Koutammakou

Koutammakou is a living landscape rather than a museum, a stretch of country where the Batammariba still build round mud tower houses called takienta, each one a working farmhouse with granaries built into its upper storey. It was inscribed as world heritage in 2004 for exactly that reason, and the towers are still lived in even as younger families increasingly choose modern materials instead. Heavy rain in 2018 collapsed several of the towers and prompted an emergency review of exactly how the site is protected. Visits generally go through a village guide rather than simply wandering in alone.