Guinea or the République de Guinée to be precise lies on the west coast of Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea, the country is bounded by six other nations along a 2,100-mile border, and around a quarter of its estimated population of ten million people live in the port city of Conakry. Independent from France since 1958, French is still the official language of Guinea, though it’s said that there are twenty-four different local languages in use throughout the country.

The world's second largest producer of bauxite, Guinea is also rich in other precious minerals such as gold and diamonds. In such an impoverished country, it’s little wonder that stories relating to corruption in the mining industry dominate the news headlines whenever the media examine the economy in detail.

It’s highly unlikely that golf will ever feature whenever sport is discussed by Guineans, but football… well, the national sport is played anywhere and everywhere by just about everybody, young and old. The national team has never qualified for the World Cup Finals but locals live in hope to one day cheer on the players of the National Elephant, as the team’s called, in the latter stages of a major competition.