Deadliest Roads | Liberia | Free Documentary

[Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] every year in the late summer violent tropical storms descend on Liberia in West Africa the small country seemingly forsaken by God has little choice but to accept its fate the rain bodes ill for for fauna and his small pickup like all the bush taxi drivers he knows the downpours will make his life difficult but he remains in good spirits I want money yeah money I'm never tired if you're tired and do nothing what will you eat for several weeks the capital Monrovia has been subjected to a deluge [Music] within minutes the town is paralyzed and reduced to almost total chaos [Music] and it's the same story throughout the country [Music] in such conditions fathanah has trouble getting to work at the taxi terminus [Music] he passes Monrovia a market which has shut down the torrent of rain has forced the merchants to close shop to blame are the sewers which are blocked and overflowing a Chinese company was meant to have cleaned them out [Music] come here look at the rains flooding the rain has forced us to put our Goods higher we're not making any money right now the government has to do something the sewers are too small and they're overflowing the Chinese just took the money and ran red light parking is the collective taxi station the jumping-off point for all travel in Liberia destroyed by 15 years of civil war Liberia has little infrastructure and the countryside lacks just about everything travellers supply it using the bush taxis the Farnaz cab is ready to leave you haven't loaded enough rice go on there still room we can load up more for farmers four-wheel drive is already crushed by the weight of its load but to make extra money he's happy to go over the limit problem we can load love 30 bags ok we'll load up another 30 bags and five cartons my car's very powerful very strong you can load Rox pack it with bags until the suspension brakes my car is called no bad days you'll see how she handles the mud come on get on board make room there okay okay the Farnaz pickup seems to absorb an infinite number of passengers and bags of rice Sarang is all are perfectly stacked [Music] [Applause] [Music] to get to Greenville on the other side of the country for fauna is asking for a small fortune the equivalent of two weeks pay I'll take 20 years per passenger why it's expensive because the road is so challenging there are so many accidents cars overturning others stuck in ditches it's the same day and night night and day from Monrovia to Greenville for fauna we'll need to deal with the road that snakes through mud for about 300 kilometers [Music] Liberia is a country under reconstruction much of its population make hardly enough to buy food and in the country everyone including children are made to work a life of misery that is shamelessly exploited by the evangelical church if you have banknotes of one hundred and fifty bring them if you have banknotes of a hundred bring those two give them to God he will bless you despite all the prayers nothing comes to relieve the plight of those forced to hit the road we're not animals [Music] for Farnaz eleven passengers are anxious about the journey not much still works on the pickup that he's patched up as best as he can you don't need a key no well here it is anyway does the car work I've been driving this car for ten years we'll do a little over 300 kilometers all too soon and the first problems arise the rain has turned the road into an undefined track churned up by the never-ending flow of trucks there are always accidents here overloaded cars tip over often these old beat not trucks transport timber you see that but the lumber companies don't care about the state of the roads all they want is word the government should really make them repair the roads the kilometers lit by the axial strains and the suspension is suffering the passengers put up with it all too [Music] [Music] age 21 for fauna takes the bumps and the terrible roads in his stride his only fear is the bandits that live in the forests [Music] the third opponent whose father the highwayman hold up travellers they steal money and goods and then they disappear into the forest we're scared of them because we're nothing with which to defend ourselves and they're armed and sometimes people are killed the town isn't much safer but fathanah has no choice he needs to fill up at the only pumps on the journey the service station never shows the prices [Music] listen uh how much for 20 leaders who are same as usual [Music] filling the tank is often a dodgy business you soon realize you have no idea how much gas has been pumped into the tank the attendant claims is put in for extra litres there's enough paid so you can't complain I'm not a feat but you're trying to rip me off you haven't given me what I've paid for I've given you the money I've paid you already now give me another four liters and we're done no no I won't I've already given you 25 liters what twenty finally just how can you say that okay alright have your four litres go on give me another six liters the new government of Liberia does what it can to repair the roads destroyed by 15 years of savage warfare on this stretch it's constructing a vital new bridge it's a tough challenge the methods accrued and speed is essential the old makeshift bridge could collapse at any time the man in charge has also done what he can you see the bridge they won't last in over two years I'd probably collapse before then every time a truck passes the bridge bends under its weight it's very dangerous in the way it shakes is worrying the wooden scaffolding barely remains standing [Applause] next few few minutes there might be a storm at any time could be sunny and 30 minutes later you could have a terrible downpour the water levels can rise very quickly and if you're working here it's best to abandon work and moving over the fragile structures above the water involves some acrobatics especially given the workers often don't have proper shoes [Applause] oh my shoes are too old and I can't afford new ones when I started working here my shoes were brand new but all the climbing has