Sunday o' da Beach

You may have guessed that one of the best things about living in Monrovia is ...living by the sea.

While our flat has an incredible sea view, there isn't an accessible beach in walking distance. Beaches close to Monrovia's centre are used as living and/or latrine areas with plenty of litter. But with a bit of driving in the trusty Nissan Sunny, one soon reaches Golden Beach near the UN offices (about 10 minutes) and from then onward there are several other beaches where local restaurants keep a section clean for clients.

On all of these beaches there's some pretty hectic surf, at least this time of the year. Everyone also warns of the rip-tides. We stay in the shallows and enjoy rolling or surfinig with the breakers. Unlike SA's cold coastal water, the sea here is luke-warm - delicious.

Here is a picture of Paul, Sam & Tumi on Golden Beach, on our first afternoon here.


Today we went to Thinker's Beach, pronounced 'Tinkers,' well worth the half hour's drive. Most of the people on the beach and in the restaurant were expats, but not exclusively; as on other beaches here, kids from local communities seemed as welcome as anyone else.

Sam and Tumi on Thinker's Beach


Compared to South Africa, where most beaches and adjacent real estate was reserved for the rich (at the time, synonymous with whites), it's refreshing to enjoy a beach without feeling part of some kind of human rights violation. Enjoying the pure pleasure side by side with people of assorted backgrounds and economic classes - in SA I've experienced it at resorts like Warmbaths and Gold Reef City theme park. Beaches and theme parks won't be a total answer to our economic and social issues but I like to think they play their part. A nation that plays together, stays together?

Thinkers Village is the local restaurant/accommodation complex. There's delicious sea-food to be had, and the proprietor is getting the accommodation up and running now the restaurant's functioning nicely. He came back every time fighting allowed in the consecutive wartimes, and is now back for keeps.

Feels a bit like Mozambique's locally owned beach restaurants, though a bit more brick and concrete due to erstwhile prosperity. And several empty ruins due to the more recent peace.

Tove, Onur and Paul at Thinker's Village restaurant



Come and visit, we'll take you there for sure.

Besides the sea, Sam and Tumi enjoyed playing with the patches of black sand (ilmonite, a form of titanium, Paul informed us). And Tumi had a special time with the resident baby chimp. Despite all thoughts of the problems of chimps as pets it was difficult not to enjoy a moment of interaction with a young animal so close to a human child.

Tumi with young chimp at Thinkers village



Tumi with black ilmonite sand

Bomi Lake

Dear friends

The last three weeks have not been all easy but some of the big positives have been meeting some very nice people through Paul’s work at IBI, and finding a couple of wonderful places to visit close to and beyond Monrovia.

Last Sunday we set off for Bomi Lake in two 4x4s. That’s Paul & I & the kids; Onur from the IBI office here; David and Mamadou from the office in Virginia, and short term consultants Bob and Jerry with his wife Cindy. Plus two IBI drivers, Adama and David. Quite a party!

Below: Sam on the log; with Tumi & two Liberian boys who joined us; Adama (left) & David; and Onur standing on the platform.

To get to Bomi Lake, one first has to get through Duala Market, a huge and often Very Congested market area on the NW side of Monrovia. Fortunately, being Sunday, it was relatively quiet. Then one follows the ‘highway’ towards the Sierra Leone border. This is apparently the best regional road in Monrovia, and indeed it’s in good condition, though more good tar road than highway.

At Tubmanville there is a fork where one keeps left, and then after not too much dirt road, following signs to Bomi Lake and a nearby Firing Range (?!) one get’s to hilly country and soon to the lake. All in all it’s about 55km and takes 2 hours if Duala doesn’t delay you too much.

Well, Bomi Lake is actually a huge quarry pool from an iron mining operation, but has earned the title of ‘Lake’ for being so beautiful and quite large. The water is incredibly clear, we could see big tilapia swimming around; the appearance of the water is also responsible for the nickname ‘Blue Lake.’

