Conakry

Conakry, Guinea

The Grand Mosque of Conakry rises over a dusty street in warm late-afternoon light.

Conakry is Guinea's Atlantic capital, a peninsula port of mosques, markets and heavy rain, with the Îles de Los just offshore.

The place

Conakry is the capital of Guinea, a port on a narrow Atlantic peninsula called Kaloum. People first lived on Tombo, in the Îles de Los offshore, and only later built across the water onto the peninsula's outer end. From there the streets have pushed back along the land until the whole spit is city. The ground is low, about 13 metres above the sea, so harbour, beach edge and rooftops stay in one tight band. Conakry holds the country's government, its main port and much of its cultural life. Alumina and bananas leave through the harbour, and local plants also make foodstuffs, cement, metalwork and fuel. Marché Madina and Marché du Niger keep everyday buying and selling moving, and the fish market is a working quay rather than a viewpoint. About 3.4 million people live here, and the crush shows in the traffic, the informal building and the strain on services. Conakry has a tropical monsoon climate. From December through April a dry harmattan comes off the continent and showers almost disappear. Rain peaks in July and August, and those months are far wetter here than across much of West Africa. Heat and humidity linger for much of the year. Since the early 2000s, residents have lived with electricity and water that fail and return without much warning, so outages are part of the city's ordinary rhythm. The city's name is Conakry in French, Kɔnakiri in Susu and Konaakiri in Fula, with an N'Ko form (ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫) as well. Mosques and churches share the peninsula with the port, the campuses and the markets.

Its story

Conakry's story starts on Tombo, one of the offshore Îles de Los, where the villages of Conakry and Boubinet stood before any colonial capital. By 1885 those two villages still counted under 500 residents between them. France took the island over from Britain in 1887, and that handover is when the colonial town really began. The new streets soon jumped to Kaloum, the long narrow peninsula that still holds the centre. In 1904 the French made Conakry the capital of their Guinea colony. The town did well as a harbour, above all once a rail line to Kankan — later abandoned — let groundnuts move out of the interior in bulk. Independence came in 1958 and the capital stayed put. The headcount was about 50,000 that year and about 600,000 in 1980, against more than 3.4 million today. Ahmed Sékou Touré, the first president, left buildings rather than a preserved quarter. The Grand Mosque went up in 1982, and the Monument du 22 Novembre 1970 recalls how a Portuguese-backed landing, Operation Green Sea, was fought off. After independence the city raced off the island. The national museum opened within a few years, campuses such as Université Kofi Annan took their place in the urban area, and the harbour still carries the economy. Conakry is less an old town kept for visitors than a capital that outgrew its first island and then its pipes and power.

What to see

Culture

Conakry's cultural life sits in public buildings and in the street at once. At Sandervalia the national museum, opened in the first years after independence, holds masks and sacred objects and tells the story of Guinea's peoples and their older past, while the National Library and the National Archives look after the state's written memory. The Monument du 22 Novembre 1970 puts the 1970 coup attempt into the open air of the peninsula. Faith is part of the ordinary cityscape. The Grand Mosque of Conakry is the main Islamic landmark, and Christian worship includes the Roman Catholic Cathédrale Sainte-Marie, the Église Protestante Évangélique de Guinée and Assemblies of God congregations. Schools and universities share the peninsula, from Gamal Abdel Nasser University and Université Kofi Annan to the Lycée français Albert Camus. Green space is limited. The Conakry Botanical Garden, where kapok trees stand out, and Jardin 2 Octobre are the named parks; most shade in the city is accidental. Football sets the sporting year. Many sides in the top national league are based in Conakry, play runs from October to June, and the national team, the Elephants, uses the city's stadiums. Dress modestly at Conakry's mosques, take your shoes off where others do, and ask before you photograph people at prayer or in the markets.

What to wear

Conakry dresses in a West African range that changes with the day. For prayers, weddings and feast days, people still commission bazin, a stiff damask cotton that tailors dye and beat to a shine, cut as a boubou for men and as a matching complet — top, wrapper and headcloth — for women. Wax-print cotton, the pagne, is the everyday ceremonial cloth, sewn by neighbourhood tailors. Embroidery on the chest and a kufi cap mark formal men's wear, and many women add a headscarf, especially in Fula families and at the mosque. On a weekday the peninsula looks more mixed. Office staff wear light shirts and trousers or simple dresses, students wear jeans and football shirts, and market traders choose clothes that can take heat, dust and a sudden soak. Bazin comes out on Fridays and at celebrations; the rest of the week, imported cuts and local tailoring sit side by side. Shoulders and knees covered are the right default for a visitor in Conakry, with a scarf for the Grand Mosque and shoes that slip off at prayer halls. The climate is hot and often very wet, so breathable cotton is kinder than heavy cloth, and a light rain jacket beats a formal coat.

What to eat

Plan it

Best time. December to April is Conakry's dry season, when the harmattan leaves the city almost without rain and walking is easier. July and August are the wettest months, and the rest of the wet season stays humid and hard to plan around.

How long. 3–4

Getting there. Conakry's international airport is on the peninsula, and a taxi covers the last leg into the centre. A fast ferry runs from Freetown, and shared taxis come from Kindia. The railway inland is closed, so an overland arrival is by road, with extra time for checkpoints beyond the city.

Budget. mid

Tips

Etiquette

Nearby

Sources