Conakry... the City of [No] Lights

Everyone wants too see photos of Conakry it seems. This is difficult for a few reasons:

1. Conakry is ugly. I'm a perfectionist photographer who doesn't like showing off ugly photos and it is really hard to pull something not ugly out of Conakry. To be honest.

2. I'm scared to go walking around with a camera that is worth a couple years annual income of a lot of the people here. I treat my camera like it is my child and, like any good parent, I try not to expose my child to potentially dangerous situations. :)

3. And, most importantly, it's illegal to take photos in Guinea. These last two items mean that I only get to shoot photos from the car window where I can speed away if a police/military/scary person decides that I look like a good target.

Nonetheless, here are a few Conakry photos:

Conakry sits on the Atlantic Ocean and has a downright ugly coastline because of the trash, rocks, mud and (probably) toxic waste. It reeks. But, a sunset can even make the coast of Conakry look a bit better. This photo is from the balcony of the Regional Security Officer of the US Embassy's house.

The view from the other side of the balcony is Miniere neighborhood of Conakry, where the IRC guesthouse is located. I thought this photo is decent because it shows 1. an abandoned partially constructed building like those that seem to abound in Conakry, 2. the jungle takeover of a house (if there even is a house in there?) and 3. fancy-pants expat housing.

Next is the view out the front window of the IRC Landrover of the best road in Guinea (that I've seen atleast). There are four lanes and street lights that the occasionally turn on. This is the main road in/out of Conakry, so during rush hour, this is a parking lot on one side of the road.

And finally... a couple women walking outside of the Marche Niger in downtown Conakry. I hopefully will have a few more photos soon.