expeditions is just not two phrases I would ever imagine that you would bring together.

So that's incredible. And I'll get all of that shared and get that up onto the socials and stuff. 'cause it's, it looks, it looks fantastic and it's a great other alternative. It's not particularly for people in Europe, it's accessible in terms of flight distances and stuff as well. So, fantastic. Yeah, it's a beautiful destination.

And for those in particular that coming outside Lebanon. So we don't only take them to the winter expedition, we do extend the expedition and we lead them into culture roots and trades in Lebanon. So for those coming to Lebanon, we'll definitely lead them to visit, to visit the Temple of Albe, to visit the root.

So the expedition itself, it's four to five days, and then if you're visiting the place for the first time, you can add like another four days and you're gonna be having a culture enriching to visiting communities that they, it's like 8,000, 8,000 years old. So it's three, it's, and this is, we're not talking yet about the culinary, about the le the Lebanese food as well.

Yeah. We'll cut. We'll definitely come onto that actually. So let's roll back a little bit, 'cause I'm interested in you, Gilbert, as a person, as a human, as a guide. All the fantastic stuff you're doing. So you said that you had, have you left Lebanon? Have you traveled overseas or have you been in Lebanon all your time?

Yes, I did. I did my studies. I, I did two master degrees in France in university called Perina, uh, tourism Management and Tourism Engineering. I also did a series of training with the French Hiking and the Mountain Mountaineering Federation as a mountain leader. And since also I am a, I'm rescue at the Lebanese Red Cross.

I'm an active rescuer, uh, a surf and rescue and the mountain rescue at the Lebanese Red Cross since 1996. So, sorry. I have attended several training recently. I've attended, uh, training with the Can Argentine on and another training on Urban Search and Rescue in, in Lebanon. And also I took part for 15 days in Norway.

In a training, it is 11 a leadership in winter search and rescue. So I spent, I would say, mid time of my career getting trained and prepared for these not only rescue missions and all also what I'm offering in in Lebanon in terms of adventure tourism. Yeah, fantastic. And that's where I was going with that 'cause just cu curious to understand how you accumulated your skills and that's quite the impressive cv, DD in.

I'm interested to understand what does Lebanon offer in terms of training people that want to become guides and maybe the people that you recruit in your company? Is there much of an offer or is that something you're trying to break into to offer education into, to Lebanon? Actually, when we start working in this field, I would go back to 1996.

At that time we had no formal body or institution in Lebanon. In order to change. So myself, my first school was a caving school. I have enrolled in a caving club, and this is where I've learned the ropes technique, ascending and descending in the underground world. After that, I had several training with French mountain guides in terms of rock climbing and becoming a rock climbing instructor.

And then I have to search for trainings around the globe in order to be part of them. And the Lebanese Red Cross itself played a big role in, in training us. And as you said, it was on the job training, because I'm doing this, I'm working in this field since 1996, but now it has, it has changed. I'm gonna give you several example myself.

I have created what we call the Wilderness and Adventure Academy, Lebanon. So it's an academy targeting to train not only guy. People who love the outdoor, who love the adventure and wants to enroll and to practice safely in the back country. So we train them on navigation, how to use a map, how to use a compass summer, winter night as well in days how to camp responsibly, the pres of least no trace how to use rope, uh, to belay, go up, go down the equipment and other technical aspects in winter.

And also another important aspect that last year, I'm proud to say that I'm one of the founders who, who had the creation of a mountain leaders diploma in a university in Lebanon. So today we have, we call it a mountain guide, but it's on the international level. It's the equivalent of mountain leader or accomp.

The moan mountain in French. And for one year student, last year we had six student. This year we have 18. So Stu and most of the at are people who already have experience. So they get, they, they go through a training, they get history, geography, una, Florida, group management, safety meteorology, so all these expert in order to be capable and lead guides in Lebanon.

So this by itself, trails in the Lebanon, in, in, in Lebanon. Because I can tell you one thing that we don't have statistics, but by observation we can say that in terms of tourism trails and hikings in Lebanon are number one today in terms of tourism. And it's a great key in order to open the com, the communities and the mountain communities in, in Lebanon.

So since 96, this, this hype, Lebanon has been like an ancient civilization and we have many, many thematic trays in Lebanon. We have Romans, we have Ottomans, we have Ians, we have even geological trails. Uh, we mentioned mu We have also the Lebanon Mountain Trail, which is also the first long distance trail in, in, in Lebanon.

