Diving for treasure: Mali’s river sand men

An aerial view shows Malian diggers loading boats with sand collected from the Niger River near Kangaba, in Mali's southwestern Koulikoro region, on October 2, 2018. - Increasing construction in the Malian capital has boosted the demand for bricks made out of high-quality Niger River sand. Diggers can travel more than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from Bamako to reach an extraction site, sometimes exposed to harsh weather conditions that endanger their fragile convoys. Once there, sand collectors dive down to the river bed to fill up buckets. They then tip their contents into a boat that can reportedly carry up to 10 tonnes of sand at a value of 50,000 CFA (around $80). While men usually collect the sand from river beds far from the capital for a total of 9000 to 13000 CFA (around $16 to $23) for three days of work, women unload it in Bamako for a rate of 1,000 CFA (around $1.75) per shipment. (Photo by Michele CATTANI / AFP)