Bekhal’s cascades near Rawanduz are supplied by springs in fractured limestone. Geological fieldwork and an official tourism guide explain both the water and the resort built around it.

Water cascading over rocks at Bekhal, with trees, visitors, a Kurdish flag and a raised café terrace beside the falls
Bekhal on 2 August 2026, photographed by Rotana (روتانا). The view shows several cascades and the visitor terraces beside them. © Rotana (روتانا) · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0.

Where Bekhal fits in the landscape

Bekhal lies in the mountain country around Rawanduz in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The road through Khalifan, Bekhal and Rawanduz crosses the flanks of the Bradost and Korek folds. A 2021 geological study places Rawanduz about ten kilometres east of the waterfall. This is a road landscape of steep, layered rock, rather than an isolated cascade reached only by a wilderness trail. Bekhal and Gali Ali Beg are separate attractions: an earlier Kurdistan Board of Investment guide lists Bekhal east of Gali Ali Beg, with its own restaurants and recreation facilities. [2] [3]

A group of springs, not a single river plunging off a cliff

The 2016 study by Varoujan K. Sissakian and colleagues identifies Bekhal as a group of springs emerging through the Bekhme Formation. These are Upper Cretaceous carbonate rocks, visibly arranged in beds and affected by faults and karst dissolution. Water escapes through openings in this rock before descending in cascades and feeding a stream that joins the Rawanduz River. The authors describe the outlets across a distance of approximately 45 metres. That measurement concerns the spread of the spring emergence; it is not a measured vertical height of the waterfall. Their photographs and field observations connect the visible water with the structure of the underlying rock. [1]

How a spring became a resort

The official investment guide presents Bekhal as a resort about 140 kilometres from Erbil, rather than giving a foundation date. Its listing belongs to the history of promoting mountain tourism through accessible sites, restaurants and recreation. The 2016 geological paper likewise records paved access, food shops, bungalows and small accommodation facilities. Together these documents show that the built visitor environment was already established by that publication, although they cannot identify its first café or the year tourism began. The photograph accompanying this article provides a separate, dated view from August 2026: visitors and an elevated terrace stand close to the branching cascades. [1] [3] [5]

The folds beside the road

Rebaz Muhammed Qader and Soran Hasan Arab Syan investigated ten rock-slope stations along the Khalifan–Bekhal–Rawanduz road for their 2021 paper. They measured the orientation of rock layers and fractures and assessed possible planar and wedge failures. Their analysis explains why the position of a road cutting matters even where the rock itself is strong: intersecting surfaces can define blocks that move. The study also records earlier rain- and snow-season rockfalls along the route. These are dated field findings about particular slopes, not a statement that the entire road is currently closed. They add a practical human dimension to the same folded mountain setting that shapes the scenery. [2]

Water as an environmental record

Nihal S. Hanna and Yahya A. Shekha studied the Bekhal (Maran) River alongside the Zar Gali stream and Khalan River, using samples collected between April and November 2014. Their 2017 paper measured eighteen physical and chemical parameters and calculated indices for different uses. Such research treats the watercourse as a changing environmental system, rather than judging it by appearance alone. The sampling dates and the location of each station matter: a result for a river station in 2014 is not a present-day assessment of every outlet at the waterfall. [4]

Sources and further reading

  1. Varoujan K. Sissakian, Ayda D. Abdul Ahad, Nadhir Al-Ansari and Sven Knutsson, “Tourism in North and Northeastern Parts of Iraq,” Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering 6/3 (2016), pp. 90–107, especially pp. 93–94: Bekhal springs, rock formation and visitor facilities.
  2. Rebaz Muhammed Qader and Soran Hasan Arab Syan, “Rock Slope Stability Assessment Along Rawanduz Main Road, Kurdistan Region,” Iraqi Geological Journal 54/1B (2021), pp. 79–93, DOI 10.46717/igj.54.1B.7Ms-2021-02-25: original field investigation.
  3. Kurdistan Board of Investment and French Consulate General in Erbil, Doing Business in the Kurdistan Region–Iraq, undated guide, p. 95: historical official description of Bekhal resort.
  4. Nihal S. Hanna and Yahya A. Shekha, “Assessment of Water Quality for Zar Gali Stream, Bekhal (Maran) and Khalan Rivers within Erbil, Iraq,” ZANCO 29/1 (2017), pp. 171–181, DOI 10.21271/ZJPAS.29.1.20: authors’ full text, samples from 2014.
  5. Rotana (روتانا), Bekhal Waterfall 31, 2 August 2026, CC BY-SA 4.0: dated photograph of cascades and visitor facilities.