Travel Guide Conakry

Conakry is an island village that set out to conquer the peninsula that housed it. It is an urban octopus, whose head, the original island of Tombo on which the village was located, first docked on the Kaloum peninsula, before deploying its tentacles and gradually but irremediably enclosing the neighbouring municipalities to form a single urban area.Today, Conakry is a very large capital, stretching over more than thirty kilometres from south to north. The population density is very high with more than 2 million inhabitants, perhaps 3 (successive censuses have not given very reliable figures...), living on a piece of land barely 8 km wide. Its natural boundaries are to the south of the rocky coasts, which the nearby islands of Loos protect from excessively violent waves, and further north, areas of swamps and mangroves.All the national communities are represented in an incredible melting pot of local ethnic groups, with however districts clearly identified as occupied by one community or another (the Fulani occupy the districts of Hamadalaye, Bambeto, the Soussous under those of Boulbinet, Coronthie...). Foreigners are not to be outdone with important Sierra Leonean, Liberian and Senegalese communities as well as Lebanese and "expats" from all walks of life. Guinea prides itself on remaining, beyond the difficulties, an open country.The capital is still relatively horizontal to this day, it is not adorned with mirror glass buildings that are the pride of Abidjan or Dakar, and this modesty has its charm. But here too "change is now". The number of building sites with 10 or more floors is increasing. Gradually, in the city centre, the old buildings are being demolished and replaced by higher and higher quality buildings.The ground space being strongly constrained, the vertical constructions becoming higher and higher become a necessity. Today, the five- to six-storey residences as seen in the Camayenne district, in particular, are growing like mushrooms everywhere, in response to the growing demand from the rising local bourgeoisie on the one hand and from the Lebanese community and expats from Europe, Asia and America on the other.The city was and remains a permanent site. So certainly, road works and development work are intended to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants, but in the meantime, combined with the peninsular configuration of the city, they transform it into a vast traffic jam during rush hours. The main roads are often totally saturated and it is then necessary to know the city well to escape it, by following the ledges or by crossing in the heart of the districts, while being careful with the football players who squat a small piece of asphalt for the duration of a match. Or you can be patient and take the opportunity to shop with the many young sellers who sell their goods - prepaid phone cards, CDs, fruits and vegetables, chickens, etc.At nightfall, as traffic jams become less frequent, the entertainment moves to the maquis, the video stores that are filled every evening with young and not so young people who come to relax, "to surround themselves", and forget for one evening the worries of everyday life. Because it must be recognized that for young Conakrykas, living conditions and future prospects do not give cause for optimism. In a city where finding a stable job is still too often a miracle, young people cling to their dreams, or rather to a dream that is common to many of them: going to the West. For some, this dream becomes obsession and pushes them to realize it sometimes at the risk of their lives.In this uncertain context, very regularly, working class neighbourhoods are the scene of sometimes violent demonstrations, all of which express a certain despair and a strong desire for change.Conakry remains a capital on the edge of the razor's edge, looking for a better future. Recent developments give some hope, but there is still a long way to go.