I've just spent an interesting week in Senegal, looking at some more ground that we might get involved in. After arriving back in Mali on the Monday, I had a night in our new villa (thanks Dom) and then flew out on Tuesday morning bound for Dakar, the capital of Senegal. I didn't know too much about it, just remembering that we wanted to visit while on Taina.

The 1:30min flight on Air Senegal was nice, basic but comfortable. Then arrived in the airport which is basically on the water front so we get a nice view of the coast as we came in. Not a bad way to arrive! We staying in the Hotel de la Mer, just 1 block back from the sea. Was so nice to be based there, with the smells and sounds of the Atlantic wafting though. Not even the noise of the generator (Senegal has a major problem with power outages) could take away from the nice location. Even there is a lot of semi-built buildings due to poor repair and the booming market I think, the city strikes me much more favourable than Bamako. Just seems cleaner and more prosperous.

After meeting up with Dom who had spent the weekend here with Andea, we headed out to site some 850km away and close to the Mali border. Seems a little crazy that we had flown to Dakar, then driven nearly 12 hours to site as it is only 6-8 hrs from Bamako but we were not sure of the access across the border so went with this long route. Plus it allowed us to see Dakar, meet the head office people of the company, and get a feel for the city. The drive was worth it anyway to have a look at the landscape and get a feel for the country. A bit dryer than southern Mali, it is well cultivated and eagerly waiting for the rains to come. We spent a couple of days at the exploration site, then headed back for Dakar and Bamako. Part of the operation there is an alluvial mine, with the processing plant pictured here.

I'm now back in Paris having finished another stint and waiting on AME to decide on what the futures holds. They have hired a new Exploration manager who will direct the work in the way that he likes. Hopefully there will be more work down there for me, but we never know.