Natitingou

Natitingou is the main town of the Atacora, the hill country of north western Benin, and the base for everything in the region. The Somba people build tata houses here, fortified two storey compounds of mud with round towers and a flat roof used for sleeping and drying grain, each one a small castle for a single family. The regional museum explains their construction and the initiation cycles that go with them. Waterfalls at Tanougou and Kota drop from the Atacora range nearby, and the road north leads into Pendjari.