The team started the research in Liberia in October, with some of the team traveling overland from Sierra Leone and others traveling from Europe to meet our partners Greenlife West Africa in Monrovia. We started with very productive meetings with the Liberia Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), identifying a mutual set of collaborative aims and areas where our project data can support national planning. Following the meeting we toured the EPA labs, which were very exciting as they have had an Elementar delivered which they are setting up. We left excited about the opportunities for data sharing and capacity development.

We then had a long bumpy drive to Lake Piso from Monrovia. We arrived at dusk to sightings of huge fruit bats and glimpses of Lake Piso. For the next week we were working in the Lake Piso area, with some of the team working with communities to explore their use and knowledge of the mangroves, while the rest of the team, and some research assistants from the communities, installed the equipment for the environmental science research.

A striking thing about the mangroves in Lake Piso is they hold water even at low tide. As well as meaning we had to be on guard for welly-overtopping (a daily inevitability), it made soil coring challenging. We were therefore grateful when Charles from the EPA came and custom-welded a corer, which worked amazingly well!

Martin missed some of the fieldwork as he had to head back to Monrovia for the Liberia Forest Forum. While he missed the mangroves, it was a really interesting to be involved in the discussions about Liberia’s forests, and great to make new connections.

The team then headed to Buchanan to continue work with the mangroves there. It was striking how heavily used the mangroves there are for fishing, with baskets at every turn, and networks of trails through the mangroves.

We had a few days doing training activities near Monrovia (thanks to Ben Freeman for letting us use his excellent guest house for this), and met new collaborators at the University of Liberia, before it was time for some of the team to leave.

To find out more, see our journey diary.