Sites to Visit in Liberia

Bicentennial Celebration - Liberia Sites to Visit in Liberia

Firestone Plantation

Since 1926, Firestone Natural Rubber Company has worked with the people of Liberia to create a thriving natural rubber industry and to provide critical — and, in many cases, otherwise unavailable — social services to its Liberian teammates and their families. After almost 100 years of investment, the Firestone Natural Rubber Company location — covering almost 200 square miles — is the largest single natural rubber operation in the world. https://www.fi restonenaturalrubber.com liberiapublicradio.com

Kpatawee Waterfall

Kpatawee Waterfall is a tourist attraction located in Kpatawee, Suakoko, Bong County, Liberia. Kpatawee waterfall is one of Liberia’s hidden attractions deep inside the Liberian forest. Come and experience the beautiful nature of Kpatawee.

Providence Island

Sapo National Park

Sapo National Park in Sinoe County, southwestern Liberia covers an area of 1,804 km² (697 sq mi). It is the country’s largest protected area of rainforest and its only national park. Included in its boundaries is the second largest area of primary tropical rainforest in West Africa, after Taï National Park in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire. Located in Liberia’s least densely populated province, it is home to one of the most intact forest ecosystems in the nation. It is within the Upper Guinean forest ecosystem, a biodiverse region hosting the “highest mammal species diversity of any region in the world,” according to

Conservation International. The park lies within the Western Guinean lowland forests ecoregion according to the World Wide Fund for Nature’s ecoregions classification scheme.

The site is of historical and cultural significance in the history of West Africa as the Island was one of the first places freed slaves landed on January 1, 1822. They were the second batch of African slaves who returned to their father’s land from America in 1820 and subsequently created the nation known today as Liberia. As an island it bears

testimony to the reversal of the “no point of return” when slaves were forcible taken to the Americas with no prospect of coming back. Providence Island, originally known as Dozoa meaning ‘’ Land in the center of water (Gola`Vernacular) defines Liberia’s origin as a nation, including the cultural diversity that is visible in the country. Before the arrival of first batch of freed slaves from America, Providence Island was a major trade post for both

Portuguese and ethnics of the land.

Providence Island is a former trade post and the first arrival point of freed American Slaves. The site is characterized by a cement pillar and concrete floor believed to be the first Concrete work in the history of the country, an ancient water well and an old landing docking platform for incoming canoes and ships. The rusted heavy steel bar of the dock are partly buried into the Mesurado river today. In addition to these elements, is the oldest cotton tree, (250) years according to history of the State.

Providence Island

The National Museum of Liberia is a national museum in Monrovia, Liberia. Initially housed in the First Executive Mansion on Ashmun Street of the city which is now used as a library, it was established by an Act of the National Legislature in 1958 under the administration of Liberia’s 18th President, Dr William V.S. Tubman. Partly funded by UNESCO, in coordination with the Department of Public instructions, its primary goal was to obtain, preserve and display cultural artefacts and other historical items which depict the country’s heritage.

Lake Piso (Pisu)

Lake Piso, which is also known as Lake Pisu and Fisherman’s Lake is a saltwater lake that has an open connection to the Atlantic Ocean, thus making it an oblong tidal lagoon, located in the southern part of the Grand Cape Mount County within the Republic of Liberia.

It is the largest lake in the West African country that is fed not just from the Atlantic, but from Maffa, Moffe and Mawua rivers too.

The basin has gained international and national interest for the richness of its biodiversity, its diverse ecosystems and its natural beauty, which was designated as the first “wetland of international importance” under the Ramsar Convention (June 2003).

There is the humid forest, wetlands and coast, brackish lake and the dry land that comprise this unique ecosystem, which is rich in flora and fauna.

The people living in the vicinity of the lake are the Vai. They are dependent on the lake due to the fishing and also the high-quality diamonds that

have been mined from the rivers that discharge into Lake Piso.

National Museum of Liberia

Lake Piso

Where Big C How one Fam Returned L Corner of Sou

Lioness Sikelele basks in the sun. Courtesy David Niederberger/Samara Private Game Reserve

In the Great Karoo, a vast semi-arid expanse in South Africa, lions and cheetahs once roamed. But then came farms and fences and guns. By the 1840s lions were gone; then by the 1870s, cheetahs too.

Much of what is now the Samara Private Game Reserve, in the Eastern Cape, became home to livestock. That was until 1997, when nature was once again allowed to take its course over thousands of acres of land. Now, after 25 years of carefully managed rewilding, both cheetahs and lions have not only returned to this part of South Africa -- they’re thriving.

The successful reintroduction of these big cats is down to the vision of Mark and Sarah Tompkins.

The couple purchased 11 farms totaling 27,000 hectares (67,000 acres) over fi ve years for the purpose of returning the land to its former glory. “It wasn’t a wild area,” explains Isabelle Tompkins, their eldest daughter and business development manager at Samara. “All of the migrating animals were essentially shut out, and of course the Cheetahs were reintroduced to Sa

Courtesy Sacha Specker (Black Bean P

predators (that) would accompany them.”

To dream big, the family had to start small. That meant looking at what was beneath their feet. When the land was bought, much of it was overgrazed, with barren patches and gullies eroded in the earth. Fences were removed along with the livestock, and the rewilding eff ort began literally at grassroots level.

“Despite being a semi-arid region, there’s a remarkable amount of biodiversity, particularly endemic plants,” says Isabelle, adding that fi ve of South Africa’s nine types of plant habitat exist within Samara.

Over time, the region’s fl ora returned. Forest