Mount Nimba is the most striking landmass in this corner of West Africa, a long savanna-topped ridge rising to about 1,752 m at its highest point (Mount Richard-Molard, on the Guinean side) and falling away through dense rainforest on the lower slopes. The massif straddles the borders of Liberia, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire, and the Liberian section sits in the Nimba Nature Reserve, part of a transboundary protected area.
Visiting the high ridges from the Liberian side is not easy — ArcelorMittal's iron-ore operations control much of the access, and the higher parts of the Liberian Nimba area have been partly subject to mining concessions. The lower-slope rainforest, however, can be explored from villages around Yekepa with local guides, and the wildlife (red colobus, chimpanzees, Diana monkeys, hornbills, occasional pygmy hippos in nearby drainages) makes it worthwhile despite the logistical complications.