TLC Africa - Liberia Mountains
Mountains
  • Nimba Mountains (Mount Wuteve with 1.380 m at Yekepa is the biggest mountain in Liberia
  • Wologisi Mountain is the 2nd highest peak

Other smaller mountain ranges in Liberia are:

  • Putu Range
  • Bong Range

Mount Nimba

Mount Nimba is a 1 mile high iron ore mountain with the highest grade iron deposit in the world. It is also the location of important minerals. Iron ore mining on Mount Nimba accounts for approximately 1 per cent of the world production, currently set at around 900 million tons.

More than 200 species of plant and animal are unique to the Mount Nimba Reserve. Species diversity is exceptionally rich because of the variety of ecosystems created by the presence of grasslands laced with forest.

Nimba mountain is part of a chain extending in a southwest–northeast direction along the Guinea–Côte d'Ivoire–Liberia border.

It reaches its highest elevation at Mount Nimba (5,748 feet [1,752 m]) in Guinea. Surrounded by lowland rain forest to the south and savanna to the north, the mountains are the source of the Nuon (Nipoué, Cestos) and Cavalla rivers, which form the Liberia–Côte d'Ivoire boundary and the Ya river in Yekepa.

A view of Nimba mountain from the Ivory Coast Section

The Nimba Mountain is situated at the intersection of Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea and Liberia.

Mount Nimba rises abruptly 1,000 m above its even, almost flat, surrounding glacis. The dissected topography gives rise to a variety of local climatic conditions and vegetation types, from rain forests to diverse savanna-type systems and high altitude grasslands.

There is great topographical diversity, with valleys, plateau, rounded hilltops, rocky peaks, abrupt cliffs and bare granite blocks. The whole area constitutes a vast water way that is of archaeological interest.

Plants and Animals of Nimba Mountain

Africanum - In traditional African medicine, a tea made from the powdered bark of a tall evergreen tree (Pygeum africanum)is sipped to control urinary disorders in men. Today, pygeum is a popular herbal supplement in several parts of the world for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), an enlargement of the prostate gland that can cause urination problems. This harmless condition affects most men over age 50, commonly causing urinary problems. (Source)

A View of Nimba Mountain from Liberia
 
The main habitats  of Mount Nimba include:
  • High altitude grassland with Loudetia kagerensis near the summit, endemics including Blaeria nimbana and Dolichos nimbaensis and woody plants such as Protea angolensis (mountain sugarbush), on the slopes.
  • Plains savanna varying according to the hardness of the soil and supporting numerous herbaceous plant communities.
  • gallery forests which grow between 1,000m-1,600m. Parinari excelsa is dominant above 1,000m, and there are abundant epiphytes.
  • Predominantly primary forest, located mainly on the foothills and in the valleys, with dominant species including Triplochiton scleroxylon, Chlorophora regia, Morus mesozygia, Terminalia ivorensis, Lophira procera, Tarrietia utilis, and Mapania spp.
  • Drier, mid-altitude forests with trees such as Triplochiton scleroxylon, Piptadeniastrum africanum, and Parkia bicolor are found at the northern end of the Mount Nimba chain.
  • You can also find chimpanzees in the forest of the Nimba Mountain that use stones as tools.
Parkia bicolor - is used for medicine & wood in Liberia and throughout West Africa

Chimpanzees - live in a wide variety of habitats, from humid evergreen forests through to mosaic woodlands and deciduous forest to dry savanna woodlands.  Chimpanzee has a wide but discontinuous distribution in Equatorial Africa between 13°N and 7°S. The western subspecies, P. t. verus, once occurred from southern Senegal eastwards as far as the Niger River in Central Nigeria, and could be found in all or part of 13 countries. The largest population now remains in Côte d'Ivoire, with smaller populations in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Only relict populations are found in Mali, Ghana and Senegal and it is extinct in the wild in six countries (Guinea Bissau, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, and western Nigeria). It is the most threatened subspecies of Chimpanzee.

The viviparous toad - One of the most intriguing species is a viviparous toad, the only amphibian in the world to give birth to fully developed baby toads. They can be found in the  grasslands at 1,200-1,600 m and is the world’s only known tail-less amphibian that is totally viviparous.

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