totally worn them out everything is in short supply in Liberia even the most basic material gravel for instance it's indispensable for making concrete but in the country undergoing reconstruction there's not one company that produces it instead for a handful of Liberian dollars it's the poorest that head to the quarries to break up the rocks into pebbles some the barely ten years old how do you five no six do you go to school Marie has shown up early this morning with her children all day and the Sun they break up rocks I'm here because times are hard I bought a lot of rocks for two euros I make it into gravel and then I sell it to make some money to feed my kids my husband abandon my kids and me two years ago I've no man to help me now how many children do you have at eight three small ones go to school but not the biggest one she doesn't go to school I hope to sign factory up for school this year but for the time being I don't have enough money when I see my friends going to school I tell my mother that I want to go too she says she has no money she needs to break a lot of rocks to be able to afford school the little the family earns is not enough to pay for uniforms and school supplies [Music] the small laborers sell the gravel to a woman in Monrovia everyone calls her tatty and tatty is very particular about the size of the pebbles I don't want big stones just small pebbles if anyone brings me that garbage they won't get paid come on fill up the containers all the way to the top I'll buy them and I need to leave right away but I want small pebbles mined any big ones that are not paying let me see your pebbles you look at my pebbles totty totty takes her time inspecting the pebbles she shows no pity to the children who have to wait for her carrying 20 kilos of stones on their heads [Music] I'll take those two boxes [Applause] so much hard work for so little how much did you make fifty cents in one day far too and her family make a hundred and fifty Liberian dollars the equivalent of one and a half euros even when Tati's truck arrives the kids still get no relief breaking up and selling the rocks isn't enough they also need to tip them into the trucks container after 12 hours working the family heads home Klaatu the eldest still has chores to do [Music] [Applause] after she can finally revise the lessons her brothers and sisters have learned at school get your alphabets my brother is teaching me to read that way when I do go to school I already know how [Music] [Music] back on the mud trail and after a day of being shaking about four Farnaz passengers are exhausted the baby is sick and is running a fever even if he's wary of bandits fathanah decides to drive through the night the child needs to see a doctor as soon as possible but suddenly in the middle of nowhere the road is blocked [Music] dozens of vehicles are backed up and there's no way to get through the father asks his passengers to get off there are a lot of cars stuck here and it's the only way through you will need to push these cars to be able to pass by and it's this four-wheel drive that's holding everyone up I'm stuck I've tried everything but I can't get free how long have you been stuck here almost three hours now if that car can pull it out of the mud then we'll be able to get the other one out and these two can help the other one slowly slowly we'll sort this out one after the other why don't you just go round them no no it's even worse that way there's no way through there to free the first vehicle drivers and assistance of digging trenches the problem is there's only one pickaxe [Applause] the men make an extra effort but it's all for nothing it's decided that towing before wheel drive might work and a makeshift cable is used [Music] [Applause] there's cables worn out at old time passes and the various attempts all end in failure the night is humid and cold and for far as passengers can only wait stressed and hungry heroically the drivers keep trying they bring stones to fill the trenches [Music] [Applause] by 3:00 in the morning one vehicle has been freed but any joys short-lived as it begins to pour again the rescue effort is quickly abandoned [Applause] he's still there for phoner what's happening and I will have to spend the night here there's no alternative right now [Music] yeah I'll sleep what about the women where are they under the canvas up there [Applause] so what will you do afterwards well we'll try and get going early in the morning yes at 5:00 a.m. for fauna wakes up to some good news wait till the other vehicles do a u-turn and then you can start up one driver a little smarter than the others has found another way through the forest what do you do well I'll take the other route and get through or the four-wheel drives reverse but the improvised route is not an easy one there's another Road but everyone wants to get on it at the same time come on it's your go now in a merry confusion all the vehicles rushed towards this unexpected escape route [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the father is overjoyed the dreadful night is finally over [Music] Hannah is really good he'll always get through no matter what but this woman has nothing to smile about her baby still has a fever and is dehydrated the baby wants a drink but there's no water it wants water yes but there is none then I'm not happy why I'm upset for the passengers they'll all be late now to make up for lost time for fauna keeps his foot on the pedal [Music] in the early hours it's raining again and the temperatures dropped to just 18 degrees after a night out in the open huddled under a makeshift cover the passengers are frozen throughout the region the rivers have burst their banks there's a flood in the next village but the locals are resigned [Applause] the mayor is keen to show how bad the situation is and see over that see that's mine that's where I raised chicken and pigs and there's a lot of other animals some of them are drowned we need to help my neighbors they're flooded out my name is George pay how many of you are they here there's six of us that live here the waters flooded everything see this your house yes this is mine can you still