The first day off work, we headed into the hills to a village called Charlotte where there is a magnificent waterfall cascading down the rocks near the village. We met a 24 year old man called Akim, a farmer, who led us through the village and into the forest, collecting young boys along the way. At the waterfall, the boys dived off the rocks while I looked cautiously on. But I did have a go too. And it was wonderful.



Akim's village was attacked by rebels in the early 1990s. He fled to the bush with his family and the village was overtaken by ECOMOG forces who fought back the rebels. He lived seven years in the forest surviving, he said, on apples and water.

Now he has a garden and grows salad, tomatoes and runner beans. HIs mum takes them to the town to sell. The village has 65 people in it, and seems a peacfeul haven. Hard, and sad, to imagine a war being fought there.