The towers are called 'tata' and every family builds their own. A tata has a ground floor for storing grain and animals, and an upper floor where the family sleeps. The rounded walls are made from local red clay mixed with water and dry grass, which makes them surprisingly strong and also keeps the inside cool even on very hot days.
Building a tata is a team effort. Neighbours and relatives all help, mixing the mud by foot and pressing it into thick walls. The pointed roofs are woven from grass and reeds gathered from nearby fields. No two tata look exactly the same — each family adds their own patterns and colours, so the village looks like a patchwork of giant decorated pots.
From up on the hillside, the whole Koutammakou landscape looks like a fairy-tale — round towers dotted across green fields, with the sounds of birds and cattle drifting between them. The Batammariba also grow sorghum and millet crops around their tata, so the buildings and the farmland all fit together like pieces of a puzzle.