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Ghana Tours with Tony & Ayo Jones

Ghana tours
built by the people
already here

Come see it for yourself.

Signature cultural tours, event tours, relocation scouting trips, and private experiences for groups of 25 or more. Airport pickup, trusted guides, and 5+ years of doing this the right way.

About Expat Life Tours

Five Years on the Ground. Every Tour, Personal.

Expat Life Tours is the travel arm of Expat Life Ghana, a Ghana-based tour company founded in 2020 by Tony and Ayo Jones after they moved their family from Texas to Accra. We run small group cultural tours of Cape Coast Castle, Elmina, Kakum, and the Volta Region, plus event tours like Fall Fest, relocation scouting trips, and private group tours for 25+ people. Based in Accra. Featured on HBO’s Coming From America. Every tour we run is one we’d put our own family on. Airport pickup is handled. The drivers have names we know. The restaurants, the castles, the waterfalls, the cultural sites have all been vetted through five years of walking the ground ourselves.

Tony and Ayo Jones of Expat Life Ghana, featured on HBO Max Coming From America

We run three kinds of Ghana tours. Signature cultural tours, the Signature 8-day and Ultimate 11-day itineraries, cover Cape Coast Castle, Aburi Botanical Gardens, Volta Region waterfalls, Kumasi, and the Accra markets. Event tours like Fall Fest, Juneteenth, and Throwback are built around Ghana’s biggest diaspora moments. And private group tours for reunions, churches, sororities, and corporate retreats (25+ people) are built from scratch around your people and your pace.

If you’re seriously considering the move, the Relocation Tour adds neighborhood scouting, school visits, and honest conversations with people who already made the move. Whichever tour fits, we’ll make sure you leave Ghana knowing what home actually feels like.

See It for Yourself

What a Tour with ELG Actually Looks Like

This is what your week with us actually looks like. Heritage site visits at Cape Coast Castle and Elmina. Canopy walks through Kakum National Park. Naming ceremonies at Assin Manso. Markets in Accra. Mornings in Aburi.

No staged photo shoots. No influencer gloss. Just real travelers experiencing real Ghana with guides who live here full time.

5+
Years of Ghana tours
100+
Travelers hosted
HBO
Coming From America
6
Tour options
Why Expat Life Ghana

Built by the people already here.

Residents, not vendors

Tony and Ayo Jones are full-time residents of Accra since 2020. Every tour runs on the ground we live on. You’re not being handed off to a foreign-based travel agency that partners with a local fixer.

Vetted by us

The restaurants, hotels, drivers, guides, and heritage sites on every itinerary have been walked, tested, and approved by us personally. If we wouldn’t send our own family there, you won’t go there either.

Built for the returnee

We run tours for diaspora travelers because we are diaspora travelers. The naming ceremony, the Door of Return, the heritage reckoning at Cape Coast Castle. We hold space for all of it because we’ve lived it ourselves.

Year-Round Tours

Choose Your Ghana Experience

Three year-round tours. Whether it’s your first trip back or your fifth, there’s a path that fits.

Signature Tour to Aburi Botanical Gardens with Expat Life Ghana
The Essentials
8 Days

Signature Tour

Cape Coast Castle. Aburi Botanical Gardens. Accra markets and nightlife. The Ghana highlights in eight days with every detail handled.

View Itinerary
Shai Hills vista on the Ultimate Ghana Tour
The Full Experience
11 Days

Ultimate Tour

Everything in the Signature Tour plus Volta Region waterfalls, Lake Volta cruise, Kakum canopy walk, and Kumasi. Ghana end to end.

View Itinerary
Relocation Tour scouting experience in Ghana
For Serious Movers
Three Soft Landings

Relocation Tour

Soft Landing, Scouting, and full Relocation options. Neighborhood tours, school visits, bank meetings, and honest conversations with people who already made the move.

View Packages

Looking for single-day excursions? See our day trip options ›

Private Group Tours · 25+ People

Bringing your tribe home?

Family reunions. Church groups. Sororities and fraternities. Corporate retreats. Student groups. If you’re bringing 25 or more, we build the itinerary around your people and your pace.

This is what we do best. Group tours are our priority and where we do our deepest custom work.

Apply for Group Tours
BLAXIT Summit Tour experience with Expat Life Ghana
BLAXIT Summit Tour · Waitlist Open

The summit tour experience

The on-the-ground companion tour to the Ghana Relocation Summit. Attend the summit, then stay to experience it all firsthand with the ELG team. Waitlist is open for the 2027 cohort.

Join the Waitlist
On the Horizon

What’s Coming in 2027

Tours currently being planned. No bookings yet. Get on the notify list for dates, pricing, and first access when they open.

June 2027

Juneteenth Tour

Ghana celebrates. A tour built around the freedom holiday on African soil.

August 2027

Resort Retreat

Coastal. Slower. A restorative version of Ghana for travelers who want to rest and reconnect.

