In the impoverished far southeast of Senegal, where backbreaking labor in artisanal gold mines is one of the main activities, Michel Tama Sadiakhou escaped the dangers of the mine to live a rare destiny: he is part of a pioneering research project on a clan of chimpanzees with a unique way of life.

For Michel and four other local residents, all but one without a high school diploma, this project proved to be an unexpected opportunity to escape poverty or the ordeal of working in the mines, and to immerse themselves in scientific matters.

"It's really a chance. I really couldn't have imagined (this)...", Mr. Sadiakhou told AFP, referring to his participation in the "Fongoli Savanna Chimpanzee Project", founded in 2001 by American primatologist Jill Pruetz.

Ms. Pruetz made several fascinating discoveries while studying a community of about thirty West African chimpanzees, which she named the Fongoli chimpanzees.

The group lives in the bush rather than in the forest, alongside other chimpanzee clans, in the Kédougou region of Senegal, on the border with Mali and Guinea.

Fongoli females are the only animals in the world that are proven to regularly hunt using tools, making spears from tree branches to kill small primates, the galagos.

"Second family"

On this sunny morning, Michel Sadiakhou and the other researchers are hard at work, observing and taking notes on these chimpanzees. Each day, they must choose one adult male to follow from among the ten in the colony.

Not far from them, Mike, a charismatic middle-aged member of the group, walks through the savannah, a baobab fruit hanging from his mouth by a stem - a snack for later.

The researchers, who belong to the local Bedik and Bassari ethnic groups of the region, note everything: from vocalizations to food consumption, including social interactions and support drums (rhythmic beating on trees).

Mr. Sadiakhou, 37, who has worked on the project since 2009, describes the chimpanzees as a "second family".

"When I am with the chimpanzees, it's like I'm with other people," he confides about his relationship with the primates living in an area that spans 100 km2.

Now a senior researcher, this father of four had never seen a chimpanzee when he left his job in the "risky" gold mines, known locally as "dioura".

His colleague Nazaire Bonnag, 31, also decided to abandon this activity after witnessing the death of a man who never came back up from the mine where he worked.

Since then, "I said no, I can't continue like this," he explains from the researchers' permanent camp, made up of thatched-roof huts.

Gold producer

The Kédougou region, where the Fongoli savanna is located, is the country's largest gold producer, representing 98% of traditional gold mining sites, according to a 2018 study by the National Agency for Statistics and Demography (ANSD).

It is one of the poorest regions in Senegal, with a poverty rate of over 65%, according to ANSD figures from 2021-2022.

At one of the many mining sites located in the immediate vicinity of these great apes, a wide crevasse in the earth's surface leads to a deep underground tunnel where tired, dust-covered men go in and out. Others work around smaller pits, while a rock-crushing machine noisily grinds the bedrock.

More than 30,000 people work in the traditional gold mining sector in Senegal, according to a 2018 ANSD report.

But this number has been steadily increasing in recent years, according to Aliou Bakhoum, director of a local NGO. "Dioura" can be lucrative for those who discover gold, but it's a matter of "luck," he says, describing a dangerous activity.

The gold mining boom since the 2010s has attracted many local residents. However, mining presents new threats to the survival of chimpanzees: increased water pollution, deforestation, and the spread of human diseases.

The Fongoli chimpanzees, which now number 35, are the first and also one of the only groups of savannah chimpanzees to have become acclimatized to the presence of researchers.

The discoveries of Jill Pruetz and her team are captivating: living in the extreme heat of the savannah, these primates have learned to bathe in natural pools, rest in cool caves and remain calm in the presence of fire.

Dondo "Johnny" Kanté is now the project manager for the study, having worked with Ms. Pruetz since its inception.

Originally from a neighboring Bedik village, he believes that integrating local workers helps the wider community to "take an interest in the project".

And he hopes that the researchers' involvement will help encourage other residents of the area to "continue to support, protect and truly work for the well-being" of the Fongoli chimpanzees.