Liberia - West Africa - page 524

Côte d'Ivoire
Border crossings with Côte d'Ivoire are just beyond Sanniquellie towards Danané, and
east of Harper, towards Tabou.
From Harper, you must cross the Cavally River by ferry or canoe to reach the Ivorian
border. Plan on two days if you want to reach Abidjan via San Pedro using public trans-
port along this route.
Alternatively, daily bush taxis go from Monrovia to Ganta and Sanniquellie, from
where you can continue in stages to Danané and Man (12 to 15 hours).
Guinea
For Guinea, the main crossing is just north of Ganta. From just north of Ganta's Public
Market you can take a moto-taxi the 2km to the border and walk across. Once in Guinea,
there are frequent taxis to N'zérékoré. From Sanniquellie's bush-taxi rank, known as the
'meat packing', there are irregular bush taxis via Yekepa to the Guinean town of Lola
(US$6.50). A place in a shared taxi is the same price. A moto-taxi (if you can find one!)
from Yekepa to the border should cost only US$0.50, after which there are Guinean
vehicles to Lola. There is also a border crossing at Voinjama to Macenta via a bad road
from Gbarnga (often impassable in the wet season).
Sierra Leone
Using a 4WD, you can reach Freetown in about 12 hours. The main Sierra Leone crossing
is at Bo (Waterside). There are frequent daily bush taxis between Monrovia and the Bo
(Waterside) border (three hours), from where it's easy to find onward transport to Kenema
(about eight very rough hours further), and then on to Freetown.
Getting Around
BUSH TAXI & BUS
Bush taxis go daily from Monrovia to most destinations, including Buchanan, Gbarnga,
Ganta, Sanniquellie and the Sierra Leone border, although distant routes are severely re-
stricted during the rainy season. Minivans (called ' buses ') also ply most major routes, al-
though they're more crowded and dangerous than bush taxis.
CAR & MOTORCYCLE
Vehicle rental can be arranged through better hotels from about US$150 per day plus pet-
rol for a 4WD. You can travel by private taxi in Monrovia for US$5 per short hop; contact
the well-run and trusted network of Guinean taxi drivers, Alpha ( 0886-600 022) , for more
information, including on airport pick-ups. Motorbike taxis known as pen-pens ply the