Brussels Airlines gives bad directions

Not sure is writing for Brussels Airlines b.spirit! in-flight magazine these days, at least in terms of their guides to their African destinations, which have long been featured in the back section of the monthly magazine. At one time, it was Monrovia resident ex-pat Kate Thomas, who not only actually lived in Liberia (and for whom I will be forever grateful for putting the Architectural Tour into the magazine for the first time—the Tour's first major exposure) but also was and is a professional journalist. 

The above paragraph is nice enough, encouraging visitors to leave the central city and check out the lovely Quelu and Wulki Farms, as well as the mention of architecture (although simply describing the architecture as "American" is particularly helpful). 

For one thing, Careysburg is not “a half hour's drive west of the capital's Chocolate City suburb” —firstly, Careysburg is at least a half-hour northeast of Chocolate City, not west, and Chocolate City would be more accurately described as an impoverished slum, even if it does functionally act as a suburb of the city. 

There is certainly something appealing about the romantic Chocolate City name, as in American popular culture it has certain cult connotations, which interestingly parallel Liberian social identity. But this is the second time I have seen it confusingly and unnecessarily invoked: Daniel Howden, who is a solid journalist with a slight tendancy for the melodramatic, name-checked Chocolate City is his slightly-overwrought debut at Roads and Kingdoms two years ago. 

In reality, Chocolate City can hardly be defined several miles distant from central Monrovia, even high atop the Ducor Hotel. The sprawl of Monrovia's upper fringe, which has seeped further into the swampy flats north of Somalia Drive for over a decade, and Chocolate City is just one section of this 20-mile long stretch of tiny-roofed communities, many with equally-enigmatic names like Chicken Soup Factory, JJY, Day Break Mouth Open, and a dozen other neighborhoods, many of which recall the nascent industrial zone that Somalia Drive was developing on the cusp of the country's downfall. 

Chocolate City is just one section of the larger Gardnersville township, and as such hardly a reference point for directions across the metro area. I know I am knit-picking and this post is several paragraphs too long now, but in order to encourage foreign visitors to actually take the advice in these brief travel tips, it would at least be helpful if their basic orientation was correct. I wonder if anyone, in any of the three languages provided here, will try to find their way to Careysburg and get lost on the way to Chocolate City. 

Liberia '77 Photos: Out of Town

Gbarnga, 1977

Building the Tucker Bridge, 1974.

Hippo at the Tubman Zoo in Totota, 1979.

Last of three posts in which I borrow some of the incredible vintage images from the growing Liberia '77 submission page-- although with what is up so far, I cannot wait to see what is added later.

These are some images from out of town: the top has been confirmed to be Gbarnga, showing it to be much less impressive than manicured, curb-cut Monrovia of the time.

The second image is from President Tolbert's personal zoo in Totota, Bong County. I presume this is one of Liberia's famous pygmy hippos. What's especially great about this image is that the beast looks completely un-caged, as if a hippo was just strolling up the street in a central part of town.

Last is a powerful image, seemingly straight out a construction progress report. Its been submitted to Liberia '77 with the label, Tucker Bridge under construction. I just don't know right now exactly what the Tucker Bridge is; presumably this is over the St. Paul River, connecting Virginia to Bushrod Island...but I'm not sure.

Photos of Harper by Aaron Leaf

Several wonderful photos of Harper, Maryland, posted earlier this by Aaron Leaf, whose year-long role supporting human rights reporting at Monrovia's Heritage newspaper, is sadly coming to an end. Also, an excellent person to follow on Twitter.

Good luck with your future endeavors, Aaron!

More great photos of Harper on Scarlett Lion.

Flying to Liberia: Its Getting Easier. Part 3: Spring 2011 updates from Spriggs-Payne

Last fall, I gave a run-down over the few posts about the commercial air services into and out of Monrovia. It can be a bit tricky, because African airlines tend to come and go, and connecting within Africa, between countries or domestically, can involve differential calculus (not to mention a higher fare than from the United States to Europe, in many cases).

I was even tripped up last fall, as Elysian Airlines, the Cameroonian carrier that had set up a pretty solid operation at Monrovia's secondary airport, Spriggs-Payne Airfield in Sinkor, had suddenly ceased flying at some point in the middle of last year, without any formal announcement. This happens relatively often in Africa. Slok Air, a Gambian carrier, has still never admitted that it is finished, even though it has not flown since mid-2008.

The collapse of Elysian's operations left Spriggs-Payne without any scheduled commercial service. Given that Elysian's Friday service down to Harper, which normally returned on Sunday or Monday, the closure of the station also left Liberia without any scheduled domestic airline flights. Given that it can take days to traverse Liberia's roads to the distant counties such as Maryland, this was a serious setback to the country's transport infrastructure.

