I was close to die two times in 1 week in Liberia. My first time was a near-death experience, which happened when I just arrived to the capital, Monrovia. Here is what happened exactly!

The Way To The Capital Monrovia

First of all I had a tough way to enter Liberia. Being stuck at the border at night time, trying to find a place to sleep, all because of our driver. Read this story: The Shittiest Border Crossing – Sierra Leone to Liberia.

When I finally made my way to the capital Monrovia, I just wished for a nice, enjoyable week in Liberia. Well, not really! But I will return to this.. There was some good vibes in the shared car I was in on our way to Monrovia, but we went out 6 or 7 times to different police check-points on the drive. I knew Liberia had been in 2 civil wars recently, for a total of 14 years, where more than 250,000 Liberians were killed, so I knew this country had been pretty unstable not too long ago.

First Look At The Capital Was Shocking

The guy in the blue t-shirt helped me a lot at the check-points, because the police officers usually liked him. He said I was with him, which meant I wasn’t asked too many of the usual questions, wasn’t asked for money or had all of my baggage checked, as I’ve experienced a few others places. That was pretty great! Local friends are good to have.

Now I was close to the capital and I was honestly excited to relax a bit after 30 extremely hectic hours.

Monrovia, Where Is The Trash-Service?

My first sight of Monrovia was one of the worst I’ve ever seen in a capital. Trash everywhere on the streets and people walking around in this. Even in the car the smell was so bad that we had to hold our noses. I thought the nature had been pretty beautiful on the way to here, and I never judge an entire country on its capital, but Monrovia didn’t make it to my top 20 of capitals around the World – let’s put it that way!

My original plan was I was going to stay in Monrovia, but I had a bit too much of this place already after a few hours, and a friend of mine had a contact in Paynesville, a 45 min drive outside of Monrovia. I thought why not try this.. It could only be better than here! I was going to Monrovia later in the week anyway to fix a visa, so I knew I would have time to explore the good parts of the city too. It was a win-win! I thought…

Near-Death Experience Incoming

The traffic in Monrovia was terrible. Super crowded, no rules, people driving where they wanted to drive, motor bikes and cars everywhere! I thought that because Liberia only had a small population of 5 million people, the country would be pretty smooth with the traffic! Not.. at.. all!

What concerned me a lot in Monrovia was seeing plenty of damaged cars and motor bikes, I knew there would be a big chance of a road incident here.. No space for small mistakes or a second of inattention!

No Way Out Of The City – What To Do?

I was on the search for a taxi or a shared ride to Paynesville and it was close to impossible to find a way.. I waited 10 minutes.. Waited 20. All taxis were full of people. I was almost running out of hope, when a young guy on around 19 years of age came to me on his motorbike and asked me: “Where are you going?”

I told him I was going to Paynesville and asked him: “How much?” He started with an absurd price, and I just laughed as I usually do when people are trying to scam me and I pretended I was about to leave, when he said: “How much do you want?” I ended up paying 20% of the price he started with and we were finally off to Paynesville! I’m normally a big fan of taking motor bikes when traveling.. And I can assure you:

THIS ride is the ONE I remember the MOST out of +1000 motor bike rides.. Here’s why!

Driving Through Hell

I jumped on the motor bike and the driver started to drive really fast almost immediately.. I didn’t get to think anything, before he was driving around 80km/h in a compact African city traffic (not the traffic we know from Europe!) with tiny space to pass other cars.

My driver zigzagged through the queues anyway with high speed. It would be too dangerous to stop him, because of the insane traffic we were in and because of the way he was driving without using the brakes…

My driver honked 3 times pr. second and he looked back every 3 seconds in order to look cool I think, I’m not sure why he did that to be fair, but it freaked me out!

Driving Against Trafic

My driver was a wrong-way-driver and drove against traffic most of the time, and we we’re constantly centimeters away from hitting other cars.. He gassed up to 100 km/h. After 20 min of being in survival mode on this motor bike, I was sure it was over! It all happened in a few seconds..

Another motor bike driver drove from the opposite side of the road and was out of a sudden in the lane we were driving in.. We came with full speed.. My life flashed before my eyes. We were literally as close to a collision as you could possibly get. Millimeters from death! A second of silence and then full speed again!

I’ve taken more than 1000 motor bike rides in my life, but this was by far the worst!

My Body Was Shaking – Shock Mode! I Survived

I was thankful for being alive and my whole body was shaking. I was in totally shock mode! My driver even asked me to double the price and took me to his corrupt friends who pretended to be cops by showing their fake Police ID’s to get money out of me.. I got really aggressive at them and to be fair I wasn’t myself for the rest of that day. I paid the guy the firstly agreed-price and escaped the group. I was just grateful I was still a full piece and alive, and couldn’t really focus on anything – I had a lot of anger inside me!

After a few hours I met with my friend’s buddy in Paynesville, Liberia, but my thoughts were somewhere else the rest of this day.. I slowly became myself again the next day.

This is what can happen when you throw yourself into a crazy solo ride through West Africa, without your own car or motorbike, just trying to make a way! I know I probably have to be more careful next time..

Be careful guys! Always judge the situation.
I can’t believe I was Caught In Shootings And Explosions 6 days after in Liberia.

Take care!

Gustav

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