KOUKOUDÉ VILLAGE

Near Bel Air beach (at the other end of the beach from the Bel Air hotel), Koukoudé is a charming little fishing village. It is reached from the last hamlet just before Bel-Air, by turning right at the junction (it takes about 20 minutes to get there). The huts of the poorest inhabitants are made of straw. Most of the local activity is focused on fishing (an exclusively male activity) and the smoking of fish (a domain reserved for women) that will be shipped to Conakry. Pirogues painted in shimmering colors are stranded on the shore or moored in the port. Stands of fish dry in the sun or exhale their smoke under the heat of the embers. Here, under makeshift sheds covered with sheet metal, they never go out! When the pirogues arrive, the waltz of the basins full of fish that the young people bring back on their head to their owner begins. The dance seems a bit anarchic, but all in all it is effective. Attention, hot in front! Palm oil extraction and salt production are also widely practiced locally. To note: a project led by Univers-sel, an association of French salt workers, which has allowed the development of solar salt production to replace the production using heating and therefore a lot of mangrove wood; the pressure on the local mangrove is thus a little less strong. So many opportunities to meet and discover the surrounding villages!