Roughly half the size of Wales

With a land mass of just 10,452 square kilometres Lebanon is roughly half the size of Wales. Despite its small size it packs in quite a bit of diversity with sandy beaches, mountains of up to 3000m and the Bekaa Valley - stretching about 180km between the Mt Lebanon range and the Anti-Lebanon range, and at an altitude of about 1000m. Lebanon's coast stretches 210km and it shares land borders with Syria and Israel. The Orontes and Litani are the country's two principal rivers.

Subtropical to Alpine species

For such a small country Lebanon boasts over 3000 species of flora. Grapevines, olive and fig trees are common at lower altitudes while cedar, maple, juniper and fir are common on higher ground. Vegetation varies from alpine to subtropical and even desert. Fauna includes jackals, rabbits, gazelles, lizards and snakes. Common bird varieties include thrushes, nightingales, vultures and eagles.

A typical Mediterranean climate

Lebanon has a Mediterranean climate characterised by hot, dry summers and cool rainy winters. Along the coast summers are particularly hot and humid but heavy dews are very beneficial to agriculture. Winters are the rainy season though rain is usually limited to a small number of days with severe rainfall. The mountains see snow in the winter months and humidity is significantly lower in the summer though temperature variations are much wider.