So in terms of trails, I can say, I'm sure to say that we have more than 2000 kilometers of failed Lebanon. So by training people to become a certified mountain leader or by training the outdoor community to go and act safely and responsibly in on the trails, on all on the Lebanese mountain. So by itself I can say it's a positioning of Lebanon on the international map, and it's a call out for everyone who would love to, to visit this beautiful and unique destination.

Fantastic. So. In terms of the, so question around the communities. Gilbert, you said, I think 2000 kilometers or so worth of trails, but I think from my research there's probably 50 or so communities, whether it's, you mentioned different cultures and stuff historically, but today there must be communities living and around, you mentioned shepherds and stuff like that.

So what's your engagement and connections and interactions like with the communities in the back country? Okay, so we should, an important point to highlight that we not only promote tourism for the sake of tourism because tourism itself can bring a positive and can bring lots of negative impacts.

Indeed. So indeed the type of tourism that we are searching for, or the trend of tourism that we are promoting in Lebanon ourselves and along with our partners is responsible. Tourism is the kind of tourism. That will position Lebanon on the tourism map and also brings a work with the community and preserve the environment.

So we are not taking tourism for the sake of having like per day thousands of people hiding the trail. It more that to let people come to Lebanon and have this human, uh, connection and interaction, and this is by itself, is a differentiation and a point where you can find it in Lebanon and you won't be able to find it as well around the globe.

You'll be able to find Girl Mountains mutual destination, even maybe better visit. But when it comes to this human interaction, locals opening their houses, you sleep at people's house. So they do the job, the family does the job, the food actually, when I'm talking about they share it with you to, you spend the time with the family.

This is, you get to discover the real phase of Lebanon. So it can be with farmers, it can be with Shepherd. And in particularly when we talk about shepherds, I would like to mention that one. Once when we have created new land traits, we wanted to do the full hype of the trade and we wanted to, when we crossed the whole trail, we wanted to give it like a theme.

And then when, uh, a little bit of geography, the nan trades, it covered the western mountain range and the eastern mountain range. So if we take Lebanon, which is 10,462 square meters, we have the Mediterranean Sea, we have Syria from, from the north and uh, the eastern part. And then we have Palestine. So between these two Mountain, the Western and the Eastern, we have the Becca Valley.

The Boka land trace, it's the only a long distance in Lebanon that is suffering the Western mountain range and the Eastern mountain range for a distance of 400 kilometers. So when we said, okay, let actually, when we say we, it's myself because this is my baby, the Boka Land Trace, it's a personal, let's a personal achievement, definitely along with other partners and the local community.

So I've told myself I want to give a theme or the physical aspect of crossing the 400 kilometers, and this is where the idea came of crossing the whole train in May and in November, because in May and the November the shepherds go for the transmen, that means they move with their herd summer to winter and winter to summer.

So in May they go from low range to higher plateau, up to 3000 meter. And in November they go from 3000 meter, they go back to 800 meters. So the walk itself we call ster, Hal track, expedition, ter, Hal means str. So the crossing of the tray. So you are doing this with the shepherds. So you We are having this human interaction, we are having this interaction as well with their goats.

And we have them opening the ing the task. They prepare the food. So it's a full, it's a, it's smaller than a height. It's smaller than a track. It's small than expedition. It's like a, it's like highlighting this aspect and participants will have the opportunity to meet these nutrient features. The shepherds.

And to, and, and as I said, to interact with them and to sleep under the same time, to share, to fed food. And this is by itself a way to highlight the physical aspect. And then I discovered that the ence is according to the NCO and non heritage. So it's already giving, it's something very important. So it's an important aspect for us, for the communities and for the trade.

Yeah, that's fantastic. That's probably one of the most unique experiences or adventures I think I've heard probably so far on the show and all the conversation I've had, there's been lots of amazing cultural experiences and interactions. But to offer something like that, it's quite something. How, how did you engage with the shepherds on that to encourage or convince them to allow you to join?

Which is probably a cultural tradition going back centuries actually. The relation with the shepherds, it goes back to 1996. Uh, it is actually beyond tourism. So I have a huge respect for the shepherds, for the way of, for their way of living. But I consider them the only one that works like seven days a week, 24 hours.

