Gambia Adventure Wood Factory Local Markets and School

Got it — here’s the revised review with **no quads mentioned** and including the part about doing three tours: --- We had an amazing time on the 4-wheeler tour visiting the school, wood factory, crocodile park, paradise beach for lunch and a local compound. It was a really interesting and eye-opening experience, and everything was very well organised. Our guide was lovely — very kind, knowledgeable and always made sure we were safe, comfortable and well looked after. We never felt rushed and had plenty of time to enjoy each stop. We actually did three tours with Black & White, and every single one of them was brilliant. They are very reliable, very kind, and we would definitely use them again. Highly recommended!

We paid approximately $125 per person for the all day tour "called Four Wheel Drive Adventure" on their website. The tour price covered all activities except food and gratuities / gifts. It turned out there were only 2 of us booked on the tour, so we had a private tour in a 4-wheel drive SUV and 2 guides (Armstrong and Yaya). They communicated very well over WhatsApp prior to our day to answer any questions and then were waiting for us right on time. We walked outside the port entrance and met them there and started our day - which covered SO MANY unique and interesting places all over The Gambia from crocodiles, to markets, to monuments, fishing villages, and local schools - this was a GREAT tour to see how folks really live in this country. One of the guides escorted us everywhere and explained things and also answered any questions we had. While many places we visited were not modern and clean like some tourists may be used to, we always felt safe and were not bothered by anyone. Definitely there was a decent amount of walking in warm temperatures and you are going to see some people living a hard life, so please be a courteous traveler and don't take pictures of such things (as you would not want others to do to you). I should advise tour participants about the stop at the school, which was so inspiring and we saw so many cute children....but you should know the guides and school teachers do ask for monetary donations for the school at this stop....which could be awkward if you only have a small number of participants and if some did not plan on a donation and did not bring a lot of currency. We brought a giant $30 bag of candy (we visited on Halloween) and they really did not pay attention to it at all. We don't regret that part of the tour and wouldn't want to miss it as it was informative and educational and very sweet interacting with them.....but if you aren't expecting a monetary donation request and didn't plan for it, it could be awkward. Overall, we loved the tour as we got a GREAT sense of The Gambia that was more authentic than most packaged tourist tours, has great variety (museums, markets, monuments, schools, animals, etc.) and we saw so many memorable things (the fishing village is an incredible site and should not be missed!), and the guides were super friendly and educational. Definitely recommend this company and this particular tour.