evidence: Guinea is the world's second poorest country, has tourist facilities to prove it, but is a friendly destination for budget travellers looking for a West African holiday. When France offered its West African territories the option of independence or autonomy as part of a Franco-African community of nations, Guinea embarked down the road less travelled and took its independence. Alienation from France broke the country, suspending it in a downhill journey through socialism, gross human rights offences and terrible poverty. Democracy's been around for about a decade, but prospects remain dim. [...] France negotiated Guinea's present boundaries in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the British for Sierra Leone, the Portuguese for their Guinea colony (now Guinea Bissau), and Liberia. Under the French, the country formed the Territory of Guinea within French West Africa, administered by a governor general resident in Dakar. Lieutenant governors administered the individual colonies, including Guinea. [...] There is transport to and from Cote d'Ivoire, but safety situations in that country remain unstable at the moment. The main route is between Lola and Man either via Gbakoré and Danané or via Sipilou and Biankouma but there are other routes with less trafifc though. If coming from Kankan, it's better via Bamako as roads directly to Cote d'Ivoire are bad.