So they don't dress in all kind of environment that the heart. And so when I talk to the Shepherd, the idea was not only to promote tourism, the idea is a human interaction. And this is why, this is the first thing that I tell to our clients. So it's not tourism, it's beyond tourism, because for the chef, tourism is not primary.

What's primary for them is to take care of their herds or their goats, and we are here to support them. So let's say, I'm gonna give you an example if for we planning to have a breakfast at seven and we ask the shepherds to do it, I don't know, maybe they have another, something urgent to deal with. So maybe they won't be able to prepare the breakfast at seven.

So have to do it ourself because the priority itself is not only for tourism, and whenever we understand this concept, it makes it fun and it takes us out from the context of tourism. And you have a client and it's okay. It's like sty. And for the shepherds, it's slow. Tourism goes very well with them because times time in the mountain it slows very slowly.

So they're not in a hurry, they're not rushing time. So they have all day and we have. To understand it and to accept it and to attract it. So we work a lot, not only on the shepherds, we work a lot on the client in order to let them understand where we are taking them in order to respect these, these com uh, communities, because we go to don't want these amenities to be impacted by tourism.

We don't want, it's not that we don't, bob, that we force, excuse the term, but we do respect them as they are. We don't want tourism to bring a negative impact or to cause a changes that it's undesirable or they don't want it in their community. Yeah, you've got to preserve those traditions in those way of life.

I, I like that concept in that way where it doesn't encroach too much on that. It still seems like a dynamic environment, but very much one of human connection. Can I ask Gilbert people that would go on those trips, do they help the shepherds with the goats? Do they help tend to the flock? Do they get involved?

What does a day-to-day look like? Yes. Just to let you know that we do interviews with clients. We don't think more than 10 persons, 10 to 12 maximum. When we say 12, two of the 12 are guides and 10 are the client. So it's always a small group and it's a niche community. So we make sure those who are joining our person that can respect the culture, that they do understand where they are going.

They understand they're not there to be served in other product. We have people to serve them it. This is a different product. We call them typeds encounters. We call them interaction with the shepherd. So yes, they do help. They do help in pitching the tents and, and putting in, putting the equipment on the, on the mules or on the donkeys sometimes in bringing the milk, sometimes cleaning the place where the goats are staying.

So any kind of work that they do during the day and that they accept that we are doing so, they should be ready to do it. That's why I told you previously that we do work, we do meet with our clients and we make sure that they understand and they know where they are going. It's not only for the sake of work, it's also for the sake of logistics and expectations.

And to know that you spending, I don't know, several days under tens, it's not a fixed campsite. It doesn't have sometimes all the logistics in a camp that you would like to have. Sometimes you have to heat water. In order to heat water, you have to go bring wood. So all these types of work are expected. So those who know about it day level, and it's not a regular tool, it's not a regular program, it's a transformational type.

You won't be the same person after this trip because it's this human interaction, which is amazing. Yeah, that sounds it. So the term trans, is it transhuman or trans? What is it? The term? Yeah, trans transhuman. Yeah. How long does that last then? So you said May, I think May and November. How long is the expedition?

Is it days or weeks or what? So the whole expedition that we do it, when we do the whole crossing of the trade, it takes three weeks to four weeks, depending. On the number of sections that we are in votes, but the trans itself, it can take two weeks because for the record, they don't have a fixed date.

There are several parameters they take into consideration before moving. Let's say when they have to move in May, they have to make sure that the roads are clear from mm-hmm. If they re the high plateau, there is something for the, for the goats to eat. So they sometimes they wait, sometimes they do it mid-May, sometimes they do it end of May, and we do regulate the timing of our expedition depending on their timing as well.

Sometimes you can be for them, with them for a week. Sometimes you can be with them for three to four days. It really depends or also depends on the weather, because even in May, in Lebanon, we can expect rain. We can even practicing it sometimes in the matter. So all these Ted, and this is part of the shepherd's life, so it's not like when you have the date in advance, like a year ahead and then it's fixed.

No, so we take this into consider and even sometimes outside the trans in zone and even in summer and even in autumn, we do create these programs like for two, three days with these shepherds. It's a combination of tracking and going from one place to another, and we mix it with one night staying with the shepherds and another night staying in a guest house with the locals and in order to have this interaction.

