Monrovia City-Walk

This is a simple walk through different part of Monrovia. It avoids as much as possible the big roads, but follows small tracks in a general east to west direction.

Along the track, you will see how the average Monrovian lives. Along the track, you will SEE a lot, but also SMELL a lot, which both might not be as pleasing from time to time. Either way, it will show you a sight of Monrovia that you may not have seen yet.

As you will frequently pass by smaller and larger shops, you will not need to take much to drink with you.

I hope you will get the same impression as we got that there are many friendly people in Monrovia and no one will bother you much along the route.

The track starts near a fuel station near the stadium and takes you via small streets and path towards the national police academy.

From there, you pass the swamp on a new road and eventually make it back to the main road, as there is no other way to get in the western direction.

After walking along the main road for a few minutes, you will follow small tracks again and you will visit one of the larger islands and then back to the main road again where you will pass a few souvenir shops. Maybe you don't want to buy and carry it, but certainly worth a look and then to come back later to buy something.

After that, you will pass the building that was once intended to be the ministry of defense. Now it looks like a black castle. You can have a look inside and make a few pictures from the roof top. There are a few security guards that look after the cell phone tower, but are usually quite friendly and will accommodate you if you ask nicely.

From the "castle" you will zig-zag through some streets until you get to a long street with some shops on it. Here you may want to get some refreshments.

And the end of the street, you will go onto small tracks again and end up close to the runway of the Springs airport.

The second half of the track takes you close to the swamp and depending on the season, there might be some water on the trail. It would therefore be recommended to take some footwear with you that can get wet. You can also do this part bare feet, but I would not recommend it as you may cut your feet on some garbage or other sharp things.

Near the end of the track, you enter the "Venice" of Monrovia where people live on small islands, barely above the water line. The little islands are connected with small "bridges", even though they are more planks and other pieces of wood sometimes narrow, wet or crocked. So may sure you bring a waterproof bag to protect your valuables as you may fall off the bridges as one of us did. For those with shaky legs, you may want to find a long stick much earlier along the trail to give yourself a little bit of stability while crossing the water.

The track is around 25 km and it will be a fairly slow walking along small tracks and you're likely going to stop frequently to take pictures etc, so expect that track to take around 7 hours to complete.

If 25 km or 7 hours is too long for you, you can opt to start the track at a different starting point, but I would recommend to walk the track in an east-south direction, especially as the last part of the trail is the most interesting part.

I hope you'll enjoy the track as much as we have.

Don't forget to check out the pictures linked to this hike.