Pakistani UN Peacekeeping forces (Pak Bats for short) have a base near the lake, and have built quaint shade ‘pavilions’ around the picnic area; a diving board – great fun; and a basic toilet. They’ve also planted a pineapple orchard where each individual plant has a hand-painted sign indicating who planted it, their rank, & date of planting. One gets the feeling they may be quite bored.

Anyway, the best part of the day was swimming in the lake; the water a delicious temperature just cool enough to give some relief from the heat. From a deck at the end of a jetty, across a shallow slope into the water, lay a long, straight, slippery wooden pole. Soon Paul had set up a prize of 100 Liberian Dollars (R12) for whoever could walk all the way across. Adama was the only one who ever stood a chance – not that other contestants didn’t try repeatedly and desperately – and he eventually made it. Onur offered a new reward for Sam and Tumi if they can walk from both ends and meet halfway – and they did it!

Sam and Tumi approaching each other on the balancing log; Onur on the platform

Jerry and Cindy on a waterside pavilion

Goodbyes & Continental Travel

19 July 2008: Johannesburg-Accra
21 July 2008: Accra Monrovia

Goodbyes
Leaving our life in South Africa was hard, for lots of reasons. Saying goodbye to friends and family is horrid. But I SO want to thank all of you for all your goodbye messages, your good wishes and support and love expressed through phone calls and emails and visits. They have made us feel strong, and not alone, even if far away. Especially thanks for your last minute airport calls, Mocke, Diane, Dinah & Ma, and sorry I could not speak long but they were very much appreciated. I don’t think we’d even have left without all the help from my mother: entertaining the kids; helping to pack; and taking us to the airport when it really was time to go – Dankie Ma!

Continental Travel

The first three days were Sam & Tumi’s first taste of international travel beyond southern Africa. The whole drill of airports, planes & taxis was both exciting and exhausting. The kids enjoyed aeroplane food and the incredibly silly inflight movie. We landed in Accra at about 11pm West African time (GMT – 2 hours earlier than SA) and could immediately feel we were somewhere totally different – it was hot and humid late at night, and stinky too from all the airplane fumes. Once in the airport, the smell changed to a sweetish smell of things alive in a tropical environment, which is all over here – I love it. Sam & Tumi found it strange.

As promised by Uncle, the proprietor of the hostel we’d booked 2 nights in, a nice big taxi was waiting and took us on a 20 minute drive through dark streets of Accra to the Crystal Hostel. We could see the shape of low buildings lining the streets, and trees among them. I wondered what it would look like in by daylight. Next morning, from the walled roof of the building, we got our first real view of Accra, with the sun rising all golden through clouds and mists, lighting up rooftops and palm trees.

View from Crystal Hostel rooftop, Accra

Tumi looking at view from rooftop

Accra is a huge city, we did not even see the main part of town – instead it happened that we spent most of our time in, and driving between, vast lower/middle class suburbs. Densely occupied, with little or no garden space; the bigger, fancier buildings expanding upwards two or three storeys a bit like in SA townships. What’s really different from SA is all the street markets – pavement stalls selling everything you can think of. Most of the builings along the main street are small shops too, selling provisions or hardware or clothes or plastics or cell phones. Beauty salons are big, too.

We were tickled by the names of shops and mottoes on vehicles: IT IS A LONG STORY on the back of a pick-up truck, and By God’s Grace Auto Electrician.

Sunday morning Paul’s friend Fui took us to a larney buffet breakfast at the Golden Tulip Hotel with some local friends & their children – a very friendly welcome to West Africa. Sam and Tumi loved having bacon AND fruit AND waffles. In the afternoon, we tried to get to a nice beach, but ended up at one that was pretty much a rubbish dump. Later we set off to try out Accra street fare. So we had dinner of roast mealies and spicy pork kebabs on Darkuman Main Road in the twilight, hopping over the dirty gutter and enjoying the warm night air & friendly atmosphere.

Then Monday, it was back to the airport and on the plane to Monrovia. The plane was packed, with a mix of local and international travellers that all looked like very nice peole – encouraging. Everyone had short, neat hair – Liberia is clearly not the kind of place that attracts hippies, I thought.