And you also think in mind that we want financially to benefit all these communities. So that's why we say, okay, let's have one night over here and another night and ano other places. Yeah, it sounds fantastic in terms of the, the. You touched on food at the very start, and I've been itching to ask the question because I'm a bit of a foodie as well.

So, so what is the shepherd journey like in terms of provision? What would the shepherds be eating and serving or what would the kinda people that were on a trip, what would they be cooking and eating if they were living the shepherd's way of life? Yes, so the typical breakfast is a typical Lebanese breakfast, which is created from daily product, several types of cheese, several types of white cheese, along with what we call leni.

Leni is like a creamy cheese and yogurt, definitely, uh, shoppers. They drink lots of tea. They drink free with lots of sugar because this is, these are day, this is what also what give them energy time, which is mixed with olive, Mediterranean, olive oil that we call the time, we call it in Arabic, uh, Zaha eggs because also they have chicken.

They do scrambled eggs sometimes also they serve raw meat or dry meat that prepared that we called, that we call it, and bread. And here the bread is prepared directly in front of you. So they create the dough and they have the, the steel plate and they put fire under it and they put on top. And then you have this warm bread to eat and this bread as well.

It can be served with time on top or tea. And then we call it manu. So the breakfast itself takes an hour preparation and it's also a moment, a warm moment in order to sit all together and, and enjoy. And this is, this is for the morning and definitely during the hikes, I don't know, every two hours they stop for either cup of coffee or tea.

We do coffee, but mainly for shepherds, they always drink tea. And at night when that is, you have moment to sit all the group. This is where we do the cooking at Lebanese cooking. It can be a combination of rice, potato, a meat with salad, and with other serving, depending if it is served like in a tent or in a, in a guest house.

So we make sure that participants are typical Lebanese full, which is, which comes directly from the goats and their shepherds. Oh wow. The thought of just sitting with the shepherds and being able to share and breaks some bread in the back country. Just, yeah, that I, I think that evokes all sorts of wonder.

I think that that alone would sell the trip, all trip to at night, the moment where you can crown the whole day. This is the moment where we. We stay all together and we discuss what you have been living for the day. So I gave you an example where we staying at the separate. So because sometimes we reach villages and when we reach villages so we can take, if we are on a trip of several weeks, it's not always intense.

It's not always in guest houses or at people's sleep because we also take into consideration the comfort of participant. So whenever we have the possibility of booking in a hotel, when we say a hotel, it's a local hotel for some, one of the local, which is, which can give more comfort for our participant.

So we go for it. Sometimes we, we book in wooden chalet that have the swimming pool outside and some that we do, we do good as well. Sometimes we reach areas where like in the north be there are known in their fertile land. They have this great type of wine. So we do book and prepare for dinner in a winery.

So the wine is served and repaired by the owner, and then we get the specialty, the food specialty from, from the area. We've been working in tourism since 96. Uh, we know all these communities, so we have all these possibilities on not to let people discover the place and to let people love the place.

Because one of the, our aim is not only to bring people into tourism, it's to create every participant to become an ambassador and ambassador for Lebanon to live this beautiful place and to be able to talk about it. That's the way to do it. Yeah. That's the way to do tourism. That's the way to do adventure travel.

That's what it's all about. It's making sure that people get that rich cultural experience and it doesn't come at the detriment of all the negative connotations that. Tourism has. Yeah. Question Gilbert, did you create the Bouquard Luan trails by bringing together preexisting historical trade routes or something?

How did the trails actually come together? Okay, so yes, I brought it all together. The idea is that I have been working on trails for the past more than 15 years, and this area is like, is, I don't know how to say it. It's off the beacon track. It's not well known in Lebanon in terms of hiking and people don't go there.

It's not promoted. So I said I wanted to create, to link it together. I wanted to put it on the map, and since I've been working in this area for more than 20, I been hiking and tracking in this area. So. I knew lots of these historical trays or shepherd trays. So I said, why don't I start linking them?

Connecting them together. And so this is what brought the 400 kilometers, which is known today as Muha, Lunan, the trays, and even the trail itself. Well that's why I call the trail, because it's not only one trace. I gave it like I divided it into areas. The North Becca Trail, the On Lebanon Trail, and the Mount Herman to trail the North Becca Trail, which start from the temple of Albe and end on the anti Lebanon Trail, which covers the whole anti Lebanon mountain range, which is a mountain range that separates Lebanon from Syria and the Mount Herman tour trail, which is a sacred mountain, the Mount Herman.

