evidence: Along with an intelligence unit, the government has constructed eight military bases in strategic positions across the national parks. One of these fortresses is in Kourou-Koalou, a combination of its Beninese name, Kourou, and its Burkinabe name, Koalou. The frontier town sits at the border of Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo, known as "point triple," and soldiers mill around a huge base with four imposing lookout towers. In the far north of the country, the heat is almost overwhelming as it bears down on the men and women who act as the only barrier to the dusty and lawless plains ahead. [...] The border area has seen a large number of incidents and the first attack on Beninese soil took place in Kourou-Koalou in November 2021. Despite once being a busy highway used by trucks and taxis, the road to the border town from Natitingou in the northwest is now practically deserted, with potholes and makeshift barricades littered across the tarmac. The wind blows dust and wiry branches across it while small children stand and watch in awe as huge tanks thunder past.