Ditinn, Guinea

2019-02-26 : Ditinn waterfall, highest waterfall in Guinea.

Leaving Dalaba we follow the N5 for about 5 km to Tinka where we take the bad track on the right towards Ditinn.

Leaving Dalaba

The track towards Ditinn

We follow this very rough track for about 25 km to the entrance of the village of Ditinn. It took us 1h50. We are still 6 km from the waterfalls, the trail leading to it starts right at the entrance of the village. It is a narrow track and we are going to have some difficulties because of the low branches. We cross 2 or 3 villages where the villagers greet friendly at our passage.

The last hundreds meters to the camp.

The last hundred meters are quite problematic, mainly because of the very narrow passages between the trees and the branches a little too low for our taste. We hesitate and are about to stop in a wide clearance of the track. We are not more than 700 m from the camp and 2.5 km from the falls themselves, so stop here, eat a little and continue on foot.
But two men on mopets are watching their prey. These are mopeds that have passed us in one of the villages before. We did not really pay attention to it, but in fact they just preceded us a distance away without us noticing. Now that the prey seems to escape, they come to us where we stopped to encourage us to continue to the camp. There is a small delicate passage with trees but after that goes very well, they say. We are still hesitating a bit, and then we end up following them. Indeed, it scratches a little on the body but we arrive without much problem to the site.
They open us the barrier and we park Gandalf in the shade of a large neem tree.

Gandalf at the camp under a neem tree.

We negotiate the price for the visit of the falls and the camp for one night.
It's very confusing. Who is who ? Apparently there is a manager of the site, but it is with one of the men in moped that we negotiate. He claims 200,000 GNF (19.89 €). It's way too much ! I propose 50,000 GNF. It goes down to 150,000. No way! I am ready to go up to 100,000 because there are apparently showers and toilets. As he refuses I restart the engine and pretended to leave. OK for 100,000!
We wait for the freshness of late afternoon to go to the falls.
Our young man on a motorcycle comes to ask us if we could pay now so that he can buy food! It's really strange as a fool. Obviously it's not him I pay but the "chef" who makes us a more serious impression. The young man then comes to say goodbye by asking us something to eat. It's starting to seriously annoy me but Christine, always a little more relaxed than me in these situations, gives him a piece of bread with mayonnaise and a tomato.
We set out for the falls at 16:30, starting by crossing the small river at the edge of the forest where some women are doing their laundry.

Crossing a small river before entering the forest.

On the way to the waterfalls

Small waterfall in the forest.

After a 1.5 km crossing of the forest we arrive at the foot of the falls. They are much more beautiful than those of Garaya even if the flow remains quite low in this season. They are also the highest in Guinea with a 100 m difference in altitude.

Christine at the Ditinn waterfall

The pool at the foot of the waterfall.

Christine at the Ditinn waterfall.

We stay there for half an hour. The sun will soon disappear behind the cliffs, so it's time to go back.

Back to the camp.

Next day, 2018-02-27:

This morning it is 21 °C in the cabin and only 15 °C outside. 15 °C! It's incredibly cool! Especially in consideration of the altitude. We are 400 m lower than Dalaba (so at about 800 m). The most impressive is the delta between the afternoon temperatures of 37 ° C and those of the night. More than 20 K difference!

Gandalf at the camp.

Christine is going to do laundry in the river. She is soon joined by some women from the village.

Laundry at the river.

On my side I will talk a little with Mamadouki, it is the manager and guardian of the site. He explains that he is trying with the mayor of the village to develop the tourism potential of the site. For example by being more transparent on the tariffs: posted tariffs (for example 60 000 GNF per night and per person for the camp and the access to the falls) with tickets. Normally the simple visit of the falls costs 20 000 GNF. What happened yesterday is not correct, he explains. He had to pay 75,000 GNF (out of 100,000) to the two motorcyclists as a commission for bringing tourists and helping out a bit of brushing. I explain that in fact they brought no one and that we found the way so far absolutely alone.
On this I leave him and let him work. He is clearing a piece of land at the edge of the river to plant banana and orange trees.

Then we leave towards Labé, the main city in the Fouta Djallon Region.
Some pictures of the road to Labé and on the market:

Bottled gasoline for mopeds.

Bush taxis as there are so many in Guinea.

"Shopping" in Labé