And I was inspired by the bla. I said, why don't I create, why don't I create this concept of walking next to Mount Herman, which was a sacred mountain by the times of the Romans, and it has many Roman temples. So the Mount Herman to trace takes you like a week in order to cross it. And why crossing it?

You cost more than a 12 landmarks, historical landmarks. And eight of these historical landmarks are Roman temples. So imagine this. How would it is it? And, and, and come. And if you want to climb the summit itself, you can reach out to up to eight, 2018 17, 2,817 meters, which is also a back country and snow sewing destination, which is also a culinary, it can be a culinary tourism destination, it can be a religious tourism destination.

So the trail itself. It's not only for hiking and tracking, you can go visit the tray with your TA for half an hour, go visit the temple of, and then go eat in, or any culinary faculty in the area, or usan, I don't know, couple of days with the shepherd or visit the biggest Juniper area of Lebanon or a nature.

The idea is to create a destination combining all these aspects from religious, culinary, different, uh, different trends of tourism, targeting different profiles of, of predators to this unknown, but yet beautiful and welcoming this destination. It has really, it is a four season is a four season destination.

Yeah, it's fantastic. I didn't. Truly appreciate the historical significance in terms of the Roman kinda landmarks and stuff. I didn't really appreciate that. Are there any other historical landmarks that are non Roman ruins and stuff? Is there any other kinda cultural, historical type landmarks in the experience?

Yeah, IANS Ians. Some areas they have Ians Ians landmark, which is way before the Romans. So as I said, it's this area is rich. You can cross part of the caravan route that used to link the Becca Valley with Baalbek and then Syria. It's a cross border. It's a cross-border trade. It's not only for the moment it is suffer in Lebanon, but who knows with sign when it can live.

Yeah, it sounds like such a rich untapped. Part of the world. What's your biggest challenge getting the message of Lebanon out to the world without strain into anything political. I know obviously in the region there are some challenges with political instability, things like that. Yeah. Is that a challenge for you, trying to get people to encourage them that it's safe enough to come and do these types of trips?

The biggest challenge ever, Lebanon is an underrated country. So whenever you say Lebanon, for non-Lebanese, they have no expectation. They don't know about the place, they don't know about the mountains, they don't know about the snow, they don't know about the people, they don't know about the lin. So it is, it gets hard in order to con, to convince them to come.

And one we convinced, we try to convince people to come. We tell them that we don't look for the trip, and you go on your own. We leave you on each and every trip. We are the locals and we work with the locals. It's a small place, even though that we are a tour operator that has been working since 96. So we still do the terrain.

We know the, we know the place, or we know every single aspect. We know the stakeholders. So if there is a risk, we will not take it. We will not bring anyone there. But once we are eager to bring people there because we know, as I have mentioned previously, it is a transformational type of tourism. It's not a regular, a regular program.

There you can do, there are many beautiful places around the globe to climb or to track, but this place has it all as a combination of welcoming people. You don't have to get, you don't have to get to know the language. If you speak English, we speak English. If you speak Arabic, we speak Arabic. If you speak express, we speak fresh.

If you speak Spanish, you speak Spanish. So wherever you go in Lebanon, you will find someone that seeks your language. And this is by itself. This is like you don't have this barrier. And people love to West Thumb, other nationalities, they love to let them know about our place. So yes, this is our biggest challenge, not only mine, is to be able to promote Lebanon and to convince people to come to this beautiful place.

Uh, it seems like a fantastic opportunity to get a glimpse into the past, reach some real back countries, some real wild areas that have been unspoiled, and it's a real opportunity for people to come and do something a little bit differently. Gilbert, if people were to come, or even if I came. Would it be into Beirut?

Would you be the point of contact if people came? Would that be the port or the destination? The arrival, sorry. Yes. We are the point of contact and we do it airport to airport. Mm-hmm. So we take care of everything from the arrival to the airport, booking the accommodation, the guide, the whole experience.

Fantastic. And are your government doing to help you get the message out and stuff? Do you have like ambassadors and, 'cause I don't really know too much about about that side of things, but like in the UK and some other European countries, we have like ministers for sport and travel and tourism and stuff.

