Loos Islands Archipelago - Villa Elijah's - Guinea Conakry

An hard environment ...Touristic

The Loos Islands are rarely more than 1 km wide.
The largest, Tamara and Kassa, lie about 10km from north to south.
They bear the highest reliefs : 162m north of Tamara (formerly the Ballay mount), 108m south of Kassa (Koromandja mount).
Other islands are even smaller ( White Island, Coral Island), until they are only islands that are discovered only at low tide : Îlet Poulet, îlet Fousset.
The landscapes of the Roume Island - remarkable for its location in the center of the archipelago - are characteristic.
To the north, a cove is subdivided into two beaches, allowing the boats to dock safely, either at the level of the village of Roume (beach of the port) or more to the east (beach called "Pokia"), in front of where the tourists gather. The rest of the coastline is rocky and difficult to access, and the slope is steep up to the summits (61 and 82m). (Ideal for bush walking enthusiasts and trekkers).
Bare rock is common at the water's edge, gardening activities are limited to the outskirts of the village, while the rest of the island is devoted to the cultivation of palm and cassava, where possible. The small island population has specialized mainly in fishing, and in recent 20 years, during the dry seasons, in tourism.

Crawford Sandbank

The so-called "Crawford" sandbank north of Roume Island, discovered at low tide, owes its name to a refractory slave, captured by the English and hanged on the island.
Loos Islands, Idols Islands

"Los" term, comes from the Portuguese idolos, the idols, which the islanders, strongly marked by animism, Agricultural work to attract the benefits of deities, and avoid certain catastrophes. Animist Beliefs and Witchcraft are fairly developed on the islands.

In the islands the Soussou became the dominant language with the French. English disappeared in the first decades of the 20th century.
Until the 1970s, the dominant religion of the islanders was Christianity. But today the only Christian group, are the Anglican Christians of the village of Fotoba, on the island of Tamara. All other islanders are Muslims.

Roume or Room ?
Roume is the name of the General Governor of A.O.F., Ernest Roume, hierarchical superior of the governor of French Guinea.
This is the name given to the island on the topographic map of 1956 (French I.G.N), the last realized. But until the eve of Independence of Guinea, the islanders (especially those of Sierra Leonean origin) wrote Room.

Roume(Room) Village

The village of Roume is located on the northern coast of the island, easily accessible by boat and well sheltered from the swell.
A palm grove occupies most of the arable land, which is not very extensive in this predominantly rocky island.
A fishing village, because fishing is the main activity in the archipelago.
- Sea bream : Wooden boats (12m long/2.5m wide) of 6 people go fishing at the Palangrotte(line), on the high seas or towards the Sierra-Leone, for 3 days. They can iced the fish because they are equipped with a large ice box in the boat.
- Net fishing : Same boats with or without ice box, they go to sea to lay leaded nets, 500 or 700m long, which they fill in the bottom of the water so that they are derived.
They set them down in the morning and ride them in the evening, or else go to sea for 3/4 days. With food and ice.
- "Bounga" fishing (mackerel) here too, the "Bounga" is a big sardine, which fishermen catch with small mesh floats, which drift according to the current.
It was not always so : until the 1950s, agriculture dominated, which may explain the continental origin of the populations. The increase in demand for fish related to the Conakry 1950 and the exploitation of factories on Kassa (Bauxite and Granite), where islanders found hiring, explains their relative enrichment : most of the houses of Roume are urban.
With a large Primary School, a beautiful Mosque, some villas, etc ...
Industrial and artisanal fisheries often compete in the same area, despite the act. Industrial fishing is expanding to the coast to take advantage of high yields. Conflicts sometimes break out.
Some of the catch is frozen, the rest is either fresh (at Conakry) or smoked.