Marshall is the easiest nature getaway from Monrovia: in just over an hour you go from the bustle of the capital to a world of Atlantic beaches, wide rivers, mangroves and wetlands full of birds. Set in Margibi County, next to the mouth of the Farmington River, it is an old port and fishing village that is now enjoying a revival as a weekend and ecotourism destination.
The area's big draw is Libassa Ecolodge, a beachside lodge with its famous 'lazy river' and its associated wildlife sanctuary, Libassa Wildlife Sanctuary, which rescues and rehabilitates Liberian animals. Add to that traditional boat trips through the mangrove channels, more than two hundred bird species to spot, life in the fishing village and nearby Monkey Island, a group of islets with chimpanzees.
This guide tells you what to do in and around Marshall, how to get there from Monrovia, where to stay and what to expect from a destination that is, above all, quiet and natural. It is not a place of big attractions or developed tourist infrastructure. It is a place for rest, beach, river and nature, just a short trip from the Liberian capital.
Marshall is one of the old settlements on the Liberian coast, linked to the expansion of the Americo-Liberian settlers and to trade along the Farmington River in the 19th century. It was a port and fishing village, and its name honours John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Today Marshall draws visitors more for its nature than its history: beaches, mangroves and wetlands have made it the favourite green getaway near Monrovia, with Libassa Ecolodge as its best-known spot.
Read the full history ↓The heart of the nation: the first African American settlers landed on an island in the Mesurado River in 1822, and from there grew Monrovia, the capital named after a US president.
Read the history of Monrovia and the central coast →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
Long before the Americo-Liberian settlers arrived, the central coast of present-day Liberia was home to peoples such as the Bassa, the Kru and the Dei, skilled fishermen and seafarers who knew the rivers, the mangroves and the sea in every detail. The Farmington River, which flows into the Atlantic next to present-day Marshall, was a natural route for travel and fishing, and its wetlands, rich in fish, birds and wildlife, supported the riverside communities.
The Liberian coast was part of what Europeans called the 'Grain Coast', after melegueta pepper, or 'grains of paradise', a spice traded in the region. The Kru in particular became famous as sailors and worked on the European ships that sailed along the coast of West Africa. This fishing and seafaring tradition is still alive today in the villages around Marshall.
The mangroves and wetlands at the mouth of the Farmington, which now draw ecotourists, were for centuries both larder and highway for these peoples. That close bond with the water — the river, the lagoon, the sea — defines the identity of coastal Liberia and explains why fishing is still at the heart of life in Marshall.
With the founding of Liberia in 1822 and its independence in 1847, the Americo-Liberian settlers set up settlements and ports along the coast for the trade and administration of the new country. Marshall, at the mouth of the Farmington River, was one of those coastal outposts. Its name honours John Marshall, the influential Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, in keeping with the Americo-Liberian custom of naming places after American figures.
Like other minor ports on the coast, Marshall served the trade in local products — palm oil, coffee and, later, rubber — and linked the interior with the sea by way of the river. It never matched the importance of Monrovia or Buchanan, but it was part of the network of settlements that held together 19th- and early 20th-century Liberia, with its characteristic mix of a settler elite and an Indigenous majority.
Its proximity to the Harbel area, where from 1926 the American company Firestone established what would become the largest rubber plantation in the world, also shaped the Margibi region. Rubber, the port and the plantations gave this stretch of the central coast a role in the 20th-century Liberian economy, although Marshall always kept its character as a quiet fishing town.
One of the most singular and controversial chapters in the area's history is that of the chimpanzees on the islands of the Farmington River, known as Monkey Island. From the 1970s, a biomedical research centre — linked at the time to the New York Blood Center — used chimpanzees for experiments, mainly in hepatitis research. The animals were kept in facilities near Marshall and the community of Charlesville.
When the research programme came to an end, by then in the 21st century, dozens of chimpanzees that had been raised in captivity and could not fend for themselves in the wild were housed on a group of small islands in the river. The withdrawal of funding left these animals in a critical situation: they depended entirely on humans for food and water, as the islands could not sustain them.
The situation sparked a fierce international controversy over animal welfare and the responsibility of the institutions involved. Animal protection organisations stepped in to guarantee food and care for the surviving chimpanzees, which still live on the islands under human care today. For visitors, seeing them from the boat is a glimpse into this moving story about the relationship between humans and great apes.
Like the rest of the country, the Marshall region lived through the terrible years of the Liberian civil wars (1989-2003), which battered the economy, displaced the population and halted any development. Being close to Monrovia and to the Firestone rubber plantations meant that the Margibi area also suffered the fighting and instability of those decades.
With the arrival of peace in 2003 and the slow rebuilding of the country, the central coast began to return to normal, and its mix of beaches, river and mangroves just an hour from the capital opened up a new opportunity: nature and weekend tourism. The opening of Libassa Ecolodge, with its famous 'lazy river', its bungalows and the associated wildlife sanctuary, turned Marshall into the favourite green getaway for people living in Monrovia.
Today Marshall shows a friendly face of Liberian tourism as it rebuilds: a quiet destination where traditional fishing life sits alongside ecotourism, birdwatching, wildlife rescue and sea turtle conservation. With no big infrastructure and no crowds, the area offers travellers a natural, peaceful Liberia, and gives local communities a path to development tied to caring for their surroundings.
