Afrinkong
Nature & LandscapesThe Upper Guinean Forest
Liberia holds about forty per cent of what is left of it.
LIBERIA · Tourism
Sapo
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.
West AfricaRegion
27Tourism experiences
Sapo, surf, and the last of the Upper Guinean forestKnown for
01
Featured destinations
Where the country actually takes you.
Nature & Landscapes
Mount Nimba and Wologizi
Nimba on the Guinean border, and the Wologizi range with the highest ground in the country.
Photo shubhankar saha / Pexels
Kpatawee
Falls over granite ledges into a swimmable pool in Bong county.
Photo Messy Moe / Pexels
Lakes & RiversThe Saint Paul and the Cavalla
The Saint Paul runs past Monrovia; the Cavalla marks the whole Ivorian border.
Photo Keith Lobo / Pexels
Five Hundred Kilometres of Atlantic
Long empty beaches, and a serious swell from November on.
Forests & RainforestSapo and Gola
Two blocks of high forest, both transboundary, and the best-protected in the region.
02
Wildlife & safari
What lives here, and how you see it without disturbing it.
Wildlife
The Pygmy Hippo
Nocturnal, solitary, forest-dwelling, and one of the rarest large mammals in Africa.
Photo Oscar Arce / Pexels
Forest Tracking
There is no game drive here. Sapo is walked, with trackers, over days.
Photo Kenny Fotos CR / Pexels
Forty Per Cent of What Is Left
Liberia's forest is the largest surviving piece of the Upper Guinean block.
03
Culture & heritage
The part of a country you cannot photograph from a vehicle.
Culture
Americo-Liberian and Sixteen Others
A settler republic founded in 1822 over sixteen indigenous peoples, and the tension of that.
Traditional PeopleKpelle, Bassa, Grebo, Vai
The Vai invented their own script in the 1830s, one of very few in Africa.
Photo Muhammad Fullah / Pexels
Jollof, Palm Butter and Fufu
Palm butter soup, cassava fufu, and a jollof Liberians will argue about at length.
Festivals & CelebrationsIndependence Day
26 July, and the parades, the food and the noise that come with it.
Traditional Arts & CraftsMasks and Country Cloth
Poro and Sande society masks in the interior, and woven country cloth everywhere.
Historic SitesProvidence Island
Where the first settlers landed in 1822, in the middle of Monrovia's harbour.
A Republic Built by the Freed
Monrovia's nineteenth-century houses are the architecture of a return that did not go simply.
04
Cities & everyday life
Where people actually live between the landmarks.
CitiesMonrovia
A capital on a peninsula between the Atlantic and the Mesurado, rebuilt and rebuilding.
Verandah and Zinc
Americo-Liberian timber houses with deep verandahs, and zinc-roofed cityscape behind them.
Local LifeThe Beach at Sinkor
Monrovia goes to the beach bars along Sinkor at the weekend, and stays.
Family & CommunityKpatawee and the Coast
A waterfall pool inland and calm bays on the coast, both easy days out.
05
Adventure & outdoors
For travellers who would rather walk it than watch it.
Adventure
Surfing Robertsport
Cassava Point and Fisherman's Point — long left-hand point breaks, and a village surf club.
Photo Serg Alesenko / Pexels
Outdoor ExperiencesSapo on Foot
Multi-day forest walking with rangers, sleeping in camps, and no vehicles at all.
Photo Leonard StahI / Pexels
Beginning
Beach lodges at Robertsport and a few good hotels in Monrovia.
06
Travel inspiration
The frames people come home with.
Photography / Scenic ViewsGreen and Water
Sapo after rain, when the canopy drips and the light comes through in shafts.
Photo Nothing Ahead / Pexels
Hidden GemsLake Piso
A lagoon behind Robertsport with mangrove, fishing villages and no visitors.
Photo Victor Ralda / Pexels
Why Visit This Country
Why Liberia
The best surf in West Africa, and the forest the pygmy hippo has left.