2015 and the Gunieas.

"I have a dream" and it also culminates with the epiphany "free at last". 2015 is the year that my partner, bambino and I will circumnavigate the world on the high seas, in search of bounty and adventure. By this stage I will be approaching 40 and as I've been pretty lucky so far in my travelling, I'm looking for a couple of curve balls and sliders to visit.

One area under the magnifying glass of suspicion for world class waves and not a surf logo clad boys 18 -30 holiday camp in sight is West Africa and in particular Guinea and Guinea Bissau. Are you kidding me? I mean if I ever saw a sexier, jauntier angle poised to receive beloved Atlantic swells from the south and west, then I am a monkey's uncle.

Guinea Bissau does seem a little flawed though. As a keen geographer and student of the world, I wonder how the Geba river and more importantly its gargantuan delta have escaped my notice. Anyway with the exception of a small area to the north of the country, the whole place is dominated by an enormous river mouth and sedimentary deposits, I think. It's off the list, unless anyone is going to drop me a message to state the opposite. According to my blog counter, I have a dirth of interest from the West of Africa which I can see is a glitch in the system, so prove it wrong.

Anyway on to Guinea. Guinea is not adverse to enormous river mouths either but does have substantial swathes of beaches and has considerable potential I reckon. Certainly I think beach breaks abound having scanned it on Google Earth. Conarky the capital has some serious offshore islands and they look jungle infested but as of yet I could only find an inhospitable south and west facing coastline. Still good beach breaks in a new and exciting location seem to be well worth keeping in mind. I thought to myself.....best do a little research....not that it is the be all and end all but I just thought have a peak. After I went through the AIDS situation, the world food program data and the IMF report which were all unsurprisingly grim, I stumbled upon the British Foreign Office report:

We advise against all but essential travel to Guinea. The level of security in Guinea remains uncertain. Land borders are closed until further notice but sea and airports remain open. You should carry your identity papers with you at all times.

It went on to add that theft at gunpoint is common on individuals and businesses, which I guess deters investment and tourists alike.

 Welcome to Guinea!

Basically the Guineans didn't like being colonised by the frogs but since the garlic eaters abandoned them, they've had a few military coups with violent suppression and the democracy movement is trying to flex its people power wings...things are in the balance. Most of the refugees who swamped the country have departed and returned to Liberia and the the families from Sierra Leone have had their refugee status retracted. On a brighter note the risk from Al Qaeda is insignificant. Things have been in flux for two years and they were worse before, if that makes sense.

 A beach scene from the capital, looks chilled and romantic.

 However having had a look online and read some travelling blogs, there looks like a thriving culture and some amazing landscapes....hmmmm interesting.

 I'm not going to write Guinea off my hit list yet for 2015 as I feel that would be all too easy to do and the whole spirit of adventure lost. So people of Guinea, Spinalsurfer sends you peaceful  felicitations and if anyone knows of a couple of handy surf spots don't be shy passing it on.

This photo seemed to sum up what I read but have not experienced of Guinea so far. Suerte.