The Batammariba's religion is animist and ancestral, with spirits in particular trees, rocks, and groves throughout the landscape. Small mud shrines (often topped with potsherds, animal horns, or feathers) sit at the entrance to most compounds and along well-worn paths. Larger groves — often the only stand of mature trees in an otherwise open savannah — are reserved for initiation ceremonies and rituals of the dead.
These sites are not museum objects; they are in active religious use. Guides will identify shrines you can approach and others that are taboo for outsiders. Photography of the sacred groves themselves is usually forbidden; the small wayside shrines are usually acceptable subjects if you ask. The local guides are themselves Batammariba; their judgement on what is appropriate is the one to follow.