Heading Up-Country

Most expats talk of going up-country like it is going to the ends of the earth. It is pretty rough, but this field trip is opening my eyes to the fact that Liberia must have been quite well-developed before the war.

What most surprised me is how green the country is. Most of the land is still forested. Thick lush verdant tropical beauty bursting with bird calls. Liberia has one major factor in its favor – it lacks the high populations and land pressure of many other African countries. The last census was before the war, but the population is estimated at 3-4 million people with half of that in Monrovia and the other 1.5 to 2 million people spread around a country that is roughly the size of Ohio. The countryside is dotted with what must have once been small but well kept houses of painted cement with decorative awnings. They are now ruins pockmarked with bullet holes and surrounded by newly built mud and stick structures with palm frond roves.

There are also established by overgrown plantations of rubber, palm oil, cocoa and even coffee. That is not something that I have seen in other places in Africa. The trees are still producing, but definitely need to be cleared of scrub, better tended, and harvested. Another asset is the existing foreign investments on the ground primarily in rubber. It means that there is an instant market and the rubber sector could bounce back (no pun intended) fairly quickly. Most roads are in terrible condition. The main road north that I took North was tar but has not been repaved since before the war (14 years ago). The dirt roads are being graded, but after one heavy rainfall there is already significant damage.

The people are warm and friendly but I can’t help but wonder at what horrors they have experienced. Still, there is great potential here and I think there is reason to hope for the future.