Tammari people

The people of the Tammari or Batammariba, also known as Somba, are an Oti - Volta - speaking ethnic group of the department Atakora in Benin and neighboring areas of Togo, where they are officially called Taberma. The term for members of the Tammari - Otammari people is that people are called Betammaribe and their language is called Ditammari.

They are world famous for their two-story attached houses, also known as Tata Somba ( Somba house ), in which the ground floor is used as a stable for the animals, the interior of the ground floor as the kitchen and the floor with a courtyard for drying the grain, as is used as sleeping quarters and granary. This has evolved through the addition of a roof to a collection of several cabins with a connecting wall, which are typical of the Gur - speaking areas of West Africa. The cylindrical structures in the walls are used for storing and guarding the livestock.

The Tammari are predominantly animist - religious, but there is lately missionary efforts from the Islamic north.

Gallery

A Tammari house with granaries. The forked poles in the left granaries are ladders with steps that were cut along their length

Adjacent Tammari houses with several altars