Liberia's Wologisi Mountains

Voinjama...capital of Lofa country

After the day’s activity in Foya, we drove back to Voinjama to rest for the night but before I could call it a night, it was vital to work out the details for the next day. All I knew was that I wanted to hike in the forests of the Wologisi mountains of Liberia. There were several question marks that I needed to figure out chief among them were; How are we going to get to the mountains? Who will guide us and where do we start looking for a guide, What about the permissions from the tribal chiefs, etc? How will we manage getting the permissions of the chiefs and was it possible to get this done in the evening instead of wasting precious time the next day running around to get these approvals.

Heading towards the mountains

Wologisi mountain range

It was certainly a concern that my lack of planning might hamper my desire but it amazing how the saying “where there’s a will…there is a way” always comes true. When I checked in for the night at a guest house in Voinjama, I enquired with the owner’s son and he introduced me to a chap called Papa who was watching TV at that same guest house. He initially seemed somewhat suspicious as to my reason for the visit to the mountains and was also reluctant to help us. After much deliberation, he agreed to take us to the mountains. He later disclosed that he has some operations in the forest and had to visit his workforce anyway, it just that he did not want to go on a Sunday which was his rest day.

Stacked Redwood

Unbridled smile

The next day after a hearty breakfast of bread, eggs and tea we got on the main road linking Voinjama and Zorzor and Papa brought along a couple of his workers and a few chainsaw heads in our pickup. After about an hour we took a detour onto a smaller yet well maintained road leading to the mountains. The road here was maintained by LISCO, a logging company that operates not too far away from the Wologisi mountains.

The bridge in the background is made to carry redwood logs laden pickups over the swamps

The forest was filled with butterflies of amazing colors...these were just a few i could catch on my camera

A further hour drive through this beautiful rain forest expanse and we came up to the LISCO camp passing by worker housing, expat housing which looked like temporary shelters and the saw mill. After the LISCO camp the road got progressively worse until we reached the village of Zeekeze. At this point we could not longer take the pickup so had to park it at the village and set forth on foot to the next village which was an hour and a half away. As we passed through the forest it was clearly evident what operations are undertaken in these rain forests.

Sago worms...larvae of the palm weevil (which are
the black beatle looking bugs. Evidently there
are delcious. They look better when they are moving 

Foreground: Pineapple &
 Background: Cassava plant

There were piles of Redwood that were carefully stacked at regular intervals and occasionally we could hear the roaring sound of a chainsaw in the distance. I am not qualified to state if this logging of the redwood is illegal or unregulated but from what I gathered, none of the guys who work there had a license and again I am not sure if they don’t require one or nobody seems to bothers to get one. What I do know is that the wood is sold (mostly China) at a small fortune and there is no replanting and there are plenty of small time loggers in these forests, some of whom are freelance and some of whom have a “bigger hand from the city”.

Woman from the Lorma tribe, who inhabit
the region around Wologisi



Lorma hunters who where my guides in the forest...they
actually prefer hunting at night and walk as if they are
in the Olympic



Even though the sight was depressing, I had to view it from the context of the economic state of the loggers and the villages that get a small percent of the harvest to understand why it is happening. Regardless, it just seems like a lose-lose situation to all in the long term because its not like the wood is inexhaustible…sooner than later they are going to run out of redwood and then the will move on to a different type of wood before running out of all their natural wealth and frankly I don’t even think that the villagers will get any long term sustainable benefit out of it.

A purple mushroom

Bamboo bridge

We trudged on further till we came up to a small hamlet called Warnleywu where a small pineapple and cassava farm welcomed us. At this hamlet Papa stayed back for business matters and hooked me up with a couple hunters from that hamlet who would accompany me further into the forest. For the next hour it was me with my machete and a couple hunters with a single barrel gun and machetes wandering in the forest.

Wologisi mountains...they are not the Himalayas but have their own charm. The highest peak is covered by clouds

I was not sure if I was for or against seeing any wild creature. On one hand I was hoping to get some great pictures but then any animal we would probably come across would be meat to the hunters so after 4 hours in the forest when we came empty handed my feeling was of less disappointment and more satisfaction of having trekked through this AWESOME forest where we sometimes slashed our way through dense cover, crossed streams on makeshift bamboo bridges, by climbing over fallen trees, trudged through swamps and rested at small clearing where the forest cover gave way to grassland. Here is video collection of some of my experiences

We might not have encountered any large wildlife probably because the forest might be empty as all the animals might have been a victim of the bush meat trade but I am going to believe that it might be because we just did not have the time to go to the interiors of the forest. I have heard stories that there forest harbors several species of forest antelopes, snakes, monkeys wild hogs, bush cow (or forest buffalo), civet, genet, and even the occasional leopard and forest elephant. I just hope they still do.

Quaint village around the mountains

The Upper Guinean rainforest

After getting back to the village from the trek, we started to retrace our way back to Voinjama when a heavy late-afternoon downpour almost led to our pickup being stuck in the slippery mud. Luckily Abu was able to get us out of there and we stopped by the LISCO camp to catch the magnificent Mt. Wuteve and the Wologisi mountains gleaming in the evening glow.

Road from Voinjama to Zoror...one of my favorite rides ever

The ride back from Voinjama to Zorzor on the way to Harbel was a special one and it had a feel as if we were driving in the clouds of West Africa. That was a perfect way to end the journey.

Just as with Foya, I think I have barely touched the surface of what this region has to offer and I truly wish I can come back again and perhaps climb Mt. Wuteve, the highest peak in Liberia and perhaps see a bush cow or two. However the bigger question is if this unique forest will be still be standing?



Some monkey meat



Poor tortise thats gonna end on someone's dinner plate



Some more pictures of the road

St. Paul river marking the boundary between Lofa and Bong counties