This was the most challenging border crossing from West Africa, from Guinea Bissau to Guinea Conarky. The best is to do this journey in two or three days stopping on the way to rest.
I started my journey in Paragem Central in Bissau at 7:30
There are three options:
Bafata, Gabu (East Border) or Ganhamel (South Border). Many people said that the south Border was more complicated due to the jungle, some river crossing and hidden robers. Eventought on maps showed to be way shorter, locals would go east. There is a report about south border on a traveler website. https://onlybyland.com/travel-from-bissau-to-conakry-guinea/
If You go to Bafata you have to get another car to Gabu. So I went straight for the Gabu bus. It cost 4000 francs and he charged 500 for a 40l backpack. Comfortable van with 8 seats, plenty of leg space.
Instead of dropping us at the station, at 1:30 pm the driver dropped us in the middle of nowhere and said we should take a taxi to the station, it was an arranged scam. His taxi driver, probably his friend, charged us 500 francs each for a short 5 minute ride. This is the photo of the car, do not take any taxi, it was only 15 minutes walk distance.
Now is the tricky part, I could chose a 7 plas car going straight to Lome or try to reach the border. The 7 plas had only three people with me and locals told me it would just leave the next day early morning, because the chance to get people this time was very low (17.000 francs).
I looked for a van to Buruntuma the border city. It was a local van where they miraculously fit 25 people, not counting the kids, goats and luggage. They charged 2000 francs, try to charge my bag but I had no more money on me. I exchanged 40 us dollars already into Guinean franc with an ok rate.
The van left at 2:40pm and arrived at the border 5:40 pm. The roads from Bissau all the way to the border were a nightmare, only dirty road, plenty holes and leftover asphalt. Exit was slow but no surprises, he fill up the same book they fill on the country entry and asked for my guinea visa. I managed to exit 5:55 pm and grab a moto taxi rushing to the other side that closes around 6-6:30 pm. On the way I negotiate price, till Sareboido 40k Guinean franc, till Koundara the next big town was 100k (where I could take the chance to get a car to Conakry).
The entry was a bit awkward, the officers try to be rude to intimidate, he asked few questions and gave me stamp, straight after he closed the window (border was closed). Is important to bring two visa copies, he stamp both and keep one. The other is good to show on any police check. Than the customs office in another building asked for me to go inside a room, another office came and start to ask if I had gun or money inside. I said in french no and that they could open and check everything. They let me go, no bribes, not much pressure.
The road after is a nightmare, is not even a road, is a moto cross road, just holes and sand and stones. The pilot didn’t care about his life or mine. He was just rushing so he could finish the service. Once I arrived in Sareboido he said I was going on another moto from his brother that was better. I didn’t liked this system but I just wanted to keep going, I gave 40k for the first moto and 60k for the second to bring me to Koundara.
The second pilot was trying to kill himself, he would pilot 100km in a dirty road full of holes, no helmet. He would use his phone to call friends and pilot with one hand. I am not religious but I started to pray. Later on he put me in a third moto and gave him some cash, I was already pissed by them and mentally exhausted from the whole travel journey.
I arrived in Koundara 8pm and tons of guys come on top of me to get comission to put me inside a car. Meanwhile I got an orange simcard try to exchange more dollars but didn’t do it because the rate was ridiculous. And try to whidrahal but ATM was broken.
The price to Conakry from there is 270k Guinean and he charged 30k for luggage. I paid part of it and told I was going to pay the rest next day. We left at 9pm. A Renault 7 plas with a ton of cargo on top, 7 adults plus the driver and 4 kids on laps. The trip to Conakry lasted exactly 24 hours with kids vomiting, peing on me, crying a lot. There were plenty stops including from 2 to 5 am for the driver to sleep. Our tires also got flat 9am, luckly he had a back up and changed straight away.
In afternoon also a stop to change the oil. The road was a complete nightmare, only dirty road and only 10 hours of asphalt on the entire journey. I also noticed he took the longest path possible because he had to drop someone on a city and drop deliveries right after. We arrived in Conakry 8pm.
Important DISCLAIMER: there were a ton of police checkpoints, but luckly we had a guy from the army with us as passenger, making it pretty quick. And I also sit on the back behind the dark glass and police haven’t seen me most of the time. I haven’t showed my passport a single moment.