Afrinkong
Nature & Landscapes
The Upper Guinean Forest
Liberia holds about forty per cent of what is left of it.
West Africa · Afrinkong
Liberia
Sapo, surf, and the last of the Upper Guinean forest.
Sapo National Park holds pygmy hippo and forest elephant in the second largest block of rainforest in West Africa, Robertsport has the best surf on the coast, and Monrovia was founded by freed American slaves in 1822.
Where it is
Africa · West Africa · Liberia
The land in brief
- Spans
- 430 km E–W, 480 km N–S
- Latitude
- 8°N to 4°N
- Borders
- 3 countries
- Sea
- Has a coast
- Best time
- November to April. The rains are extraordinary — Monrovia gets over four metres a year.
Also in West Africa
BeninWhere vodun comes from, and the palaces of DahomeyBurkina FasoThe best cinema and the best masks in West AfricaCôte d'IvoireLagoons, forest and the AtlanticThe GambiaA river with a country around itGhanaThe forts, the forest and the highlife
Compare Liberia with another countryAll fifty-four, worked through the same twenty-seven categories.When to come
JFMAMJJASOND
November to April. The rains are extraordinary — Monrovia gets over four metres a year.
01Highlights
What Liberia is known for.
Six of the twenty-seven, and the ones most people come for. The rest are below — and none of them is filler.
Nature & Landscapes
The Pygmy Hippo
Nocturnal, solitary, forest-dwelling, and one of the rarest large mammals in Africa.
Mount Nimba and Wologizi
Nimba on the Guinean border, and the Wologizi range with the highest ground in the country.
Five Hundred Kilometres of Atlantic
Long empty beaches, and a serious swell from November on.
Forests & Rainforest
Sapo and Gola
Two blocks of high forest, both transboundary, and the best-protected in the region.
Culture
Americo-Liberian and Sixteen Others
A settler republic founded in 1822 over sixteen indigenous peoples, and the tension of that.
02Experiences
25 ways to spend the time.
Every country we cover works through the same twenty-seven categories, so you can hold two of them side by side and compare like with like rather than one brochure against another. Compare Liberia with another → The two not listed here are the hero picture and the case for going, which has a section of its own below.
Landscapes
- The Upper Guinean ForestLiberia holds about forty per cent of what is left of it.
- Mount Nimba and WologiziNimba on the Guinean border, and the Wologizi range with the highest ground in the country.
- KpataweeFalls over granite ledges into a swimmable pool in Bong county.
- The Saint Paul and the CavallaThe Saint Paul runs past Monrovia; the Cavalla marks the whole Ivorian border.
- Five Hundred Kilometres of AtlanticLong empty beaches, and a serious swell from November on.
- Sapo and GolaTwo blocks of high forest, both transboundary, and the best-protected in the region.
Wildlife
- The Pygmy HippoNocturnal, solitary, forest-dwelling, and one of the rarest large mammals in Africa.
- Forest TrackingThere is no game drive here. Sapo is walked, with trackers, over days.
- Forty Per Cent of What Is LeftLiberia's forest is the largest surviving piece of the Upper Guinean block.
- Sapo on FootMulti-day forest walking with rangers, sleeping in camps, and no vehicles at all.
People and culture
- Americo-Liberian and Sixteen OthersA settler republic founded in 1822 over sixteen indigenous peoples, and the tension of that.
- Kpelle, Bassa, Grebo, VaiThe Vai invented their own script in the 1830s, one of very few in Africa.
- Independence Day26 July, and the parades, the food and the noise that come with it.
- Masks and Country ClothPoro and Sande society masks in the interior, and woven country cloth everywhere.
- Jollof, Palm Butter and FufuPalm butter soup, cassava fufu, and a jollof Liberians will argue about at length.
- Kpatawee and the CoastA waterfall pool inland and calm bays on the coast, both easy days out.
- The Beach at SinkorMonrovia goes to the beach bars along Sinkor at the weekend, and stays.
Places
- MonroviaA capital on a peninsula between the Atlantic and the Mesurado, rebuilt and rebuilding.
- Verandah and ZincAmerico-Liberian timber houses with deep verandahs, and zinc-roofed cityscape behind them.
- Providence IslandWhere the first settlers landed in 1822, in the middle of Monrovia's harbour.
- A Republic Built by the FreedMonrovia's nineteenth-century houses are the architecture of a return that did not go simply.
Ways to travel
- Surfing RobertsportCassava Point and Fisherman's Point — long left-hand point breaks, and a village surf club.
- BeginningBeach lodges at Robertsport and a few good hotels in Monrovia.
- Green and WaterSapo after rain, when the canopy drips and the light comes through in shafts.
- Lake PisoA lagoon behind Robertsport with mangrove, fishing villages and no visitors.
03Why go
The case for Liberia.
Why Visit This Country
Why Liberia
The best surf in West Africa, and the forest the pygmy hippo has left.
Hidden Gems
Lake Piso
A lagoon behind Robertsport with mangrove, fishing villages and no visitors.
Eco Tourism
Forty Per Cent of What Is Left
Liberia's forest is the largest surviving piece of the Upper Guinean block.
Heritage
A Republic Built by the Freed
Monrovia's nineteenth-century houses are the architecture of a return that did not go simply.
04Go deeper
All of Liberia, four ways in.
Who would take youAfrinkong
The ground is ours right across Africa: your vehicle, your driver for the whole journey, and the days shaped around what you came for.
In Cameroon, Uganda and Namibia you travel with companies of our own as well.
Plan your journey →
Begin
Your Liberia starts here.
Tell us the month, or simply the thing you want to see, and a guide who works there will answer.