Guinea

This article refers to Guinea-Conakry. See also Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea.

In Guinea, the main roads are theoretically hitcheable, secondary roads only exceptionally. Your luck will always depend on timing as due to the state of the Guinean economy few people have personal vehicles, and even the ones that do often charge the same prices as taxis. Trucks will hardly ever pick you up for free as they are the public transport for people who can't afford taxis - except the ancient pickup trucks without windshield that don't go very far. However, if you are feeling daring, you can hitch on top of a truck just like many of the locals do for such long distances just like Kimmie did in 2013. This will take much longer than riding in a car, but you will get a good and unique view of Guinea. People might offer rides without being asked simply due to the rarity of seeing a backpack-ladden traveller strolling along the side of the road. Your best chances for hitching significant distances for free are with NGO jeeps (which also are much, much more comfortable than ordinary public transport) and the odd company car or private car that is sympathetic to your cause. The places to hitch from are the exits of town, sometimes stopping at customs and asking for help there will help, sometimes however they won't understand what you're doing and tell you that you need to pay as does everybody else. The secondary dirt roads that lead to smaller places are almost invariably in terrible condition and are rarely used by anything but motorcycles and the occasional taxi (except if there is a market day in the region when there is a lot of commerical traffic and you stand good chances finding a free lift - check out the trucks carrying dozens of people). That said, if you are traveling solo most motorcycles that aren't packed with stuff or a second (or fourth) person will offer a ride.

Guinea isin: Western Africa