Wild and free in Conakry

A street scene in an inner city suberb of Conakry
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Through my work in Conakry over the course of two days I made some English speaking Guinean contacts. Two in particular were willing to meet on the weekend and show me around a little. What better way to get to know a city?

Prior to the weekend I had only viewed the city form the safety of my hotel taxi and (for the most part air conditioned) offices of those I had visited. I had observed a city that was visibly much poorer than Accra where life for the ordinary citizen is far from easy.

Young men without work play football on the beach
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Poverty is visible everywhere you turn, many young men have nothing to do in a country where unemployment may exceed 75% and can be found loitering on the streets of playing football on the beach. Children are dressed in ragged clothes and there are enough beggars to play a constant tug of war with your conscience. Many are apparent visitms of either polio or landmines and in a country where there is little provision for those with mobility problems and no state security there is often little alternative other than to beg. This said, where as the lack of Government social security is minimal so the support of the extended value is often great. It is as much beyond an Africans comprehension that we receive free hospital care and pensions in the UK as it is that the extended family system is rarely as developed and the sense of care we have for our elders is at a different, and certainly not higher level.

Catholic Cathederal - Conakry
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The Conakry is saw through the window of my taxi did make me want to see more. I wanted to get out and speak to people, to walk the side streets and to get a better feel for what this city is about. To my shame my French is poor and also, in a city like Conakry, my desire to take pictures would soon cause trouble. Cameras are treated with a degree of suspision here or, perhaps more accurately, a source of some extra income from police or army officials that object to any shot that might 'cause a negative impression of the country'. Lonely Planet recommend picking up a copy of the Government decree permitting photography by tourists ahead of any up country trip. I dod not follow this advice for my stay in Conakry but would suggest it is probably a good idea if you go further afield. Indeed, I had an unpleasent encounter in Conakry taking the snaps you can see on this site.

A long term resident of the Catholic Bishop's compound
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My guide on the Saturday took me to the national museum. I was lucky to have him with me to explain things as all exhibits were explained in French. I say all, there is in fact just one room of items depicting the traditions of the three main tribes of Guinea and artifacts peculiar to them, both historical and modern. Nevertheless, the admission fee of just over 50 pence was a good investment in understanding the Guinean way of life. It also allowed access to an exhibition room, currently drawings by young children around the threme of human rights sponsored by UNICEF. Some of the drawings were very moving. As a foreign visitor I was also shown rooms of paintings for sale; here the phrase "my wife will divorce me if I buy another photo" seemed to work well.

Barbers shop in Ratoma
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After passing by the Catholic Cathederal (Christians are in the minority here with perhaps little more than 10% against 85% Muslim and 5% aminist) and nearby compound of the head of the Catholic church (complete with a large and old smiling crocodile) we ventured out of central Conakry and through the subserbs. As explained in my last post, Conakry is located on a very narrow peninsular. As a consequence routes in and out of town are limited and so traffic congestion, especially during rush hours, is quite terrible. It is also bad when one of the main roads is shut for some reason such as, on this particualar day, tree pruning.

Swimming lessons on Kojo Beach
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It took some time to make our was through the inner Conakry suberbs to the more desirable areas of Taouyah and Ratoma. Visably more affluant this provides a real alternative place for the traveller to base themself. There are a lot of hotels and resturants to suit all budgets up to mid-range and apparently far more night life options. Two downsides are the traffic mentioned above (you will struggle to quicky get into and out of the city centre at peak times) and secondly, as a spin off from the nightlife scene the main road between the two suberbs is apparenly quite a notorius red light area. Not visiting at night I cannot comment on the degree of this problem which is in reality a constant issue for single males accross much of the region (and from what I hear for women too in The Gambia).

Girls football match on Kojo Beach
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By day though, this colourful part of Conakry has a very pleasent feel. People quietly go about their business on the colourful streets and young people come in large numbers to enjoy the public beach (accessed for a fee of about UK 25 pence on weekends) named Kojo as I recall. Swimming lessons were in progress as was a girls football match that seemed to be generating much excitement amongst the players and spectators alike. I took a drink on the beach bar before visiting the home of my escort in Ratoma. He has a two room unit on a shared compound which is of a good standard and costs around £50 per month. This is quite a lot of money based on the average earnings of those fortunate enough to work in Conakry, expecially if you live alone as my friend does.

Everywhere we went I was introduced to people and was able to exchange some words that informed me about thier life. Hard as it clearly is Guineans are generally fortunate. The country is largely fertile and famine is not a regular problem in this corner of West Africa. The converstations also frequently turned to enquire about life in Europe.

To be continued...