Les Greniers des Grottes de Nok et de Mamproug

This is my first stamped and written postcard from Togo, thank you very much Essodolom!!  The postcard was sent from Lomé, the capital of the country and it shows “Les Greniers des Grottes de Nok et de Mamproug”- a site already added on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2000.   This site may be called “The Caves of Nôk and Mamproug” in English and it is located in northern Togo.  The caves contain shelter and refuge structures built between the 17th and 19th Centuries mainly for defensive purposes. In total, the caves contain over 300 structures, which are mostly cylindrical and oblong in shape, open upwards and can stand two and a half meters high. Mostly made from local materials such as clay, straw, and stones, the structures allow their builders to protect their precious crop harvest from being plundered. The stamp on the postcard belongs to an eight-stamps set “Year of Senghor” issued in 2006, which is devoted to the famous Senegalese poet, politician, and cultural theorist Léopold Sédar Senghor, who is considered as one of the most important African intellectuals in the 20th Century.