Vicarious Tourism: Les Cascades de la Soumba

One of the very few practical day trips from Conakry is to a waterfall near Dubreka, 1 1/2 to 2 hours' drive out of town, depending on traffic. This is pretty much exclusively a trip for the end of the rainy season (like now), as I learned to my peril when I took the family there when they visited in March. Can you spot the difference?

As tourist attractions go it's not much. There's a restaurant run by a Lebanese guy where you can get lunch and a beer, if you're patient. There are some nice ledges where you can sit behind the waterfall. You can swim and climb around - if you dare. This is Africa, so there are no rules but also no lifeguards. A little girl almost drowned while we were there, but fortunately a brawny Russian jumped in and rescued her.

We were willing to take our lives in our own hands, so we passed a couple of pleasant hours clambering around, using the current as a water slide, and graciously appearing in pictures with random Guineans who wanted a foté photo as a souvenir. We ended up with a couple of minor cuts and bruises and some great photos, so I'll call it a success.