How is it in Lebanon and what kinda support do you get? We do have ministers, we do have ambassadors. Yes, we do have, they're around the globe, but I can't say that much. Is getting done. Because when you say, when you hear about Lebanon, the first thing you rule about it, what is happening in the, what is happening in the region?

It always, the, the political mess that is taking place in the region is like a cloud that is suffering over all the worst that is taking place, which I hope right now is like opening and it's a new, it's a new, it's a new era. And even in Lebanon. And Lebanon, when we say, that's why we started with Lebanese, because we, we said Lebanese need first to discover the plates.

Because once you get the locust, the national, so they will become the ambassadors. They will be able to talk, they will be able to talk, to talk about it. But that's why we offer several types of packages. We have, excuse me. We have like 10 packages for a couple of days dedicated for Lebanese, and we have, we have programs for a longer stay, so for those coming from outside, for outside the Lebanon.

So there's a lot to be done. The place need to be promoted, definitely it needs to be preserved because we don't want to see Lebanon as a mass tourism destination. We aim to have Lebanon as a responsible tourism destination. We aim to have visitors, that's why we call them visitors and tourists because we see them as visitors.

This is part of our Lebanese 'cause fatality. So we want them to come to discover the place we want, the local who are staying in their villages to benefit to stay there. We want these villages to develop and at the same place, we want the place, we want Lebanon to be preserved in one nature to be preserved.

We want to preserve the culture, we want to preserve the traditions we want. We don't want to lose them. Yes. Fantastic. What is the kind of rough split or percentage of Lebanese coming on your tours or adventures versus Westerners as an example? Do you get much outside tourism since 2019? Most of our clients are Lebanese or I would say locals, a combination of Lebanese and non-Lebanese.

But they're coming from Taiwan because we start security problems in the area in 2019. But before that, we used to have Europeans American joining our, our trips in Lebanon for a duration of a week or even for 10 days. Yeah. And that at the time of recording, 'cause this will go out much later, but there's been positive signs of.

Potential positive changes in the region, which I think is great signs. Are you hopeful that will help Lebanon and everything that you are offering? That you are the cultural and the communities that are not dependent on this, but that are in some way impacted by this? Are you hopeful that the future will be a little brighter?

I'm all hope. I am all hope that we gonna have a bright, that they're gonna have a bright future. That's why every time I talk about promoting, I talk about, because we don't only want to, we don't want to ruin the place. We want people to work, we want to have visitors, but at the same time, we want to keep nature and we want to keep the landmarks.

So yes, I'm all, I'm hopeful and I'm hope that the day will come. That the people will get to know Lebanon as it should be. Yeah. Excellent. I need to look at the stats for this podcast 'cause there's people listening all over the world. It'd be interesting to see how many people in Lebanon may be listening or may actually listen when this goes live.

So whilst else it's a global audience, if we can encourage people, even in country, regardless of everything we've spoken about to preserve Chris, I can use this platform to ask for partnership. Mm-hmm. Is not only to have visit, also interested in like creating partnership within operators or association that works from trade that local communities trade development with Shepherds Trans.

So we intercept in creating this partnership in order to bring them our expertise and experience and to be able also to learn, uh, from them and. A dream for me in order to get to bring these directs between shepherds one day around the world. That is a fantastic idea. That is a great idea. So interestingly, there's a few things that came to mind.

I've had a conversation with a guy Jan Barker, who is working on the Premier Trail in Tajikistan. He's a friend. Is he? Oh, is he? Ah, lovely. Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic. Yeah. So that's what immediately came to mind. Like some of these, the kinda indigenous in different areas, you know, these cultures and communities.

If there's a way of trying to share that knowledge in between the different pockets of guides, that's fantastic. Yeah. So if anyone's listening to this and wants to come on and talk about this, or wants to be connected to Gilbert or even I, if you've got any ideas about trails or yell it, drop as a message, that's fantastic.

Yeah. You're offering wilderness training, aren't you, through your academy and stuff as well. So there's probably some sort of link between Yes. So I, yes, I spend my time between delivering training or courses. I work a lot on giving trainings in Lebanon in order to raise this awareness of safety. And since I've told you, I'm also a mountain rescuer, so we want to see less people injured in the mountains and we want people to enjoy more of the wilderness, spend lots of time with the shepherds and, and on the trail.

