After my Western Sahara assignment, I was sent further down south to Monrovia Liberia, West Africa. This trip took me around the country, between November 1998 and November 1999.

Seven years of civil war have ruined this beautiful country's economy, to the point where young and old alike are begging for a living. A vicious circle of poverty had entered the lives of many.
Most of them have horrible stories to tell about the war. Rebuilding of the country is a tremendous task, hampered by many logistical problems.

I learned to know the Liberians as an optimistic people, and in time they will pick up their lives and continue upward. Be brave and don't look back too often !

In this war torn nation, I found an active group of enthusiastic ham radio operators, gathering once a month under the flag of the LARS (Liberian Amateur Radio Society).
LARS was founded in 1962 and is an IARU member. After the civil war they picked up the thread and they are moving forward, trying to attract youngsters in the hobby.
I still hear my friend Dickson Tarnu, EL2DT, from time to time on 15 and 20m cw. Keep up the good spirit guys, it was an honor and a pleasure to be a member of LARS !

During my stay a total of 42.000 QSOs were made. You can do a log search right here :

Click on the photographs to see the enlarged pictures.

	The beautiful and impressive Liberian rain forest, is threatened by the need of quick income. Logging companies are active, but hopefully re-forestation will prevent a wildlife and environmental disaster
	A WFP truck searches its way along the crevices, providing food to a refugee camp. A logistical nightmare !
	Pretty impressive, eh ?
	Where is the vehicle ? On a 50km stretch it took us 4 hours to cover the traject. Our driver told me that during the rainy season, on the same stretch it had taken him six (6) days ! Not hard to imagine when you see the road conditions, here during the dry season
	No service garage available in the jungle. Help yourself !
	Jungle public transport
	When I got back from this trip, I called my wife and told her I had been as close to paradise as one can be. The beauty of it all is unimaginable. Of course it's pretty convenient whilst driving in a 4x4...that puts some things back into perspective
	Jungle sunset, waw !
	This bridge was repaired with the help of Sierra Leonean refugees. They dragged logs for miles through the jungle
	Ever seen a termite hill this big for real ? Perhaps on National Geographic channel. Great to see some smiling faces along the road
	This is how the dense rain forest looks from the air. Monrovia is called the wettest capital of Africa. It sure rains a lot down there, and hard too
	For quick assistance, we could rely on this aircraft
	This is a shot of a refugee camp in the middle of the wilderness
	Landing site ? Where ? You are going to take us down THERE ?
	SURE AM !
	Pffff...
	The plane took us right to the office, and is ready for take off. Landing was not a problem, but take off was risky business due to the short landing strip
	A view on a refugee camp in the hilly bush
	A refugee camp of this size makes for quick de-forestation too. Environmental programs are put to action to prevent and/or restore damage
	Pretty well organized
	Refugees are exploring the bush in search of whatever they can use
	Refugee family
	Refugee kids at work
	A happy bunch altogether !
	Not many times have I seen such happy faces in a refugee camp
	A typical and lively rural market
	En route to a Liberia - Ivory Coast river crossing point, near Harper
	Dry season... almost impassable during the rainy season
	Here's the crossing point at Harper. The other side of the river is Ivory Coast. See the rubber stack on the ground ? Liberia once was rubber producer number one worldwide
	If the ferry is not operational, this is the preferred means of transport
	The capital Monrovia lies alongside a river
	The announcement of a gospel campaign with Reinhard Bonnke. The fact that he was visiting the country again after the civil war, was a sign that things were getting back to normal
	One of the many checkpoints across the country. To do our shopping in downtown Monrovia, it took six of those to get there. When things get back to normal, they will probably disappear
	This is the B&W broadband dipole for 80 to 10m, accompanied by a 160m inverted-L
	The 80m inverted-L was attached to a couple of welded water pipes
	The K9AY-array was used for low-band reception. Due to a local electrical noise source, the antenna was not very useful. At one stage I wanted to take it down. However, one morning at sunrise, this was the only antenna I could copy stateside on, on topband. One has never enough antennas for reception !
	EL2WW
	And here's Bob, ex-A92GD, then EL2RF