GUINEA ( République de Guinée )

Guinea officially the Republic of Guinea (French: République de Guinée), is a west-coastal country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea (French: Guinée française), the modern country is sometimes referred to as Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from other countries with "Guinea" in the name and the eponymous region, such as Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea. Guinea has a population of 12.4 million and an area of 245,857 square kilometres (94,926 sq mi). French, the official language of Guinea, is the main language of communication in schools, in government administration, and the media, but more than twenty-four indigenous languages are also spoken. 

Guinea is named after the Guinea region. Guinea is a traditional name for the region of Africa that lies along the Gulf of Guinea. It stretches north through the forested tropical regions and ends at the Sahel. The English term Guinea comes directly from the Portuguese word Guiné, which emerged in the mid-15th century to refer to the lands inhabited by the Guineus, a generic term for the black African peoples south of the Senegal River, in contrast to the "tawny" Zenaga Berbers above it, whom they called Azenegues or Moors. The official language of Guinea is French. Other significant languages spoken are Pular (Fulfulde or Fulani), Maninka (Malinke), Susu, Kissi, Kpelle, and Loma.

Guinea shares a border with Guinea-Bissau to the north-west, Senegal to the north, Mali to the north-east, Ivory Coast to the east, Sierra Leone to the south-west and Liberia to the south. The nation forms a crescent as it curves from its southeast region to the north and west, to its northwest border with Guinea-Bissau and southwestern coast on the Atlantic Ocean. The sources of the Niger River, Gambia River, and Senegal River are all found in the Guinea Highlands. The wildlife of Guinea is very diverse due to the wide variety of different habitats. The southern part of the country lies within Guinean Forests of West Africa Biodiversity hotspot, while the north-east is characterized by dry savanna woodlands. Unfortunately, declining populations of large animals are restricted to uninhabited distant parts of parks and reserves.

Prior to 1892, the coastal portions of French Guinea was administered from the French colony of Senegal, and used French Colonies general stamps and the stamps of Senegal. As French Guinea was made into a separate colony, the first series of 13 stamps was issued in 1892. French Guinea was joined into French West Africa with other French colonies in 1895. Stamps were issued for French Guinea until being replaced by the stamps of French West Africa in 1943. Between 1944 and independence in 1958, French Guinea used the stamps of French West Africa. The French colonial territories in the federation issued their own postage stamps until 1943. In many cases the stamps were inscribed with the name of the federation "Afrique Occidentale Française" as well as the colony's own name. It was followed by a Stamp Day issue on March 21, 1959, which omitted the federation's name and was inscribed "CF" along with "Dakar-Abidjan" for use in Ivory Coast and Senegal. The first stamps of the Republic of Guinea were issued on 5 January 1959 marking independence.

 
Two Registered Airmail covers from Guinea sent by Holger during his vacation in January 2016. The covers posted on January 04, 2016 and I received  on January 25, 2016. Unfortunately one among the covers reached as wet. Holger faced many difficulties to post a registered letter with stamps and postmarks. The postal staff were reluctant to accept the pre-affixed stamps for Registered letters, the registration fee must be paid in cash. Holger requested and paid some extra money for postmarking. still they have not done in proper way. And they were also not ready to postmark and send the covers, after a long arguments they postmarked covers and given back to Holger.

The cover posted on August 04,2015 and I received on August 31, 2015. even though I have affixed very high value stamps for sending back the covers as registered, unfortunately they ignored. I doubted that They accept Registration fee as cash only. In many countries the extra amount for registering letters we need to pay as cash. Extra affixed stamps will not be considered. I experienced the same from Niger. I received 3 covers on the same day, You can see them below.
Guinea issues nice and thematic stamps, but not valid for postage from the country. Only philatelic bureau accept these stamps for collection purposes.

The covers sent on March 21, 2013 and I received on September 17, 2015.

The Main post office building board in Conakry, capital city of Guinee