Kerouané continues to deliver this morning: bean lady and coffee are both easy to find. You really can’t ask for much more than that. I’ve sincerely enjoyed this town, and there are mountains around here that I imagine I could explore and entertain myself amongst for many days. But I am at a point in my trip where I need to be getting closer to Senegal. The rest of my life awaits.

As I’ve ridden north from Beyla, several things have happened roughly in tandem, and these trends accelerate today north of Kerouané:

- Mountains get smaller, trending towards rolling savanna

- Average height of trees and density of vegetation declines

- Temperate increases

- Humidity decreases

- Dust increases

- Flow rate and clarity of water in creeks declines

- Price of bananas increases

The last of the Simandou mountains faded out of sight an hour or two after leaving this morning, and from then on it was hills and rolling plains that descended, on average towards Kankan, which is on the Milo river, a tributary of the Niger.

Kerouané, while considered a part of the region of Haute Guinée, felt like it still had elements of Guinée Forestiere: mountains, and plentiful greenery. But heading north there is no doubt, I have entered the savanna. There are still some nice viewpoints here and there, and the occasional section of gallery forest, but over the course of the day the transition is pretty distinct.

Kankan is a major city, and the center of Guinean Malinké culture. I’ll spend 2 or 3 nights here, and then start the final push back over the Futa Jallon to Kedougou.