Travel Guide Mango

Mango is above all known as the hottest city in Togo: 40°C on average! Once a prosperous city thanks to cotton cultivation, it seems to have become a sleepy town today. It is the country of the Tchokossi, a Muslim warrior people from the Ivory Coast. When the Anoufom settled in Mango in the second half of the 18th century, they founded the kingdom of Sansanné-Mango. Sansanné means camp, and Mango is the name of their home town, Ano. Mango was already an important commercial center in the region and a stopover for Hausa caravans transporting cola. Three caravan routes passed through Mango: one from Sudan to the cola-producing countries of the south, one from Mossi country to Yendi in Ghana, and one from Hausa country in the east to the Volta basin. Thus, cola, salt, fabrics, livestock and handicrafts passed through Mango. Mango remained an important commercial center until the consolidation of colonial power, which led to the decline of the pre-colonial caravan trade. To reach Mango from Kara by car, take National Road 1 towards Mango-Dapaong (Mango is 143 km from Kara). From Burkina Faso, via Fada N'Gourma, the border town is Cinkassé. Dapaong is about 71 km from Mango; beware, the road is not very good. Count on about 1 hour of travel time. By taxi-brousse, from Kara, count about 3 500 FCFA per person. From Dapaong, the trip costs around 2,500 FCFA per person.