A couple weekends ago we had a Liberian national holiday (Unification day) falling on a Friday so it turned out to be a long weekend. Through the past few months a colleague and I we speaking about the need to see a few places around Liberia rather than just Harbel and Monrovia to really get an essence of the country so this holiday presented us with just the right opportunity.
He claimed that the squirrel under our
vehicle was his master plan
Just posing with the poor squirrel
Road to Robertsport
We decided to visit a place called Robertsport (named after the 1st president of Liberia). Even though it’s a county capital (Grand Cape Mount County, which is the farthest west region of Liberia bordering Sierra Leone), it seemed more like a small fishing village than a city or a town which is not surprising considering that Monrovia overwhelmingly dominates all other regions in Liberia.
The most alluring part of the city is the fact that it lies at the conjunction of a large lake called Lake Piso and the Atlantic Ocean. We packed ourselves with a few basic clothes, sandwiches, spare fuel, a driver (which is mandatory for all expats if they need to travel outside the confines of the Firestone Concession area), and headed west through Monrovia for a journey of about two and half hours.
Bush being cut down for charcoal
Selling charcoal
Pounding cassava
Yummy Liberian mango
The road for 2/3rd of the way was fairly decent and was constructed by the Nigerians as a gift to the people of Liberia. Surprisingly the road had hardly any traffic with the ride was pleasant with lush green vegetation all around us.
As we were cruising on this road, I saw a fairly big squirrel pass the road and then bizarrely as it was close to the other side of the road, it turned right back towards the car in confusion. Needless to say, I heard a crunch as we pass over something and I knew what it was as I said “Oh Shit!” Before I realized to turn the car around, a guy had already picked with the dead squirrel.
As we approached him he started saying that he needs a share of the squirrel as he played an equal part in trapping it under the car tire by confusing it - thinking we came back to take the squirrel away from him.
He seemed pretty happy when we told him I just need a picture and he can keep the squirrel. I felt pretty bad for the squirrel and the fact that we accidentally ran over it but I was happy for the man as he and probably his family got a protein feast for that evening.
The last hour of the journey was on a dirt road where the forest is being cleared in patches for planting palm trees which are a decent source of revenue for the locals.
On the way our driver stopped by a hamlet to buy a fruit he called plum but I believe it’s actually a variety of the mango family rather than the plum. Evidently that’s what they call it. After eating mangoes in India which I consider to be the best in the world, I was not too sure how a green mango might taste. To my surprise, it was actually pretty sweet, meaty and consisting of more fiber and less juicy so it was not messy eating it with bare hands. Not as good as the Indian ones but pretty good I think.
Robertsport still has pre-war concrete roads in very good condition
My hut for the night in Robertsport
With Carl
Robertsport essentially sits at the junction where the Lake Piso joins the Atlantic Ocean. The village is curiously built around the lake shores rather than the sea but the village also extends from the lake shore to the beach all across to the hill tops that overlook Robertsport. It’s a very charming laid back place where you get the feel of a lake resort, beach resort and a small hill top resort at the same place.
Preparing dinner
Super delicious cassava with fish and rice
I got myself a place to stay at a place called as Aqui Lodge which is run by a German who has a very interesting story himself. He worked as an IT professional in Germany before moving to England but lost his job in the economic crisis of 2008.
Inside the hut...not bad!
Dinner table on the beach
Interestingly, he decided it was time to head to Africa so he drove…..yeah; he drove all the way from England to Liberia in a minibus! He took the route from England to Senegal, through the deserts of Mali and then down south to Liberia as he passed through Guinea. He has leased land from the government for a couple decades and built a couple huts by the beach with a few more huts for a kitchen, a pantry, a common bath room, a dinner location and a library.
To get to his place I had to go through the bush, past a small hamlet (I would call it a community rather than a hamlet as it consisted of about 5-6 families at most) and then onto the beach. Below is a video of the ride through the small community to get to the place where i was staying. It just gives a flavor of the ride. Thankfully we had a 4WD!
After lazing on the beach for most of the 1st day, we headed to a local bar at night. The setting was right out of Africa with the bar beside the lake while we were relaxing on an improvises porch, loud Nigerian music blaring out of the boom boxes, locals (almost all were men) sipping on an alcoholic drink when it started to rain. So we asked for an umbrella for our table and here we were chilling by the lake with some good music while it rained all around us. Later we got word of a local beauty pageant cum talent show that was organized in one of the community centers so we headed to the show.
Think she did not like me taking her picture
White crab
It was packed full with people, steamy hot and people cheering loudly as the local beauties did their cat walk. It was interesting that the walk for each participant was well over a couple minutes and some of them were half walking, half dancing or something like a dance inspired catwalk while loud music was played in the background. There were 5 contestants, and it was interesting that all 5 of them were from different communities of the village and the support for each of them was pretty evidently split on community lines. The area that we were sitting in was dominated by the community from the central market area of Robertsport so whenever she showed up there was a loud cheer.
People also randomly walked on the stage and showered money on the contestants. Our diver took a liking to the beauty that was from the community that we were sitting in with, and he suggested she was the best of the lot but I quietly disagreed. I was super tired that evening so we decided to quit early for that night.
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