October 2027

Fall Fest 2027

The return of Fall Fest. Dates and itinerary TBD. First access goes to the list.

Real Travelers. Real Words.

They Came. They’re Still Talking About It.

“Tony, Ayo, and the entire team wrapped their arms around us and made this feel like family and home. My experience in Ghana was very eye-opening. Everybody looks like a cousin or Auntie back at home. It’s a second home here.” David & Bernee Carter King · Chicago

“Honestly I was kinda nervous about this trip, especially the castles because it’s such heavy history. Everyting was perfect! The river walk at Assin Manso was really powerful. I definitely cried. Honestly, the entire thing was just a really special trip.”

Monica R.
Signature Tour

“I really enjoyed my tours. Tony and his staff were very nice and professional. I felt very safe and was treated like a queen. I cried when I made it back to the airport because I knew I was going to miss everyone I met in Ghana.”

Dinah J.
Fall Fest

“This is a great trip. Seeing Wli Falls and visiting the Tafi Monkey Sanctuary was well worth the effort. I loved the slave dungeons and Maxwell was the best tour guide! Five stars, very knowledgeable. I can’t wait to come back and stay longer.”

Mario W.
Volta Waterfalls Day Trip
Before You Book

Ghana Tours: The Real Questions

Everything people ask us before they come. The honest answers.

What’s the best time of year to visit Ghana for a tour? +
The dry season from November through March is the most popular window for Ghana tours. Roads are easier, weather is cooler, and most of our event tours fall in this window, including Fall Fest in October and Throwback in late December. Juneteenth (June) and our Summer tours run during Ghana’s green season, which travelers who’ve been before often prefer for the lower humidity and fewer crowds at heritage sites like Cape Coast Castle and Kakum National Park.
Do you do small group tours or private tours of Ghana? +
Yes. Our Signature Tour and Ultimate Tour run as small group cultural tours throughout the year, usually 8 to 14 travelers per departure. For private tours, you can book our Signature or Ultimate itinerary as a private experience for your family, couple, or small group. For larger groups of 25 or more (family reunions, church groups, sororities, corporate retreats), we build private group tours from scratch through our Group Tours application.
What’s included in a Ghana tour with Expat Life? +
Every tour includes airport pickup and drop-off, local expert guides who live in Ghana, transportation in air-conditioned vehicles, entrance fees to heritage sites including Cape Coast Castle, Elmina Castle, Kakum National Park canopy walkway, and Aburi Botanical Gardens, cultural experiences like a traditional naming ceremony at Assin Manso, and most meals. International flights and travel insurance are not included.
Is Ghana safe for American and diaspora travelers? +
Ghana is widely considered one of the safest countries in West Africa and is rated safer than many Western countries. We’ve lived here for 5+ years and run tours for returnees, solo travelers, families, and large groups. We handle airport pickup, transport, and on-the-ground logistics so you never have to figure out the hard parts alone. Every group also gets a local expert guide for the full duration of the tour.
What sites will we visit on a Ghana cultural tour? +
The core cultural tour route covers Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle (both UNESCO World Heritage Sites from the trans-Atlantic slave trade era), Kakum National Park for the canopy walkway through the rainforest, Assin Manso’s Slave River and Door of Return for the naming ceremony, Aburi Botanical Gardens, and the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Black Star Square, and Makola Market in Accra. The 11-day Ultimate Tour adds Volta Region waterfalls, Lake Volta, and Kumasi in the Ashanti region.
How much does a Ghana tour cost? +
Pricing varies by tour type and length. Our 8-day Signature Tour and 11-day Ultimate Tour are available as both set-departure group tours and private tailor-made tours. Event tours like Fall Fest have fixed pricing. Group tours for 25+ people are priced per person based on your group size and itinerary. Payment plans are available for most tours. Visit the individual tour pages for current pricing.
Is this part of Year of Return? +
The official Year of Return initiative launched in 2019, but the movement it started is still very much alive. Every ELG tour is built for diaspora travelers coming home, whether it’s your first trip back to the continent or your fifth. The naming ceremony, the heritage site visits, the community welcome. That’s what Beyond the Return actually looks like on the ground.
Tony and Ayo Jones, co-founders of Expat Life Ghana, at the Freedom Arch in Accra
About the Founders

Tony and Ayo Jones

Tony and Ayo Jones moved their family from Texas to Accra in 2020. They’ve built Expat Life Ghana into a trusted tour operator, relocation guide, and lodging provider for Black Americans and diaspora travelers coming home to Ghana.

Their story has been featured on HBO Max’s Coming From America, BBC, Al Jazeera, NPR, TLC Africa, and Hulu. Ayo is a keynote speaker, author, and founder of Belonging Labs. Tony leads ELG tour operations on the ground. Together they’ve guided over 100 returnees through Ghana and run a YouTube channel with 6M+ views documenting the real story of diaspora life abroad.

Ghana is ready when you are.

Pick the tour that fits. We’ll handle the rest.