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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dave Williams" data-source="post: 3517795" data-attributes="member: 53820">For all my criticism of the guides pricing in The Gambia, it appears to be equally bad in other parts of the world too. It's us the customer who decide and the more of us that agree to the demands the more the prices go up.You have to remember that for these people it is the main source of income and in places where the season is short they have limited time to earn their money. Recent events in TG have shown though that those days sat idle when they could have taken lesser pay days have come back to bite them as there are few punters about at all now.Slightly off TG, what I do find even more surprising is on web sites like Birding Pal ( is it still used?) you are meant to be able to contact a "like minded birder" and to quote their website:-"A Birding Pal does not charge a fee, however you should pay for their expenses, transportation costs, entrance fees, meals, etc. "The one I contacted in Barbados took a day off work on the ruse of working from home, took me and a friend on a trip of no more than a few dozen miles.We paid for lunch and drinks stops as well as donating to the reserve he took us to. His "expenses" claimed $180. Nice little side line at his employer's expense!</blockquote>