[Liberia] Sapo National Park, Location Stamp
M Daniels
I would like to request a location stamp for the West African country of Liberia, officially known as Republic of Liberia. Around 5 million people live in Liberia and though English is the official language, over 20 indigenous languages are spoken.
Liberia is the oldest African repubic and was the first African republic to proclaim its independence. Liberia was also a founding member of the United Nations, the League of Nations and the Organization of African Unity.
Source : Wikipedia
Liberia has only one national park, Sapo National Park, which is named after the local Sapo tribe. It is of great importance because it maintains a vital role in preserving the ecological biodiversity, of not just Liberia, but for all of West Africa. The park consists of 1804 km (697 sq mi) of immense forest, which is an important part of the Upper Guinea Forest Ecosystem (a tropical seasonal forest region of West Africa).
Source : Wikipedia
The forest found in Sapo National Park is one of Liberia's last remaining areas of tropical lowland rain forest. It is also the 2nd largest area of primary tropical rainforest in West Africa and one of the least disturbed. The Park has trees that can grow as high as 70 m (230 ft) and the forest canopy's height ranges from 12- 32 m (39- 105 ft), with an average of 25 m (82 ft) high. Sapo also has one of the richest amounts of floral species in Liberia and hosts many endemic species.
Source : Wikipedia
At one point, Sapo National Park hosted around 125 threatened species (such as the Liberian mongoose)! The Park also has rare populations of pygmy hippopotamus, an endangered species with legal protection in Liberia. The pygmy hippopotamus is very unique to West Africa and it is believed that less than 3000 remain. Sapo National Park serves as their primary area of conservation.
I think that Sapo National Park would be a good location stamp for Liberia because it is something symbolic for every Liberian.
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Yann2
Nicely made, great proposal, M Daniels, thank you!
This park seems a real treasure. Voted and supported. Great work. 👍🌟🍀
Yann2
We had researched and considered various possible ideas for Liberia. I was not an easy country, so it stayed on the list until M Daniels's idea and post. I found an interest page today about Liberian stamps, and on it, this :
"The West African nation of Liberia was founded way back in the 1820s by freed slaves from the United States.
Despite the fact that the Americo-Liberian part of the population never amounted to more than
3 percent to 5 percent
of the whole, it was this tiny elite that ruled the country for a great many years. Ironically, the slave trade continued long after the foundation of Liberia.In 1944, William Tubman, who had been born in Liberia in 1895, became the 19th president of the country. He worked hard to unite the Americo-Liberian minority with the tribal majority. Tubman remained Liberia’s president until his death in 1971."
So, the first idea we had, the well known fact that many ex-slaves freed in US were brought back to Africa and landed in Liberia, would not be so good when they ended up in control, eclipsing the local population. I had seen a mention of the Amero-Liberian descendants being about
3% of the population
, and this article confirms it. source : Linn's Stamp News
Nonethewiser
M Daniels, thank you for this lovely idea and the very helpful presentation. I was also thinking about Pygmy Hippos for Liberia - attaching some stamps with them here.
M Daniels
Nonethewiser: Thanks for the pictures! I had no idea that Liberia actually already had pygmy hippos on their stamps! How cute!
M Daniels
Nonethewiser: Thank you for your comment! I had no idea that Liberia already had the pygmy hippo featured on their stamps!
Yann2
Nonethewiser: Those stamps are very nice, specially the triangular one - I love these non-standard shapes.
Yann2
Nonethewiser: found this interesting one also.