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.

History

According to oral history, Kankan was founded in 1690 by Daouda Kaba, whose family had come from Diafounou, in present-day Mali, and whose uncle, chief of the nearby village of Makonon, gave him land on the banks of the Milo; another tradition says Dyula traders founded it in the mid 17th century. By the 18th century it was an important religious centre under the Islamic scholar Alfa Kaabinè Kaba and a trading town linking the coast, the kola-growing regions and the Niger valley, and it was the capital of the Bate Empire (Wikipedia, Kankan).

What to look for

• 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.

Before you go

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.

Key facts