Surfing Liberia

I met up with a friend a couple weeks ago that I had worked in Liberia with back in 2006. While we were catching up, he told me about a surf resort that had opened up recently. I had heard about Liberia’s great surfing when I was there, and even tried it myself with no success. When we went to the beach, however, there were no hotels or anything, so the option for overnighting (it was a 2 and a half hour drive from the capital, and night travel was not safe) was pitching a tent on the beach and bringing all the food and cooking stuff you needed to cook over a fire of wood you could collect around.

The resort isn’t so fancy yet. It’s got nice canvas safari tents to sleep in that have beds, tables, chairs, and power. And they have a bathroom with toilets and showers. It sounds pretty similar to the way I lived most of the last year I was in Sudan. But, it is currently mostly relief workers who make the trip from Monrovia for a weekend or a holiday, so there are not enough tourists to make it worthwhile to build something too luxurious yet. However, I’m sure it won’t be long until the condos will be going in and people will be coming in from other countries and enjoying some of the best surfing in the Northern Hemisphere.

It’s encouraging to know that people are beginning to think that Liberia is safe enough to begin investing in tourism and activities that can draw people into the country that has scared so many away. You can see a video from several years ago of surfing in Liberia here. Plus, BBC News just had a picture article about surfing in Liberia. And here are some other photos: