Travel Guide Natitingou

Natitingou stretches out in a valley in the heart of the Atacora mountain range. It is presented as a long north-south avenue bordered, in the east, by a hill. Natitingou was founded by a certain Nanto, Natitingou meaning village of Nanto. From 1913 to 1960, the colonial administration set up a post in Natitingou to control the entire region. For its construction, the inhabitants were forced to go and fetch wood several days' walk away. A rebellion ignited in 1916, led by Kaba, a Somba chief who has since become a local hero. Kaba and his band regularly sabotaged the wires of the communication relay, isolating Boukoumbé from Kouandé. The officials who went to the site to repair the breakdown were shot by the arrows of the insurgents. In 1917, the company managed to obtain reinforcements. Kaba and his family were massacred. Today, the city lives from agriculture, trade and especially from the jobs of the administration. This city, a tourist stopover located in the heart of the department, is an ideal point of departure to explore this region which has many riches. Indeed, this region offers many possibilities of excursions from the city of Natitingou. The landscape is full of contrasts with the dark rocks of the mountains, the ochre-red earth of the plains, the green vegetation around the waterfalls of the Pendjari River and the shrubby vegetation clinging to an arid soil on the heights.