UTAPELI WA WAKENYA KWENYE UTALII SASA UMEANZA KUWEKWA PEUPE

FRAUD BY LOKAL TOUR OPERATOR IN KENYA&TANZANIA

We just returned home to the States after a disastrous Safari in East Africa. We booked a trip with Larry Naphtally (http://www.neodestinations.com/). They came recommended by friends and various websites. They are a local tour operator based in Kenya and Tanzania. They seemed to be able to customize the safari best and their rates for the various lodges were comparable.

We had a satisfactory Safari in Kenya with fabulous stays at Ngerende Island Lodge (Masai Mara) and Tortillis Camp in Amboseli. When we reached Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania the trip disintegrated. We were completely abandoned by Neodestinations and had to seek out a new tour operator. Our safari was rescued with the help of the Serena Hotel group. We had to rebook and refinance our trip through them. The hotel vouchers for the Kirawira lodge and Serena Ngorongoro given to us by Neodestinations were fictitious and there were no bookings for us at these places.

Naturally on returning to Nairobi we lodged an official complaint with the police department. Futher complaints to the Ministry of Tourism in Kenya and Tanzania as well as reports to the "Tourist Boards" of these two countries in the USA have so far gone unanswered. A complaint to IATA however did get us a response stating that Neodestinations were not registered with them and that they would insist that Neodestinations take the IATA logo of their website.

I have no illusions over expectations over any refund however I earnestly hope to bring this misadventure to public notice so future travelers may not find themselves in a similar predicament.

After some reflection I have some advise for future safari goers. I would strongly suggest you avoid the small local your operators. Should things go wrong there is very little scope to recompense for them. Always use a card and avoid wire transfer of payments. And finally always insist on hotel vouchers and verify them with the actual hotels.

Finally should someone know of an organization or authority who might take some action on this I would much appreciate receiving it so I could forward the details of our misadventure.



source: http://www.wavuti.com/4/post/2011/07/fraud-by-local-operator-in-kenya-tanzania.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wavuti+%28Wavuti%29#ixzz1S9vt2xmY