At the heart of the biosphere reserve created in 1988, Dimonika is a small village with a glorious past, famous for its gold mines. At the time of the gold rush, Armand Vigoureux, a Belgian entrepreneur, began prospecting for gold and settled in Dimonika around 1934. He transformed this isolated spot in the middle of the rainforest into a modern city, equipping it with all the necessary amenities: electricity, running water, a school, a dispensary and an Olympic-size swimming pool. In 1960, at independence, Armand Vigoureux left the village, which was then abandoned. All that remains of this glorious past are the remains of these infrastructures. The village still lives from gold panning, and many men go deep into the forest every day, shovel or metal detector in hand, to try and make their fortune in the humid, suffocating heat. Daily life is hard for these valiant goldpanners, who celebrate their booty every night in the village bars. Since 2013, Jan Limbourg, a Dutch-speaking Belgian, has taken over the house of Armand Vigoureux and welcomes tourists to this colonial house that has retained all its charm of yesteryear. He offers fascinating guided tours of the village's remains, off-the-beaten-track walks in the Dimonika reserve, visits to the gold miners and guided tours across the country. He is involved in a number of projects with the local population.

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