Open Ground
The Ilakaka Sapphire Fields
Alluvial sapphire rush · Ilakaka, Madagascar
Open to digThe prize. Pink and blue sapphires
Where. Ilakaka, Madagascar
Status. Open to dig
Where. Ilakaka, Madagascar
Status. Open to dig
The account
A sleepy spot in Madagascar became a boom town overnight in 1998 when one of the largest sapphire deposits on earth was found in the river gravels, still worked by tens of thousands.
Leads, where the trail points now
- What you can keep: Pink and blue sapphires. Confirm the site's current rules and any day fee before you go.
- Where: Ilakaka, Madagascar. Search only the marked legal area, and bring the right pan, screen, or detector and a container for finds.
- Best practice: record anything notable, leave the ground as you found it, and check the latest access notices before you travel.
Open ground. You can legally search here and keep what you find, within the rules the site posts. Bring any day fee or licence it asks for.
The full hunt kit is in the fellowship
The starting brief, the gear, the legal picture for this exact ground, and a GPS chart pack you can load and go. The map stays free.
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