Chapter 67

Hawa’s POV

The following days were filled with excursions. We explored all the islands with our guide, each one with its own unique story. We started with Kassa, or Sorro, the first island visible from Conakry. According to Mr. Bangoura, it stretched over 8 km and housed the administrative center of the Loos Islands. Kassa was rich in tourist sites, most of which were undeveloped. It was also where bauxite was discovered in Guinea in 1920 by the “Compagnie des Bauxites du Midi,” a French subsidiary of Alcan. In the center of the island, we saw gaping bauxite extraction quarries from that period and traces of the first mineral port.

Another fascinating discovery on this island was the Kassa oil mill, the first peanut oil factory built in Guinea. Constructed by the French, it was now abandoned and overtaken by nature. The center of Kassa also housed the former city of civil servants of French West Africa (AOF). The ruins of monuments, isolated in a forest of trees a