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Formalities! - The passport has to be valid 6 months. A visa could be asked from you so is better to inquire by the Embassy of Guinea from your country. The vaccine against the yellow fever is obligatory. The vaccination book will be asked from you and controlled to the airport. Other vaccines are strongly advised: against hepatitis's A and B, the typhoid fevers, tetanus and, in particular conditions, against meningitis. Time to travel! - Is better to avoid the rainy season from mid - June to mid -October. Downpours can be deluviens in Guinea maritime where all can stop during several months. The ideal is to arrive in the country at the end or just after rains, when all is lush and that the abundant rivers and magnificent falls and cascades are again to their maximum level. Health! - Elementary and required precautions: drink water from encapsulated bottles; protect the skin from sun and mosquitoes. Take an anti-malarial medication (the malaria is endemic in Guinea), peel fruits and vegetables, put a hat, prepare a small pharmacy (anti-diarrhoea, healing cream, gauze, tweezers…)
Money, money – The monetary unit is the Guinean franc (about 2100 FGS for one $US). Credit cards are accepted, but is recommended to carry currency, Euros or dollars, for example, if you travel around the country.
The grub – In Conakry you can taste different types of cuisine: Asian, French, international, Italian or African, of course. Regarding the last one, the main course is all over the country the rice with different sauces on meat or fish, always very spiced, made with red oil (palm oil), with peanut cream, karite or sownbala (nere grains fermented and crushed in milk or the sweet potato leafs highly appreciated even more that the sweet potato itself). Sometimes, instead of rice, you can have the "yam" prepared exactly like the potatoes or the mil, fonio or manioc. The "to" – a plate from Haute Guinea - is the manioc dough served plain or with gombo sauce. The speciality from Fouta is the couscous of "fonio" or sweet corn, served with sour milk and butter. In Guinea maritime, you will have the "borokhe" – sauce with fish and palm oil. It is remarkable the way of using mango in the Forest's region – the pulp is grilled with salt and hot spice and is served to accompany the meat plates. Over the country you will often find the meat from the "brousse" – the bush region - grilled kid always in spiced sauce, and alas, in skewers, sheep and goat that it seems has more taste, but incontestably more resistance also as the chicken «bicyclette» with parsimonious and hard flesh! In picnic, you have to take advantage of products of the country. You will find beef meat (particularly at good prices on markets that one finds on the side of the road between Mamou and Kindia). Also, go for the fish as the monkfish from the sea or the river, the agouti, sometimes elevated in the specialised centre. Do not forget the fruits! The avocado is often enormous and highly delicious when served with grapefruits that correct the vapidity of it (if you do not have anything to season them), oranges, bananas, papayas and especially mango, particularly tasty when are grafted. One of my ex-patriate friends confessed me that during the "mango season" she "cured" her acne by eating these fruits and that her complexion has extraordinarily improved! Truth is that mango is full of class pro-vitamins – maybe this was the cause. You will find papaya all year long. With a zest of lime, they are indeed an excellent breakfast. The pineapple is sweet and full of juice. You can buy all this at the market and along the country roads. We have to mention the "loko", slices of salted and spiced bananas fried in oil and sold at all markets. What to drink? Of course Coyah water – bottled, Coca Cola and Fanta that can be find all over, or even coconuts milk, very refreshing and tasteful. With the amendment that you have to boil the water, you can buy tea and coffee everywhere and everybody knows the virtues in brewing of certain plants as the citronella which is delicious. If you prefer drinks more "strong and sinewy" you will easily find beer all over the country. In Low Guinea or "Guinee Forestiere" you can taste the palm wine universally known in sub-Saharan country, more or less fermented. Do not forget that is always necessary to pour on the earth some drops to honour forebears (ancient animist custom...). At Nzérékoré, where doesn't exist apparently ostracism regarding the alcohol, it exists a district, called Orly, probably because one it «hovers» easily, thanks to the numerous alcoholic drinks that are gulped there from 5 o'clock in the evening. One of the favourite drinks is the wine made of raffia produce in all Lola zones where the alcohol is simply made of fermented sugar in water.
Souvenirs, souvenirs - In Conakry you will find souvenir shops in front of the hotels. They are selling all kind of contemporary sculptures and sometimes, old used masques. Some persons have advised me not to buy the old ones because it "pomp out" from you the positive energy. To each his beliefs! However, as a special note, I have never seen a Guinean's house decorated with these ancient masques. Wherever in Guinea, if you wish to buy souvenirs, I strongly recommend you to avoid the "chic" places and to buy from downtown or from the markets. You will be amazed by your discoveries. Take the pain to wander in the city's districts, indeed they are worth the detour. You can have a taxi at your disposal for a few hundred of Guinean francs. The driver will wait for you with a smile at every stopover, and he could even change in your guide. Actually, the town of Conakry is a huge market, which are full of surprises, a good ambience and nice surprises. In Conakry, at Coronthie, next to the electric plant there is a very special sculptor: Oppo. Gifted with equal doses of talent and recycling spirit he is transforming used junk, motors, pistons, camshafts, cylinders in monumental sculptures or in toys, painted in vivid colours and exhibits all in the open, along the boulevard of Corniche Nord (North Ledge).
