Liberia’s humid, palm-studded and heavily vegetated coastline is dotted with marshes and tidal lagoons, and cut by at least nine major rives. Inland is a densely forested plateau rising to the low mountains of the Nimba Range. The country’s rainforests are part of the Guinean Forests of West Africa Hotspot, an exceptionally bio-diverse area spanning eleven countries.

Most Liberians belong to one of more tan a dozen major tribal groups including the Kpelle, Bassa, Krahn and Mandingo. Liberia’s economy is a shambles, and infrastructure is nonexistent outside Monrovia. Hope for the future lies in the country’s reserves of timber, gold, diamonds and iron ore, plus increasing foreign aid and a tenuous peace that is finally giving the country enough breathing room to begin to pull itself up.

Liberia is at its natural best along the coast and in the bird-filled rainforests of Sapo National Park. Listen in the mornings for the distinctive call of the pepperbird, which is also one of Liberia’s national emblems.

Liberia’s rainforests are alive with hundreds of species of birds, who are kept company by other animals including forest elephants, pygmy hippos, antelopes, chimpanzees and even leopards.