Backtracking Entry - Conakry to Koba, February 13, 2008

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February 13, 2008

Travel day. We left Conakry around 7:30am to head to Koba, to visit our bauxite projects. The trip took us through the major centre of Kindia, and through many small villages. We stopped to fuel up at Kindia and joined many others looking for gas. We were lucky and were not stopped there long. We did stop at a store prior to this to pick up propane and snacks. Poll (pronounced more like Paul) and Aguibou headed across the street leaving Chris and I waiting. A few of the kids near by were fascinated with us, others were a little scared. It has been interesting to see the mixed reactions. A couple of young boys kept waving to us and we would return their waves. Very cute.

A stop in the town of Telimele took us to see the Prefect. He was a very nice man. We continued along and arrived in Koba about 7 hours after starting the trip. The scenery was fascinating, lots of palm trees and rolling hills. The villages and towns were a combination of brick/concrete buildings, often with tin roofs, to traditional huts with thatched roofs. There were some amazing fences made of shorter lengths of trees/branches strung together to form a rather solid wall. Another interesting site I forgot to mention was that many of the goats, and some of the cows, have an interesting arrangement of small branches around their neck. Two small ones, joined at the top above the neck, come down and are bound to a longer stick, that runs parallel to the ground. These are to prevent the animals from entering the openings of fenced areas.

Many markets were active with people selling and buying of goods. The road was rather bumpy, so travel was often slowed by the avoidance of ruts. And lots of horn honking, it is interesting as often it seems to be a courtesy, “look out, I am coming up beside you” or “Look out, I am about to pass you”, and of course, to get animals off the road (many goats, cows and a few sheep along the roads).

Arrival in Koba
Once we arrived in Koba, we stopped for a bit to unpack the truck, then headed off to visit one or two of the plateaus. More bumpy driving and we were gone almost 4 hours. It was quite interesting to see the plateaus, very flat, with many laterite boulders sitting on the surface. There are some trees, and some had an interesting growth on them. Asked Aguibou and my guess was correct, a type of fungus. Aguibou mentioned that this type of fungus is common in areas where there are bauxite plateaus.

We finally arrived back at the house in Koba and had a great dinner. Barry is a good cook and I really enjoyed our meals. Then, I was introduced to the “washroom”, a small woven fence, fenced off area with a small opening, and a concrete hole in the ground. The wash up area was behind another woven fenced area, which consisted of two large buckets and a small cup to scoop water out of the large bucket and use this to wash yourself with. The house has a generator, so we had a fan in our bedroom, as well as an open window with a screen and a curtain. Dinner was outside under a covered area, at a dining table, and was pleasantly cool each time we sat down for a meal. The yard is very clean, with a large fuel tank, and a core splitting area. The perimeter is fenced with a large gate at the fence, and a small one at the back. It is a great setup.

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Photos

Scenery along the way
A photo taken between Conakry and Koba

Working Hard
A young boy carrying thatch.