The traditional holidays - They are belonging to seven categories:-the ones related to the animism or traditional religion, -the Muslim or Christian ones (besides Christmas none has a fixed date), -the ones related to a specific work like the agriculture work in group (lassa),-the ones of the succession of ages (barabila) ; -the reconstruction of roads between villages (silusa) and works concerning the road network and the equipment of villages, -ceremonies bound to the death , -those that come with the circumcision and the initiation, -those of the baptism and the marriage, -At last festivities, specific to the High Guinea, that celebrates a determined artist, always dancer and sometime fortune-teller or maker of miracles. These last ones can take place any time of the year and can regroup at each time all the population of the place where they are exercised. It goes without that the baptisms, marriages, ceremonies of day of the death and of the 40th day after it, the vigil of weapons in honour of the death of a chief hunter or "simbonsi" as well as the yoro-dalaka that marks the inauguration of a public building. All these events, celebrated of different ways, concern all regions. On the other hand, one can say that it is in High Guinea and forest Guinea, meaning the regions were old traditions are especially strong and respected, that the most exercised rituals are the ones bound to the traditional religions. To Boffa in May, it takes place an important Catholic pilgrimage with supporters that came on foot from Conakry. In April - May, in many places is practised a feast in the purpose of getting from geniuses that live in a consecrated pool their support for a good harvest and their protection against all species of calamity. This gives the "permission" to fish in this pool during a limited time. The most popular takes place to Baro, at some kilometres of Kouroussa. Among the mandingue's the "dankouso" in December - January marks the beginning of the hunt season, for confraternities of hunters that have their gods and their rituals. The "doudasso" in December - January, is a ceremony of invocation of the protective geniuses of the village, especially accomplished in High Guinea. In High Guinea, it is also in December - January that will have place the "bara-dossa" that comes with the housekeeping works of the village and the "gbalanda" that goes together with the construction of watchtowers. From May to December are taking place rituals determined to insure the protection of geniuses specific to farm' works. In the Fouta, the "touppal" consists in treating with a special mixture, during one day, in December, all beefs of the village, in view of their good health and their submission. Still on Moyenne Guinée, the "taargol" from January to May is bound to the reading and the interpretation of the Koran by a literate that will receive after that the title of "thierno". Among the Moslems, the sunkaro sali marks the end of the Ramadan and the "donkin sali" commemorates the Abraham's sacrifice. The "diombende sali", in May, marks the beginning of the year at the Moslem that also celebrates the "mouloud", birthday of Mohammed and the "tabaski" the day when a sheep has to be sacrificed.
Celebration in the honour of the monkeys - Small village at 18 km to the south of Lola and 60 of Nzerekore, Bossou, enclave in a chain of mountains dominated by the Mount Ghan is famous for its chimps. They are nineteen and the population is taking care of them very carefully because it considers them as its ancestors. They are also very precaution as well in the rapport that concerns the villagers and in those, that concerns the foreign visitors. They are especially intelligent these chimps. If, like all their "fellows" they live under the law of the strongest and oldest male that keeps for him the females, at least so much that he take away from the young males, they have a rather rare particularity (that they share however with other chimps of Gabon): they make every evening a nest in trees, except at the birth of a small occasion on which they can remain more nights to the same place. Other characteristic: they are somewhat wizards and guess the arrival of happiness or a misfortune, and they are signalled by a special shout. Somehow is not very pleasing if you do not know if you must be delighted or you have to cry! Of a meticulous cleanliness, they disregard fruits that they did not pick themselves, with the exception of bananas that they know how to peel, as they know how to grind fruits with shell. Very honest, also, these animals: the legend affirms that when they ravage a field they are bringing an animal as compensation.But, while insisting a little on this exceptional behavior one learns that actually, it arrived only one time. All as the aggression led by four or five male monkeys on two children. Even if it never reproduced, this tragic accident must incite visitors to not adventure on the hill where they live. Every second Friday of January, the village organises a big feast for three days in honour of chimps. These are perfectly "updated" and if they don't mingle themselves to villagers, they remain to the verge of woods to wait for bananas that people doesn't lack to bring them, while calling them by their name. Indeed, although they are uniformly... shaggy, each has a personality that makes him recognisable. The dominating male carries currently the name of "Tuowa". So, people dance, sing then offers sacrifices to both geniuses of the mountain and primates, that they doesn't know very well which are supposed to protect their descendants. . . During this time, old ones consider this agitation of an critical and heavy of wisdom eye, the new born babies hung to their mother's body, the others ones are either perched on their back or cuddle-up against them. These monkeys are especially attach to their small ones and they know how to heal them by forcing them to eat some leaves. If in spite of this medication one of them dies, its mother keeps it against her, testifying a pathetic grief, until the small body completely decompose.
Manon People Traditions - Like their neighbours guerze and toma, the Manon have strictly conserved animist tradition. In the museum of Nzerekore are preserved masks and statues that have served to their rituals. Once, children followed in the forest their consecrated initiation that lasted seven years. Among others, they learned writing made of signs representing each a syllable, writing that permitted to send some messages written on leaves of banana tree or on the animal skin.
These messages were reserved to chiefs and transmitted only the solemn news, beginning of a war or the death of relatives. The small Manon showgirls had also learn medicine, cooking and also how to dance: between 7 and 13 years, they were selected to learn to dance tea " kei-kei " however " dance of the knife ": the master of dances was throwing them in air to make them turn and after that was "receiving" them on the tip of two daggers. This dance is known also in Ivory Coast at neighbors of the region of Man. At 13 years, the girls must quit their body not having the suppleness and the lightness required anymore.
Usually, it is after harvests that these dances take place regularly, but it is possible to ask the prefecture to organise such event for a group of visitors... but is not desirable if you want to preserve the authenticity of practices that doesn't win in authenticity "programming" them. However, the Manons, as the other groups of the region, do not spend their time in religious rituals.
