2024
After two research trips to the region we are now offering an exploratory tour to Guinea/Guinea Bissau. We hope this will become a regular tour in the future!
• Arrive in Bamako, Mali. Then transfer to your hotel.
• Early morning departure from Bamako and travel south to the Guinea border.
• After crossing the border, we travel off-road to Niagassola. This ancient village is home to the balafon, a popular African musical instrument. The first ever balafon, called the Sacred Balafon, is over eight hundred years old and has been kept under the protection of the Kouyate family since the reign of the Malinke King, Soumagourou Kante. Niagassola may also be the birthplace of music.
• The Kouyate family invites us to visit the village and listen to a balafon performance. They are well known worldwide for their involvement with African music. It’s a great honour to watch them perform.
• After the show, we continue south to the town of Siguiri, where we stay overnight.
• After breakfast, travel to Kankan, Guinea’s second-largest city.
• Check into our hotel and have lunch.
• In the afternoon, visit Griots of Kankan for another musical show. A griot is a West African storyteller, esteemed for their wealth of cultural knowledge.
• Evening at leisure.
• Tour Kankan, starting with a visit to the museum, which is located in the military barracks. We also see the Independence Square, the massive market, the Grand Mosque (West Africa’s oldest mosque), handicraft markets which produce many of the masks used in West Africa, and the colonial train station which once linked Kankan to the capital Conakry.
• Overnight in Kankan.
• Travel to Dabola in the morning. The city is a vital centre of Guinea’s economy and a major transit hub for Malian cargo trucks.
• After lunch, we visit the local market and then take a short tour of the city.
• Evening at leisure—a perfect chance to dabble in the local nightlife.
• Travel to Dalaba after breakfast. Climatically, this city is unique. Once a retreat for the French colonial elite, the city is over 1400 feet above sea level and has a different climate from the rest of the country. Temperatures regularly drop below sixteen degrees.
• Check into our hotel, then take a tour of the city.
• Visit the Chute de Ditinn waterfall. We also go to Villa Sili, former home of the French colonial governor and current home of Miriam Makeba, the South African singer exiled to Guinea during Apartheid.
• Depart for Labe in the morning, visiting the beautiful Chutes de Kambadaga en route.
• Arrive in Labe and visit the market to experience the daily commercial life of the Fulani merchants.
• Visit the Chute de Saala waterfall and the Fouta Jallon Cultural Museum. There may also be an opportunity to see a Fulani cultural dance.
• An early start and a long journey today as we set off west towards Guinea-Bissau. Our destination is Gabu.
• Overnight in Gabu.
•After breakfast, we drive southwest to the capital, Bissau.
• Evening at leisure to explore the capital.
• Tour the city, starting with the Porto de Perch, a fishing port. Afterwards, visit the city's colonial quarter, once the administrative seat when Guinea-Bissau was a colony. Here we see the Fortaleza d’Amura, a Portuguese fort, the former presidential palace, the new Presidential Palace, Assemblie Ministerio de Justica, the Catholic Cathedral, and various markets.
• Tour ends today.
• Transfer to the airport for your flight home.