Welcome to Guinea

The 350 km trip from Yamoussoukro to Man was pretty uneventful. Although beautiful we started to get a bit bored of the same, relatively flat landscape and the almost too perfect paved roads.

   Getting closer to Man we noticed a strong presence of the United Nations (UN) which probably indicates that the region still has some problems or perhaps this has to do with the situation in Mali or Liberia. It's hard to say but in any case we didn't see or notice anything strange. The UN guys seemed cheerful as with every vehicle and truck we came across they would wave enthusiastically at us. Ivorian people too remained very friendly and open towards us. 

   Man is situated in a mountainous area. The city itself is lively but has a more hectic and loud feel to it than the other Ivorian cities we have passed through. The landscape is an absolute stunner. We found a bed at a clean enough, small hotel where also a few UN workers happened to stay. No running water though and the shower had to be done with buckets of water. What a reminiscence of the good old times at Purple Rocks in Ghana. We hadn't eaten since the early morning hours and were so hungry, we were close to eating something alive.  While hunting town for drinkable water we spotted a Moroccon Chawarma Eatery which sounded promising and luckily we were not disappointed. 

   When packing our bikes for the journey into Guinea the next morning one of the UN guys advised us to stay away from the route I had originally planned to take via Danané as it would bring us past an area where there had been reports of recent attacks from Liberia. Not sure what was the exact story there as he had very broken English but sure enough we listened to his advise and took the route north via Biankouma and Sipilou instead.

   As we took the turn-off in Biankouma onto the Sipilou route we finally got into rugged terrain. Little did we know, only few minutes into it, the ~200 km track to the Guinean border turned into the most challenging off-road riding over rocks, loose chipping, laterite and steep washed-out paths we have had to tackle yet. Luckily the roads were dry. I don't think we would have gotten through them otherwise. Although physically tough, it was extremely enjoyable. In saying that, we have now a newly converted motocross boots believer in Rory. More about that later…

   As we passed the Ivorian border into Guinea we were at loss whether we had really left Cote d'Ivoire and entered Guinea. There was no sign of the Guinean border post as we continued on the narrow off-road track to wherever it was leading. A little unsure of our whereabouts we made attempts to ask a little boy and a later a young girl for directions. We never got around to asking them though. As soon as I stopped I could see the fear in their eyes, they would cry out something panicky in French and literally run for the hills. Now, I have decided not to take it personal. We assume it has more to do with the fact that two fully kitted out, white people on big bikes are a very unusual and scary sight. After all we were in a fairly remote area. 

   We made it to the border eventually. Turned out the border posts are 7 km apart from each other. We were nervous what the Guinean border crossing would be like. Going by the UK Foreign Travel advise, Guinea doesn't sound like your number one holiday destination (although still a much better choice than Mali at current). How big the surprise, when we got to this tiny little hut with even more surprised, welcoming Guinean officials. They were in awe and disbelieve of the trip we are doing. Once all the paper work was done we were back on the road. The dirt track continued for another 30 minutes until we arrived in Lola. Here we got into our first customs stop. One of the officers insisted on seeing a carnet for our motorbikes but the fact that all our registration documents are Ghanaian confused him. He eventually dragged me to the commanding officer who at a glance at the papers in front of him and at me shook his head and said  "What are you doing? They are tourists, let them go!". Before he could change his mind I quickly thanked him and off we rode. Welcome to Guinea :) 

   No matter how bored we previously were with the Ivorian paved roads, after the rugged tracks we had been on all day we were delighted to finally be back on paved roads for another 30 km to Nzerekore - our final destination for the day. By the time we had checked into a very clean but shockingly pricy establishment it was nearly 5 pm. Dinner was all we needed to fall into a comatose sleep.

Beautiful morning sky leaving Man

Stunning mountains around Man

End of the paved road at Biankouma

A true dirt road :)