Images From Liberia


April 5, 2016

THE EBOLA CATASTROPHE in West Africa is over. The World Health Organization declared an official end to the crisis back on March 31st.

I visited the region several times during the height of the crisis. I was there in August, 2014, as the last known supply of ZMapp, an experimental Ebola drug, was brought into Roberts Field in Liberia. Below are some photographs from that day, as well as some earlier shots taken in some small villages near the airport.

Formally known as Roberts International Airport (ROB), the field was built by the United States government during World War Two. Later it was managed by Pan Am, which operated something of a mini-hub there, with flights from New York continuing on to Accra, Lagos, Johannesburg and Nairobi, among other places. Pan Am crews would layover at a hotel directly across the street from the terminal. Pan Am left Africa in 1991, and both the hotel and the terminal were destroyed during Liberia’s brutal civil war, which ended only recently. The Chinese are building a new hotel in the same spot, though construction was halted when Ebola hit.

There’s limited scheduled traffic at ROB. Brussels Airlines, British Airways, Kenya Airways and Nigeria’s Arik Air have been the most prominent carriers there. The airport is cluttered with United Nations helicopters, and a Russian-crewed 737 shuttles regularly between ROB and Accra, Ghana, carrying soldiers, staff and Liberian citizens returning home. At the moment most of the U.N. personnel stationed at ROB are from Ukraine and Algeria.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHS BY PATRICK SMITH

 

ROB Terminal

 

ROB Apron Worker 1

 

ROB Perimeter Wall

 

ROB UN 737

 

ROB UN Post

 

ROB Apron Workers2

 

ROB B1900

 

ROB UN 737 Tail

 

Yak40atROB2

 

Yak40atROB4

 

ROB UN Quarters

 

UN Dash-7

 

LiberiaRiverside

 

LiberiaCharcoal

 

LiberiaDoorway

 

LiberiaBuckethead

 

LiberiaGirlMud

 

LiberiaGirlPurple

 

Related Story:

YAK HUNTING IN LIBERIA. THE STRANGE ALLURE OF A DERELICT PLANE.

 

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8 Responses to “Images From Liberia”
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  1. Rfa Renthlei says:

    Thank you for sharing! These pictures are stunning and they say a lot about Liberia!

  2. Andrew says:

    My dad was stationed at Roberts Field in the early 80’s, he worked for Pan Am. We lived right across the road from the Airport. I have very fond memories of Liberia, amazing beaches and insane amounts of sugar cane.. what kid wouldn’t love that.

  3. J P Gosselin says:

    A picture is worth a thousand words. Great photos! Thank you for sharing.

  4. Laura E. says:

    Stunning photos, thank you for sharing!

  5. Cameron says:

    I am curious to know what u were doing at ROB. It’s a little “out of the way.”

  6. Zin says:

    Patrick, did you have much opportunity to talk with the locals about the current situation?

  7. James Wattengel says:

    Thanks for showing a bit of the real world for so many…..

  8. Ma Zhenguo says:

    Are there still any scheduled commercial flights to Monrovia?