Labe, Guinea to Kankan to Man, Ivory Coast

[Hindu1936]

Is this route dirt, tarmac? Doable on a scooter? We are getting down now to just a few more months and have decided to see more than just ride the coast road to Nigeria? We would like to see some of the more remote places if we can get there without a struggle. Just met Peter and Kay Forwood and after viewing their slides (they spent a weekend with us and were kind enough to share) the thirst for more than just a highway opened up.

thanks for any advice

Joe

[manfredschweda]

Getting to Labe can be tough (did Koundara to Mali, northern high altitude village in Fouta Djallon, extremely bad roads), Koundara to Labe is probably better,
Mali to Labe is definetly better.
This Fab Trek - Photography and Journey. Back in Guinea/Guinée.

Labe, Mamou, Kan Kan is tarmac.
Kan Kan south to Kerouane Beyla Nzerekore is bad
This Fab Trek - Photography and Journey: Guinea|Guinee, N'zerekore, Mount Nimba.

One note on CI, where I have not been yet, some guy (public transport, entered from Mali) said, they did not stamp him in correctly as he entered in rebel territories, which gave him constant headache and even in Abidjan they refused to give hime a stamp in his passport and suggested he had to leave.

Rgds Manfred

[sonjagael]

Hey Joe and Manfred,

How is it going Manfred? We are in Bamako currently but we just went through Guinee.

We went from Gabu in Guinea Bissau through Koundara, Labe, Mamou, Kissidougou, then up to Kankan and out to Bamako.

The road from Guinea Bissau to Koundara is the worst yet on our trip. From Koundara to Labe, it's 260km of piste ranging from very good piste to very bad piste (especially the last 30km). I would not do this on a scooter, it will take you over 1 day to get through. Past Labe, it gets better. Labe to Mamou (the split to go to Kankan), the road is great and a great ride through the Fouta and villages. We went to see waterfalls and visit villages around Pita and Mamou, it's a lovely experience and I would recommend it though the roads can be quite sandy, they often split without any idea of which way is the right way, and sometimes the road disappears all together once you leave the tarmac. We didn't do Mamou to Kankan, but we heard that it is quite potholed to Dabola and then good to Bamako (tarmac the whole way once you get passed Labe though).

Going south from Mamou, the scenery gets very green (very pretty), the road is very potholed to Farannah, then pristine to in between Kissidougou and Macenta. Then we heard there were bad stretches to Nzerekore.

From Kissi to Kankan, it's very pretty though it is a piste for 100km. They were regrating it when we went through and had about 40km of quite bad piste to finish. The last 80km or so are tarmac and quite good though do have some potholes. From Kankan to Bamako, the road is perfect.

I hope that helps, you can do all of this on a scooter though be careful! I would think twice about doing Koundara to Labe and wandering the small pistes off the tarmac can be tricky.

Safe travels and let us know how it went!

Gael

[Hindu1936]

well, guess we will stick to the coastal routes and the tarmac. The scooter is can't run on any of the really bad stuff, I ride a rough gravel, potholed road every day, but that is on a smaller machine and no load except for me. would not want to do it with eight hundred pounds to have to muscle around. good advice from people who have done it is always good. thanks much

joe

[TT-Kira]

As for the CI side, the rebels have 'gone' it's calmed down considerably but bribes are still abound!!! Looking at my maps & knowing the roads in Guinea & CI, I would think that crossing the border on a moped could be similar to doing the Koundara - Labe road

Kira