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grets Says: Outside the shrines were a number of clay mounds, each representing a shrine dedicated to the ancestors. The Bassamba, being animists, worship their ancestors and sacrifices will take place atop each of the shrines for special occasions. The larger shrines represent village...
grets Says: On each corner of the Takienta, is a granary, complete with a conical thatched roof. The Bassamba store millet, fonio or peanuts here amongst other things. Access is via a rudimentary ladder. Here you can see David watching a local lady climb up to check out the grain.
grets Says: This area, known as Koutammakou, is home to the Taberma or Bassamba ethnic group, whose name means good builder. There are 37 different ethnic groups in Togo, of which the Bassamba are one minority who live in the north of Togo and neighbouring Benin. They are famous for...
grets Says: The name of the tribe who live here is Taberma which means ‘good builder’. They are known for their unique architecture. Each compound, known as Takienta, consists of tall towers connected by high walls, made from a material called banco, a mixture of clay and straw. No...
grets Says: Noah chose this site for camping as it was right next to a new school, hoping we would be able to use the toilet facilities of the school. Unfortunately, they had not finished that part of the construction yet! We did visit the school and a local lad told us all about the...
Facilities?: Campground facilites
grets Says: The ‘campground’ was literally just a field where we asked permission from the village chief if we could camp for the night. Noah chose the spot right next to a new school, hoping we’d be able to use their facilities. Unfortunately, the construction of the school was not...
The camp fire: Fending for ourselves
grets Says: I was always impressed how Daniel the chef could prepare such fabulous meals for the 15 traveller and the five staff in such a short time, with limited resources and in rather primitive conditions. For our dinner on Christmas Eve we were served with an onion soup to start,...
grets Says: Although Noah claimed the area where we camped was very safe, he hired four local people to guard us all night, one on each corner. He insisted it was to keep the inquisitive children from pestering us, but I was not convinced. The guards would collect all the bags left...
Service du Koutammakou: The only place for miles
grets Says: A little bit of retail therapy never did anyone any harm! We were not spoilt for choice when it came to shopping in West Africa, as souvenir shops were few and far between. All I wanted was some post cards from Togo, and this was the only place we visited in the entire...
grets Says: Here you can see an elderly local lady wearing a precious stone in her chin. This is a local tradition, but we only saw the older women with this. The stones can be removed and is there purely for decoration.
grets Says: The word sacrifice comes from an old English expression “to make sacred”, and sacrifice is part of everyday life in rural Ghana. Sacrifice is basically making an offering in the form of food, drink or an animal to appease the gods and is used in traditional religions all...
grets Says: In Kouadangou village itself, there were a few facilities for tourists, including this public toilet. There seems to be one cubicle for ‘number one’ and one cubicle for ‘number two’. Bring your own toilet paper and if you are only doing a ‘number one’, there is nowhere to...
grets Says: The Baobab tree is so sacred to the Bassamba that they often build shrines near the base of the trees. This shrine was alongside the country track we walked along in the morning, some distance from the village itself. The guide explained to us that the shrine protects the...
grets Says: In the morning we went for a walk along the country lane, and saw one of the many bush fires in Togo. This is not an accidental fire, the burning is carried out deliberately to kill off the grass and encourage new growth for the livestock to eat. We saw this in many places...
grets Says: The Bassamba people are animist, and as such they worship various animate and non-animate objects, such as the Baobabs tree. The tree is considered sacred to them and they build their homes near to or alongside a baobab tree. We also pitched our camp right next to a Baobab...
grets Says: Despite the fact that it was Christmas Day, I was a bit concerned to find the drivers drinking in the local bar while we, the tourists, were shopping for souvenirs. It was before 10:00 in the morning and whilst on duty, the drivers were not allowed to have any alcoholic...
grets Says: Although modern petrol stations are found in the bigger cities, in the smaller villages, fuel is sold in smaller quantities such as these bottles we saw just outside the village of Kouadangou. I am sure this petrol is not quite pure, in more ways than one. There is a major...
grets Says: Guinea fowl are bred for the eggs as well as their meat, and we saw lots of them in the area around Kouadangou, more than we had seen anywhere else. I expect Daniel had bought a couple from the local farmer yesterday as we had guinea fowl for our dinner last night. The...
grets Says: Not only was it Christmas Eve, it was also Clive’s birthday that day. Noah had bought some champagne to celebrate, but most of it went on pouring on Clive’s head amidst a lot of clapping, shouting and singing. Supposedly a local tradition! We all enjoyed a few drinks in...
grets Says: We arrived in Kouadangou on Christmas Eve – this was to be a rather unusual celebration. From England we’d brought with us the Santa Hats and an inflatable reindeer (as you do), and we wore the hats all evening. The reindeer started the evening on the roof of our tent,...
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The Bassamba people are animist, and as such they worship various animate and non-animate objects, such as the Baobabs tree. The tree is considered sacred to...
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Koutammakou - home of the Bassamba
The small village of Kouadangou is famous well beyond its size. This little speck on the map is part of a wider area known as Koutammakou, a region that stretches for s several miles across northern...
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