cook is this the kitchen yes but how how can you cook here over there in the corridor [Music] but the downpour doesn't spell disaster for everyone Benford for one is happy when it rains [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] along with his friends Benford has created a new business [Music] when the flood stop road traffic they help travelers cross the swollen river they just need to persuade them to give them something for their help you can't get across without us we'll carry your packages that will cost 40 cents and we'll carry a motorbike too really okay my motorbike yes we'll carry it wouldn't be expensive cover the exhaust pipe with a plastic bag the bag will cost 10 cents [Music] the current is getting stronger and the motorbike risks being swept away the water keeps rising and so does the cost of a lift across I paid 80 cents for my motorbike to be carried [Music] and these are the mornings takings the cost of cold and shivering bodies oh it's too cold I'm going home to warm up and then I'll be back it's time to divvy up the money hey why are you giving him some didn't carry anything alright give me my money back give me a fiver I promise you five cents I'll pay him and share up the rest with the kids later we all live in the same house anyway [Applause] [Music] [Music] it was unfrozen the priority back home is to dry off the dollars there's never enough to last long inferred we'll head off to work again in the afternoon under the rain [Music] after the deluge the track is reduced to a succession of muddy pools all tricky to get through [Music] before each Hill the passengers have to dismount [Music] then they have to climb the hills on foot through the sludge yet another Odyssey but it's the only way the four-wheel drives can get through morale isn't exactly great amongst the passengers and there are more more complaints babies tonight do you see the road for fauna however is in good form showing off to keep up pretenses and possibly reassuring the passengers as well he's not about to lose his reputation as the best driver in this part of the country was it easy for you but not everyone has his luck a few kilometers back Maurice another driver comes up against a hill his engine is wrecked [Music] that's no good the vehicle refuses to go forward [Music] assistants and passengers lend a hand and push the vehicle with its smooth tires at any moment the car could slide and crush them [Music] the motor looks as if it might melt down but Morris isn't concerned he knows how to deal with an overheating engine [Music] what are you doing how the engines heating up so I'm trying to cool it and this time with a good push the vehicle makes it up and over the hill [Music] from here on the road crosses a series of rivers and there are no bridges it's common to be stuck for days at a time waiting for water levels to drop [Music] the road to Greenville is a long and painful one we drivers suffer yes yes we do the passengers also suffer there in a hurry to arrive but they'll be late the roads are just too bad without a four-wheel drive and a good mechanic you would never get there but we drivers know our own vehicles and we always make it in the end and as soon as fathanah starts boasting his vehicle inevitably breaks down [Music] [Applause] in Liberia petrol is often of poor quality causing the filters to get dirty easily to fathanah this is well routine but the battery is also tiring the only solution is to push you never rest never why not because when I'm driving I'm owning you take better care of your car than your body yes because if I don't make money I won't get any respect not even my wife if I'm not earning anything she'll go off with someone else [Applause] drivers love money if I fall in love with a woman one day and I have no money the woman won't stay if I had to choose between women and money then I choose money stop my village is just over there Greenville the final destination passengers can breathe a sigh of relief it's been three hard days and a harder three hundred kilometers Agnes is happy to be reunited with her family and then it's time to pay for fauna how much is the US dollar today $75 for one us here's $2,000 then I owe me two thousand seven hundred two thousand for you and seven hundred for you goods Lawrence yeah Lawrence come here where'd that seven hundred come from you tell me two thousand total at the start what you're crazy I'm gonna get your bags and put them back on the truck yeah keep your money fine okay okay I'll pay the difference if anything's missing you'll be responsible I haven't touched your stuff I've just put it on the back of the car nothing's been opened one two three four five six seven three once it sorted out for fauna gets behind the wheel again with a bit of luck it'll take one day less to return to Monrovia Agnes is one of the few merchants in town with money borrowed from her father she's bought a lot of different goods including some very nice thongs from China how much when you asked for them five a pair you bought in 4-2 and sell them for five I have nothing I asked my father to lend me two hundred US dollars Monrovia I bought the thongs to make a small profit but for father made me pay almost 30 US dollars it's expensive but I had to pay now she needs to sell the phones which might be tricky in a village where a few people have money without hesitating she offers the time-honored technique of credit and that could lead to over indebtedness the female neighbors can't resist the thongs from the big city in businesses brisk [Music] each pair costs five and a half euros cash or five euros on credit Agnes will need to follow up often to collect the money she's owed I don't have the fifty cents my I pass every day if you have the money give me the fifty cents now and the rest you can pay later by the end of the day Agnes has only sold a few pairs on credit to extend her client base she rather relies on God [Applause] every Sunday she visits the Pentecostal church at Greenville to pray but to the Evangelist mass is all about money the well-being of the soul can be bought for handfuls of Liberian dollars as far as the pastor's concerned there can