And now I'm giving more time in order to shovel around the globe and to let people know about this, this trail, or not only this trail about Lebanon. Because for us, we want, when people are coming to Lebanon, they not only to visit this trail, they're gonna visit Bouukat Loubnan trail and they're gonna visit other long distance trails in Lebanon and other destinations in Lebanon and other beautiful and important landmark in Lebanon.

That we consider once they're coming, it's a place not to be missed. You should, you should go there. So that's why always we look at it at the as a full program, really what can be offered and how it can be transformation and again and again. Yeah. Awesome. On that then, what is your long-term vision for 33 North?

So for now I see is what's I said. What's really important is not only having visitors will come that can support us and gonna support the C communities. It's my long-term vision is truly partnership is to create long term partnership with similar two operators or association that are interested on working on the same topics, which is community and tourism development.

Yes. Excellent. So if anyone gets in touch, I'll try and connect. I think you're open to direct contact if anyone or any association may come across this episode. Yeah, and I'll do what I can when this goes live, Gilbert, to spread a bit of awareness on that. 'cause I think that's a very noble goal, actually, beyond just the adventure sides.

Yeah. 'cause there's probably these similar cultural experiences and most of 'em are preservation. If there's little bits that we can help in a sustainable way to preserve these ways of life in different areas, then that is paying it forward, which is one of the closing traditions that I want to come onto.

This has been excellent. Before we move on to the closing traditions, is there anything that we haven't discussed so far about Lebanon, about 30th year North, about yourself that you wanted to raise? Anything you, any messages or points that you wanted to get across? It's just to give a chance, really to give a chance to this beautiful destination.

You won't find it between the tourism, the classic, and tourism destination because it was never giving. As I said, it's an underrated place. It was never giving the chance to. It's different. It's not similar to any other past in Lebanon and and around the globe. And it has it all. It has it all. I won't be, I won't repeat myself, but it has it all.

Yeah, and it sounds very welcoming. You are. Yeah. I can see and feel and sense it. So thank you for your passion and your energy and sincerity. Actually. So conscious of time. Let's move into the three closing traditions this time on this season. So the first is a paid forward second is a call to adventure, and then we will close with some 10 quick fire questions to bring a little bit of fun and humor.

Hopefully, so firstly, the pay it forward, an opportunity to raise awareness for a charity or a project or cause, what would your pay it forward recommendation be? Gilbert, I wouldn't call it charity. I would call, come to Lebanon, discover our trades, because our trades are not in the mountains. When you don't find people, you only find nature.

Our trades go through villages. You will find the communities. You're gonna be well received, you're gonna feel better than home. This is it. Yeah. Awesome. Excellent. It's, it sounds inviting, so call to adventure. So an opportunity to recommend an adventure, an activity or something to get people inspired to go and do something this weekend.

I would say too, it's either the Transmen, which is in May and November with the Shepherd, the Lebanon Winter Expedition. To experience. They used to call Lebanon the Swiss of the Middle East, Switzerland of the Middle East. It blows my mind that like that Switzerland to the Middle East. I just can't believe I didn't know that, that you have four seasons, that you have winter, proper winter.

That's crazy. Sometimes when you camp in the ERs, the temperature goes down up to minus 20. Wow. Wow. So it's extra mountains. So I would say go to adventure. I would say yes to join the al, which is the trans with the tappers, or any experience with the supper or even win in Lebanon. Fantastic, fantastic.

This has been excellent. So the final section is 10 questions, and you don't have to answer, but if you do, hopefully they'll be a little bit insightful and a little bit of fun. So I'll just ask you the 10 questions and whatever comes into your head straight away. So question one, Gilbert. You can host a dinner party and invite two guests dead or alive.

Who would your two guests be? Actually, I will invite my parents there. Are there, I miss them a lot. Oh, since we're talking about too. Yeah. Lovely. What's the craziest or funniest experience or story you have ever had on an expedition? The craziest one is that I brought 10 sledges filled with equipment and we took them to the high summit.

Climbing 40 degrees feet with them are not dedicated to this slime and if pulling them has to use like long ropes with, with entering with eye, this ice axi. Wow. Plus complete matters. We went up and then we went down. That sounds labor intensive. Excellent. Number three. Do you have a hidden talent? I don't know.

