Foday and I had just been to the Botanical gardens at the Cape Point end of Bakau. We stopped at the craft market where we saw a man sitting carving a lump of Mahogany. His name was ** and he is shown above.

He was happy to be photographed and enjoyed showing us his work. His stall has a number of very original works as well as the tourist standards. Others were less helpful, wanting money to be photographed and pressing their carvings on us.

We try to look for different work and encourage the artistry in the carvers, but all the work displays a flare for shape and form and is not expensive if you bargain sensibly.

Brikama probably has the largest collection of wood workers, if you are with GTS you will be taken behind the scenes to see the whole production line, from giant tree trunk to finished article.

There are smaller workshops at all of the tourist locations, often the 'Artists' are just sales people finishing off or polishing the work done at Brikama by the actual artists.

Many of the Jembe drums are beautifully carved and there are also carved boxes containing traditional board games.