The Best Tour Guide We Ever Had Mandinka Tours had the best guide we have ever had (in the 135 countries we have toured which included national as well as local guides) was the one we were fortunate to have in Burkina Faso and Ghana. MoMo also guides in Senegal, the Gambia, Mali, Togo and Benin. When problems occurred, he was able to think outside the box and solve them. I believe he is 37 and has an incredible personality and presence. I do not impress easily, as I previously owned a tour company in Chicago and had many guides working for me. He has guided the most important visitors to those countries—he was not bragging, but their names came up as we were traveling. Read more

We had the distinct opportunity to be ably guided by him through 9 countries in West Africa (Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, and Gambia. Cape Verde) for 5 weeks, from Nov. to Dec., 2015. There were 5 of us and we drove cross country on two sturdy Toyota Land Cruiser SUV covering over 9,000 miles w/o any breakdown. We visited many cultural & UNESCO Heritage sites. It was a pleasant experience & very educational. We were happy and satisfied on how the trip went without any problem whatsoever. It was quite a formidable task to cross 9 borders & deal w/ customs & immigration but “Momo” handled it efficiently. “Momo” is quite an extraordinary guide as he was very caring & concerned w/ our safety & comfort. He billeted us in good hotels & made sure the food were both palatable & safe. None of us got sick for 5 weeks. He is very pleasant, down to earth, easy going, and easy to talk to, entertaining w/ good sense of humor. Not only does he have good command of English w/ clear diction but also quite intelligent w/ broad knowledge of the cultures, tradition, history, and politics of each country we visited. He is quite aware of the poor socio-economic situation of Africa & expresses passionately that education is the key to alleviate the situation. Though born & raised in a Muslim country in Islamic tradition, he is unusually quite liberal & open minded having acquired some of his education in Christian school. “Momo” is also patient & very accommodating & will go out of his way to attend to our needs. With regards to communication w/ his tour company, we had no problem. He answers your email & questions promptly. We found him & his company reliable & trustworthy. We vouch for his good moral character as well as trustworthiness & reliability of his Tour Company. Based on all of the narrative above, we highly recommend, without reservations, Mr. Traore & the Mandinka Tours to any individual or tour group wanting to visit West Africa. Read more

Job Well Done! We had a GREAT tour with Mohamadine. He is a great guide and gave us the real insight into the cultures, not the sanitized versions. We felt safe with him and knew that he was watching out for our best interests at all times. We have no reservations in giving him the highest recommendation. In addition, he deserves a big "job well done" for all he went through in getting us to the airport in Lagos safely and on time. This was not an easy or cheap thing to do, as I'm sure he will fill you in. It takes an experienced guide to know how to arrange the things he did for us while causing inconvenience for himself as well as our driver. Thank you Mandinka Tours for arranging a wonderful trip for us. Read more