never be enough donations whether you have 500 or 250 bring it if you have 150 or $100 notes give them up I'll take anything hundreds 50s bring it all don't stop give them to God he will bless you to help this racket along there's plenty of razzamatazz [Music] [Applause] [Music] the pastors have every reason to look happy the three of them owns six churches in Greenville with seven collections in each church they make a small fortune every Sunday [Music] [Applause] [Music] after the ceremony the pastor's have no qualms about parading about in their well-cut suits and Italian shoes have a little party to let off some steam the Greenville Catholics aren't so lucky their churches in ruins and will likely remain so until recently the entire village was in a similar state what has improved matters is the arrival of a large Indonesian company golden a major producer of palm oil every night the plantation tractor ferries the workers home among them is Otello who hopes the multinational will keep investing in Greenville since this is where we live what's that destroyed by the war the whole neighborhood was destroyed in the war that barrier the one that fought the Liberian war the fighting just went on and all the houses here were affected now there's no money to rebuild look at this house cost thousands of dollars and now it's destroyed my father was killed in the war and my mother too this is my sister Laura look how we live our conditions this is another sister Lisa is Nora my wife and the babies we're about 25 live here all together we can just about afford a bowl of rice each every day a bowl cost 40 cents it's difficult but it's very solution our job is to gather the partner you need to survive and give our children a teller and his companions live like slaves if they want to work they need to wait for a long time in the village square at midnight [Laughter] [Applause] yes you are we see these people spend the entire night on the ground here the night they've been waiting for the tractor for hours they wake up at midnight and sometimes wait until 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning it's really hard tractors coming now when the headlights come into you it's a mad rush on the tractor heading for the plantation there's not enough room for everyone [Music] this woman scared by all the shoving holds back [Music] there's a tremendous struggle to get a place in the trailer if they miss work twice they'll be fired [Music] [Music] I tried to can't take all of us there aren't enough vehicles we won't be able to earn any money but she'll jump on at the last moment and the crusher on board is barely supportable we are not animals about a dozen workers won't be able to get on board Italo has found a few centimetres and there's more than an hour's uncomfortable journey ahead to make sure he arrives on time the driver accelerates without a care for his passengers [Music] sitting here on the edge is dangerous bump could throw me off and sometimes a container opens and everyone falls off the side here might open and everyone might just slide out has it ever happened yeah it's sunrise [Music] and crammed tightly together the workers suffer in silence on the edge of the plantation Golden's trucks have churned up the roads for those being transported that discomfort continues and even the taxi motorbikes have trouble to make sure they arrive on time some finished the journey on foot it's a risky business as they could get run over any moment [Music] [Music] gradually a traffic jam forms then a truck sinks in the mud and in all the chaos eats each man for himself the tractor advances a few meters but has to pull up as true four-wheel drive vehicles force their way through [Music] [Applause] [Music] second car slows down and get stuck and this time the road is blocked for good [Music] the trouble is they rip us off to get us out of this mess we haven't caused it and they asked for money to get us out of the mud there they are they are the multinationals crane drivers these guys are crazy instead of waiting for us to clear things up they just keep trying to push their way in and then they get bogged down it's not our problem you're the ones to blame for ripping up the road [Applause] finally the tractor breaks free of the mud but they're late for a tell oh and his unlucky comrades risk having their pay docked the multinational has already cleared more than 200,000 hectares of forest at Ella's workers potting the palm trees after five years their fruit will be squeezed to produce the prized palm oil the extracted oil is used in food and cosmetics and is increasingly controversial it's a profitable industry but one that is catastrophic for the forest as soon as one plot of land has been cleared as many as 1,500 workers begin planting as many palm trees as possible hunting that's all what we do all day it's not for the money because our wages are ridiculous we are just two and a half euros a day can I afford to give my family for just two and a half years a day the Liberian authorities have supported these efforts and have no problem in eradicating villagers in the name of profit William used to be the mayor of one such village [Music] now over there was my village and my farm if you see these coconut palms here they cut down hundreds of trees here there were fruit trees trees everywhere this is what's left look our own government stole we sold off our land for a pittance [Music] Alice where my uncle and my father are buried the five family tombs here and every day the planters leave behind the desolate landscape after the war and the storms Liberia is today losing its forests the country seems destined to be abused [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, most dangerous roads, most dangerous journeys, worlds most dangerous roads, worlds most dangerous journeys, deadliest roads, deadliest roads in the world, dicing with death, deadliest journeys, deadliest journeys liberia, dangerous liberia, dangerous roads liberia, deadliest roads liberia, most dangerous roads liberia, dicing with death liberia

Id: 0sN20GokzdM

Length: 48min 54sec (2934 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 16 2020