Guinea's transportation situation is probably the worst in the region - the roads are terrible, vehicles are routinely overloaded with absurd amounts of cargo, nine passengers are crammed in where neighboring countries would only accept seven, and far too many cars are held together with little more than baling wire and hope. In my experience, breakdowns are much more common than accidents, but accidents do happen.
A few weeks back, on the way from Kankan to Conakry, we saw quite a few cars abandoned by the roadside- station wagons, compacts, the odd SUV or truck. Some were rusting and partly scrapped, some seemed to be recent, and all were covered in a thick layer of the dust that swept in as soon as the rains ended. We also saw multiple overturned tractor-trailer rigs. I'm pretty sure we saw three total, two that had tipped over on the same curve, the second sliding over in the mud while trying to get around the first one.
This photo is of the third one, which appeared to be a recent one-vehicle mishap; the cargo hadn't been salvaged yet, and gendarme officers were still on the scene. On the way back from Conakry, nearly two weeks later, all but one of the trucks had been cleared away and we didn't see much in the way of accidents, which was nice.
We did see a cobra trying to cross the road, though, a huge black snake maybe six feet/two meters long. From a distance we thought it was a piece of tire tread, but it reared up as the car veered to avoid it and it was definitely alive, and definitely a cobra. Exciting times.
A few weeks back, on the way from Kankan to Conakry, we saw quite a few cars abandoned by the roadside- station wagons, compacts, the odd SUV or truck. Some were rusting and partly scrapped, some seemed to be recent, and all were covered in a thick layer of the dust that swept in as soon as the rains ended. We also saw multiple overturned tractor-trailer rigs. I'm pretty sure we saw three total, two that had tipped over on the same curve, the second sliding over in the mud while trying to get around the first one.
This photo is of the third one, which appeared to be a recent one-vehicle mishap; the cargo hadn't been salvaged yet, and gendarme officers were still on the scene. On the way back from Conakry, nearly two weeks later, all but one of the trucks had been cleared away and we didn't see much in the way of accidents, which was nice.
We did see a cobra trying to cross the road, though, a huge black snake maybe six feet/two meters long. From a distance we thought it was a piece of tire tread, but it reared up as the car veered to avoid it and it was definitely alive, and definitely a cobra. Exciting times.
