THE GOLD DIGGERS OF KERECONKO

To get to the gold panners from Mako, turn right after the bridge over the Gambia coming from Tambacounda. Continue on the track for about 7 km until you reach a village a little higher up where the track ends. A contact with a person from the village, and you can be accompanied to the placers. You can also inquire at the Keur Annick camp for someone to accompany you there (except Monday and Friday, gold diggers' days off). There, children descend into the bowels of the earth in very narrow holes, which are extended by horizontal galleries more than five or six meters long. The earth is then carried in gourds by the women of the village to the river. There, it is filtered and sometimes reveals traces of gold around the perimeter. In general, nothing exceptional, but you never know, one nugget is sometimes enough to make you rich for years. Tourists sometimes have to pay a visit fee in the village: it's a matter of customer's head and contact. The same goes for photos. This touristic aspect is not on the side of Hérémakono, where the landscape and the context are certainly wilder, but travelling through the Falémée region is an adventure (everything will depend on your contact on the spot) and requires to accept to spend a lot of time on the road. On the other hand, the landscapes are beautiful, and there are often surprises!