Kankan

Guinea's second city spreads under old mangoes on the Milo River in the Mande heartland - successor ground of the Mali Empire, whose griots still carry the epics here, and long a centre of Islamic scholarship whose Koranic schools and grand mosque anchor the city's identity. Kankan's pleasures are unhurried: the central market's cloth and gold quarters, pirogues and washing-day colour on the Milo's banks, the university town's teahouse debates, and the surrounding villages where balafon and kora traditions play their originals. It is the natural base for Upper Guinea's savanna and the cultural counterweight to coastal Conakry.

What you actually see

• The grand mosque - the scholarly city's spiritual anchor.
• The Milo riverbanks - pirogues, gardens and evening promenades.
• The central market - cloth, gold and the savanna's trade.
• The griot tradition - Mande epics and music in their homeland.

When to go

November to February is dry and relatively cool; the rains flood the Milo photogenically but slow every road. Fridays centre the city on the mosque; markets peak mornings.

Honest expectations

Kankan offers atmosphere and living culture rather than monuments - visitors who need sights-per-hour will find it thin, while those who settle into tea-and-conversation pace find the point. Roads from the coast are long; internal flights save days when running. French and Maninka open doors; guides bridge the rest.

Nearby

The Niger River towns, Siguiri's gold country and the road toward the forest region.