Kenya Africa Safari Travel Review: Maasai Mara National Reserve, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Local Women's Village

Stay longer and have more interaction with local culture. The craft-artisan shops offered a lot of merchandise, but I really want to go to an actual local market and interact with the artists themselves. The dinner at the Carnivore Restaurant was interesting for the variety of meats, but I found that about all and it was touristy. It would have been nice to have been offered a selection/description of other dining places to choose from. Again, something more authentic to the local culture.

There was a problem that developed from a stop on our last day at a wood carver's shop in Narok. Upon returning my Visa showed a charge of $650.00 instead of $65.00. The items are not worth anything near $600+ US dollars.  In doing research I discovered on on-line several complaints similar to mine of the stealing via credit card use.  This shop should be taken off being a stop.

[TRAVEL COMPANY'S COMMENTS]

Dear Georgia,

I wanted to follow up on your comment posted with Zicasso. First of all, I would like to thank you for your kind words and positive review. I appreciate your feedback regarding both the highlights and negative experiences at wood carver's shop in Narok.  I strive to provide the best experience for my clients and take negative comments seriously. I wanted to let you know that I did follow up on the issue.  

When this matter was reported to me, I made efforts and contacted the shop owner who I immediately ordered investigations. The dispute was between the merchants and the traveler original agreeable amount on the goods.  I have personally requested the owner to agree to a reasonable settlement as a way of compensating the traveler but without any luck.  We took appropriate action by reporting this matter to Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) and have ordered all our safari drivers not to make any stops at this shop. This was the first time we heard of this shop and we have never recommended it. We apologize for this incident which kind of negatively affected the traveler's wonderful safari in Kenya.   

Again, thank you for traveling with us and your review.