Dalaba

26 december 2022

I left the relative comfort of my hotel in Conakry to hit local transport again and a trip up country. I had decided to head for the hills of Guinea and visit one of the hill station towns which was once popular with Conakry's more wealthy citizens wanting to escape from the city heat.

The trip involved a motor bike ride out to the suburbs to Gare Routier Bambeto early in the morning to secure a seat in a shared taxi to Dalaba.

Having time in this taxi rank area was interesting at this time in the morning - a view into the city coming to life and where many people seemed to sleep. People were getting breakfast and preparing their sale's material for the day. There were plenty of vendors selling anything from plastic toys to food. There were lots of men around working around the taxis to round up customers, prepare the luggage and get everything tied on the roof as securely as possible.

We got going around 08:00 and the driver navigated the road out of Conakry which is under construction. We were driving in a dust cloud which started to clear as the road become more secure and we climbed into the hills. We stopped many teams of construction workers overseen by members of the Chinese company which was managing this huge infrastructure upgrade. On route we stopped for prayer time at a small road side mosque and later for food where the whole taxi group sat around a bowl to share rice and fish.

Dalaba was a greener, calmer and small town. I took a motor bike taxi from the central taxi rank to a hotel recommended in the guide book; Hotel SIB. It was a real surprise to find this place lay on the edge of town, in huge grounds, with many rooms, a dining area, an outside bar by a pool and an ornate meeting space. There was definitely an air of past luxury around the hotel although now it was run down and management seemed inexperienced and lapse.

I spent the afternoon looking round the town and later ate a very tasty meal in the hotel restaurant. I stayed outside to enjoy the pounding Guinea music by the pool for a whole in the evening. There were intermittent power failures throughout the evening. I did not feel completely at ease in this environment and had already decided to move hotels in the morning.