PDF Country Coverage At the time of research very few travellers were heading to Guinea, Mali & Niger so we’re providing historical and cultural information rather than reviews and listings. A good source of information for on-the-ground travel in these Guinea, Mali & countries is Lonely Planet’s Thorn Tree on-line Niger travel forum www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree. (PDF Chapter) Edition 8th Edition, Sept 2013 Pages 12 COVERAGE INCLUDES: Page Range 204-207, 234-237, • Guinea Today • Niger History 295-298 • Guinea History Useful Links • Guinea Music & Culture Want more guides? Head to our shop • Understand Malit • Mali Today Trouble with your PDF? Trouble shoot here • Mali History • Mali Arts & Culture Need more help? • Understand Niger Head to our FAQs • Niger Today Stay in touch Contact us here © Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. To make it easier for you to use, access to this PDF chapter is not digitally restricted. In return, we think it’s fair to ask you to use it for personal, non-commercial purposes only. In other words, please don’t upload this chapter to a peer-to-peer site, mass email it to everyone you know, or resell it. See the terms and conditions on our site for a longer way of saying the above – ‘Do the right thing with our content’. ©Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd Guinea Rugged Landscapes & Vibrant Beats Guinea Today .............205 Imagine you’re travelling on smooth highway, and then get History .......................206 tempted by a tiny, dusty turn-off into rugged terrain, where surprising beauty and treacherous vistas define the route. Music & Culture ........206 Guinea is that turn-off. This is a country blessed with amaz- ing landscapes; from the mountain plateau Fouta Djalon to wide Sahelian lands and thick forests. Fast Facts Overland drivers are drawn here by rugged tracks, and the challenge of steering their vehicles over rocks and ¨ ¨Capital Conakry washed-out paths. Nature lovers can lose themselves on ¨¨Population 10.8 million long hikes past plunging waterfalls, proud hills and tiny ¨¨Languages French, villages, or track elephants through virgin rainforest. While Malinke, Pulaar (Fula) and Guinea is not famed for its beaches, those it does have are Susu stunning, and often deserted. ¨¨Area 245,857 sq km ¨¨Currency Guinean Guinea Top Sights franc (GFr) ¨¨Îles ¨de¨Los Stretch out on palm-fringed strands, sipping ¨ ¨Visa ¨requirements 90- fresh coconut juice day visa and yellow-fever ¨ certificate required ¨Fouta ¨Djalon Ramble through the mountains and swim in the waterfalls of this majestic mountain plateau ¨¨Tourist ¨information ¨ www.ontguinee.org ¨Bossou Come face to face with chattering chimps ¨¨Conakry Hop through the capital’s dubious dives, getting drunk on some of West Africa’s best live music ¨¨Forêt ¨Classée¨de¨Ziama Track elephants in the virgin rainforest ¨¨Parc ¨National¨du¨Haut¨Niger Look for chimps and buffaloes in one of West Africa’s last tropical dry-forest ecosystems ¨¨Kankan Squeeze through narrow market streets and visit the beautiful Grand Mosquée in this lively university town 205 UNDERSTAND GUINEA ous reactions. On 28 September 2009, army elements quashed a large demonstration with extreme violence. A UN commission denounced the events as a crime against Guinea Today humanity, and it is thought that over 150 Following the death in 2008 of president people were killed. Two months later, ‘Dadis’ Lansana Conté, an army contingent under was shot (but not killed) following a dispute Captain Moussa Dadis Camara took power with his aide-de-camp Toumba Diakite. in a coup d’état. ‘Dadis’ promised that he’d After meeting in Ouagadougou in Janu- quickly clean up the Guinean house, organ- ary 2010, ‘Dadis’, his vice-president Sekouba ise elections and return to the army bar- Konaté and Blaise Compaoré, president racks. His initial measures, such as cracking of Burkina Faso, produced a formal state- down on Guinean drug rings (Guinea is one ment of 12 principles promising a return of of West Africa’s hubs of the cocaine trade), Guinea to civilian rule within six months. A and announcing anti-corruption measures provisional government supervised the tran- and new mining deals (Guinea is hugely sition to civilian rule at the end of 2010. rich in natural resources, owning 30% of the After half a century in opposition, Alpha world’s bauxite resources), gained him many Conde, from the Malinke ethnic group, was Guinea followers. declared winner in Guinea’s first democratic However, his announcement in 2009 that election since independence from France in he would consider standing in the upcoming 1958. However, the vote kindled ethnic ten- U G nderstand elections, and increasing violence commit- U sions. Conde’s