I never thought of it. I do. Hidden talent. I'm known about it. I do. Good food. What's that? I do good outdoor food. Oh, good. Outdoor food. Ah, excellent. All right. Okay. You're selling it even more, right? Number four, your favorite movie. Actually, I don't have one in my mind, but I can tell you what. I keep searching.

I always keep searching for movies that shows the culture and the nature of the mountains. It's not only about the music cast, the culture of the mountain and the nature combined together. Excellent. Do you have a favorite book? The Seven Habits of Highly Attractive? It's a classic. Oh, excellent. I also have that in Paper Back and Audible.

I have read that countless times. Excellent. The last event that you went to, either theater, music or otherwise, what was the last event, festival, music or gig that you went to? Several events. The last one that I did that has always a place in my hubs that we do it every year is that we, in December, we go between Christmas and New Year and spend one night with the shepherds and at the, the dinner for these shepherds.

So we do it here and we did it in the mountains of Lebanon this year as well. Yeah. In fact, I seen something on your Instagram that you went, and I don't know if this was a Transhumans thing, but it was to do with. The, was it the trail of, so today with Christianity and Christ and Christmas and stuff, that was where it was something to, yeah, we went and then we decorated the room that we were sitting on sitting in, and we prepared the dinner.

Yes, that was it. Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Number seven, if you could snap your fingers and be anywhere at the minute, where would you go? Lapland. Oh, Lapland. Yeah. I was there two years ago. Yeah. That's a wonderful place. If you could relive any moment from your past, what would it be? I've attended many rescue missions.

One of them was the Quake in Turkey last year for seven days. I was part of the Banis team who were in Turkey. It was a tough one. I think I would repeat it again. It was a hard experiential experience that you went. Excuse me. So not the chicken. Create your life to appreciate every single moment. Yeah.

And I think we, we didn't actually get to talk too much about that. Forgive me on that. I think that's a very noble work that you're doing. It's greatly appreciated. Not that I've been directly or indirectly affected with that, but I think we do need more people like yourself doing that type of work, particularly with the skills and experience that you have.

Okay. So number nine, what scares you? It's to work something as cent. Ah, excellent. And then just because it's my passion. Yeah, excellent. And it is your, it can be obliged for doing something else. Yeah. That's seems very purposeful, which is great. So finally, and lastly, the best advice you have ever received.

So what is the best advice you've ever received? Is not to have any expectations from anyone. Touche. Excellent. Uh, that's a great way to live, and that's the end. I want to thank you. This has been very enlightening. Hopefully we're shining a light on the need to elevate Lebanon's position, but preservation, sustainability, and what it has to offer.

It sounds very inviting, very welcoming, and they've done safely as well. So where can people find out more about Gilbert 33 North and some of these adventures and experiences in Lebanon? Where could people go? Okay. First of all, I want to thank you for opening me this opportunity to talk about my work, our work and Lebanon for opening up this platform.

So in order to know more about us, they can go on Instagram 33 knows Lab. They can find us on Instagram. What website, which is 30 three-north.com and from the website they can reach our mobile phone and we easily reach through WhatsApp. It's 0 0 9 6 1 3 4 5 4 9 9 6. So they can do us a WhatsApp and then we'll be last to check the program or even create our partnership hopefully.

Awesome. We will get that and I will get that listed so I'll get all that published and I'll certainly do my bit to pay it forward in terms of trying to connect anyone that I am talking to or connecting with to see if we can try and bring you two together with other organizations. That'd be fantastic.

I think I would get some real satisfaction from that. Personally and selfishly, but yeah. That's excellent. This has been wonderful. Th thank you, Gilbert for persevering and your patience and giving your time up this evening. I know it's late and hopefully we can shine a light positive light on Lebanon.

Thank you, Chris. Thank you for the great work that you're doing and hopefully you'll be able to host one day also in Lebanon. Absolutely. I really shepherd the experience and just being out on the trail I think is, uh, has really captivated my imagination, so watch this space. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for tuning in to today's episode.

For the show notes and further information, please visit adventure diaries.com/podcast. And finally, we hope to have inspired you to take action and plan your next adventure, big or small, because sometimes we all need a little adventure to cleanse that bitter taste of life from the soul. Until next time, have fun.

And keep paying it forward. I.