Although there are no reports out that any airline has relaunched service to Harper, I am happy to report that the void left by Elysian has been filled by not one but two airlines.

Note: this route map does not reflect the current ASKY flights out of Monrovia.

The first is Lomé, Togo-based ASKY Airlines, a young regional carrier that is partly backed by Ethiopian Airlines. Ethiopian itself began flying to Robertsfield from Addis Ababa via Accra in late 2009 to great fanfare, but then withdrew that service, disappointingly. Instead, smaller, newer ASKY came into Spriggs-Payne late last year. ASKY started with non-stop service to Abidjan, Accra and Banjul (last year's route map above). The service to Abidjan was helpful in particular, as Brussels Airlines had switched its pit-stop from Europe from Abidjan to Accra in mid-2010. Banjul was later dropped, and at the beginning of this year, Abidjan appears to have been substituted with Bamako, Mali--an interesting choice. Service is with small prop aircraft--current schedule is below.

Secondly, Manu River neighbor Sierra Leone got its own airline at the beginning of this year. Fly 6ix has already been designated that national carrier by President Koroma, just in time for that country's 50th years of independence, its Golden Jubilee. With a single Embraer regional jet, the young carrier operates three-times a week service from Freetown, connecting to Banjul, Conakry and Monrovia. As can be seen in the schedule below, the airline flies non-stop from Spriggs-Payne (MLW) to both Freetown (FNA) and Conakry (CKY).

A recent airfare search on the airline's website showed a roundtrip fare from Monrovia to Conakry of $672. Pretty typical. Additionally, these intrepid little carriers, although using modern aircraft, can be subject to huge delays if a maintenance issue grounds an aircraft. Fly 6ix appears to have only one plane. Passengers could be stuck for days if something doesn't go according to plan. Still, these small steps forward are definitely progress. A key to making African economies grow faster is to integrate them, and the region can definitely use better infrastructure--for all modes of transport.

Fendell: University of Liberia Campus

At the invitation of an acquaintance, I was transported up to Fendell, which sort of the northeastern gateway of metropolitan Monrovia. The urban sprawl slackens a few miles after red light, but not long thereafter is the new Fendell Campus of the University of Liberia, being constructed by the Chinese. In size, scale, and simply in newness, it is quite a sight, and its not even finished yet.

Church in Margibi

This is the community church in a town in Margibi County. As you can see, it is made of woven reed mats, with a tin roof. This is by far the most common building method in the metropolitan area, among the local population.

Chinese Model Homes

These are the model homes that Hainan Century of China is building on behalf of the National Housing Authority. They're OK, a bit small (and close together) and there's nothing particularly interesting about them. Its also not the best that they decided to fill in this marshland to build one of the models. The Chinese came in earlier this year with statements to bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, and build tens of thousands of homes in months. Well, this what they have done so far...

Kids

Children here love having their picture taken, especially with a digital camera, when they can see themselves on the screen immediately after. For many of them, its a very rare event, and there is this look of surprise when they see themselves.

Marshall, Marshall, Marshall

Furthering my research on building material procurement, I drove down to Marshall today. That is, the entire length of the road, all the way to the village at the end of the peninsula. Its a pretty long drive, over a not particularly great road (not paved).

It was definitely a worthwhile trip, aside from the work stuff, its obvious that Marshall is on the verge of a building boom. More than one stretch of beach was completely cleared of trees, in anticipation of a major construction, although no one I know in town had any specifics (but its probably another hotel). I know a lot of people own land out there, and it would make a perfect sort of Hamptons to Monrovia's Manhattan.

The village of Marshall itself was a really great fishing community, with a lovely, if neglected, stretch of beach.

In the BUSH

More Materials/Procurement research, this time more local to the city (although in Margibi County). I was looking for bamboo, or at least, what I am used to calling bamboo. Liberians call it something different, and to them, "bamboo" comes from a palm tree, and I think they even call something else "palm." If I understood it, I would explain it. Anyway, it was a nice afternoon, and a stark contrast to the city, even though it was only a few miles out of town.

Kakata

In doing some research on procuring raw materials, especially white river sand (top photo), which locals call "Swamp Sand", and bamboo, I made it up to Kakata today, which was fairly interesting. I was only there for about an hour to find something to eat, and there wasn't much activity on the streets, I came across one little neighborhood of solid homes with well-tended lawns and plantings. I was the only non-Liberian in town at the time, as far as I could tell.