defeated rival, Cellou Dalein i ted by members of the army, provoked furi- Diallo, is a member of the Fula ethnic group, nea T Tambacounda 0 100 km oday 0 60 miles S E N E G A L G G Vélingara ambia U Kolda Parc Transfrontalier i nea Niokolo-Badiar M A L I Kita Sambaïlo River Kédougou Pitche Koundara BAMAKO Bafatá Saréboïdo Massif du Tamgué La Dame de Mali G U I N E A - Koumbia B I S S A U (1515m) Buba River Kourémalé River Québo Djinkan Touqué afing Bankan Niger Lower Chutes de Saala B Cacine Labé Guinea Donghol-Touma Dinguiraye River Siguiri Îles Pita F o u t a D j a l o n Boké Télimélé Tristao Chutes de Ditinn Niani Kamsar Dalaba Tinkisso Kouroussa Fria Dabola Mandiana Sobané Boffa Konkouré River Parc National Cape Verga Konkouré Mamou du Haut Niger Marella Up Kankan Mt Kakoulima (1011m) Kindia p e Faranah r Gu i n e a Medina-Oula Milo Coyah Minignan CONAKRY Les Eaux Gberia-Fotombu de Kilissi Kabala Tokounou Îles de Los Pamelap Forokonia River Kérouané Kambia Kissidougou Source of F o Makeni r e the Niger s t Guéckédou Macenta R Beyla e FREETOWN S I E R R A g i L E O N E Kailahun o Touba Forêt n Bo Classée Koyama de Ziama Lola Kenema Sipilou A T L A N T I C N'zérékoré Bossou Mt Nimba O C E A N Yekepa (1752m) Diéké L I B E R I A Ganta CÔTE D'IVOIRE 206 ‘Conspiracies’ were being sensed everywhere; COUNTRY¨COVERAGE thousands of supposed dissidents were im- prisoned and executed. By the end of the At the time of research very few travel- 1960s over 250,000 Guineans lived in exile. lers were heading to Guinea, so we’re Towards the end of his presidency Touré providing historical and cultural infor- changed many of his policies and tried to mation rather than reviews and listings. liberalise the economy. He died in March A good source of information for on- 1984. the-ground travel in Guinea is Lonely Days after Touré’s death, a military coup Planet’s Thorn Tree on-line travel forum was staged by a group of colonels, includ- www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree. ing the barely known, barely educated Another source of good internet-based Lansana Conté, who became president. He information is www.ontguinee.org. introduced austerity measures, and in 1991 bowed to pressure to introduce a multipar- to which 40% of Guineans belong. Diallo ty political system. Initial hopes for a new has consistently accused the president of era of freedom and prosperity were quickly marginalising his constituents, including dashed. Conté claimed victory in three Guinea many Fula. highly disputed elections, and there were in- Conde’s Conakry residence suffered an cidents of obstruction and imprisonment of armed attack in July 2011. The building opposition leaders. In 2007 demonstrations U Hi was partially destroyed, but Conde was were violently quashed, though a few con- nderstand story unharmed. cessions (such as the nomination of a prime Travel here can be difficult. Guinea is not minister) were made. Severely ill and barely as set up for tourism as some other coun- able to govern, Conté stayed in power until tries in the region, and beyond the capital his death in December 2008. creature comforts are scarce. Taxis and buses G are poorly maintained and unreliable, and U i for overlanders, rugged tracks, steep laterite nea Music & Culture and washed-out paths can be a challenge. Overshadowed on the international stage There were serious riots and violent dem- by neighbouring Mali and Senegal, Guinea onstrations in Conakry in late 2012 and early still packs a punch when it comes to musical 2013. Muggings at gunpoint are increasingly tradition. common across the country. Sekou Touré’s form of communism may have been an economic disaster, but the gov- ernment’s emphasis on nationalist authentic- History ité in the arts, and state patronage of artistic Guinea was part of the Empire of Mali, institutions, was a bonus. Musicians were which covered a large part of western Africa funded and allowed time to perfect their art, between the 13th and 15th centuries; the paving the way for the sound most commonly empire’s capital, Niani, is in eastern Guinea. associated with Guinean music – that of the From the mid-1400s Portuguese and other great dance orchestras of the 1960s and ’70s. European traders settled Guinea’s coastal They, in turn, were strongly influenced by the region, and the country eventually became traditions of the Mande griots (West Africa’s a French colony in 1891. hereditary praise singers). The end of French West Africa began with The first orchestra to leap to fame was Guinea. In 1958, Sekou Touré was the only the Syli National Orchestra, whose guitar- West African leader to reject a French offer ist, ‘Grand’ Papa Diabaté, became one of the of membership in a commonwealth, and in- greatest stars of Guinea’s music scene.