Welcome to Guinea

You are welcome. I was told this repeatedly upon entering Guinea as people were warm and welcoming. The difference at the border (or Frontier as its called) was so different and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The most obvious was the change in language where everyone speaks French. Luckily I had a colleague with me that was very helpful in translating when I didn’t understand. We stopped in the town of Nzérékoré on the way to the office to meet government officials at their home as it was a Sunday. I was mostly nervous of breaking protocol unknowingly (which half way through I realised I was the only one that didn’t take off shoes). I didn’t understand a word but I learnt smiling and nodding (following suite of my colleague as to make sure I wasn’t agreeing to the wrong thing) helped a lot. After protocol was observed we were off to Seredou, home for the next three nights in the heart of Ziama Man and Biosphere Reserve.