Mysterious Niger, born in the lush highlands of Guinea, loops in a great bend past Bamako, Mopti and Timbuktu in Mali, touching Niger and Benin, flowing through Nigeria, fanning out into the huge Niger Delta, before emptying into the Golf of Guinea. As birthplace of the one of my two favourite African rivers (the other is the Congo), Guinea should rank high on my champions league of African countries. But when I was visiting in 2004 on a business trip, few African cities left such a bad mark in my memories as Conakry. Children played next to posh beach-side residences in sewage, power was more often cut than delivered, city roads had way more potholes than tarmac. Welcome to Africa’s most miserable (I had not yet been in Juba those days) city!

Finally, after a few days work, the Îles de Los came like a sensual promise, complete with palm-fringed beaches, a great restaurant, serving Pili Pili crevettes, fresh coconut and ice-cold local beer. Isn’t it wonderful that paradise sometimes is less than 10 kilometers away?