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A letter was published in today's Beeld newspaper about an incident on 6 March this year where Berg-en-dal reception staff charged people R821 for one night's camping.
http://www.beeld.com/Content/MyBeeld/Br ... %E2%80%99_
In a nutshell -
When the person took out his wallet (which was full of bank notes) the one receptionist reminded the other one not to forget about the "conservation fee"
The till slip only showed one figure, no break down of how they arrived at R821.00
On querying the amount the reception staff said they "made a mistake" and the correct amount was now R246.
It is claimed in the letter that the phrase "dont forget the conservation fee" is in fact the code for "rip him off"
??
Most visitors do not know about the visitor's feedback form, they have a much stronger medium, the papers.

I do hope that this is just an unfortunate misunderstanding which will be corrected. I have also read in the newspaper today of experiences by regular visitors to the Park regarding increasing noise levels, litter and disregard for rules. Hope it is not true.

I came across this article in the Beeld this morning and it raises quite an interesting issue. Sorry I don't have an English version but if requested will try to translate.

Beeld Article

Now I am not saying that this is indeed the case, but there can also be a lot of truth in the matter that staff make use of the unknowing tourist, or even local visitor, to line their own pockets. Obviously KNP won't be the first place that has seen this type of "corruption" as we all know that it is common practise in SA today and I can truly believe in something like this happening.

SANP, care to comment on whether you have any systems in place to make sure that your staff does not rip off unsuspecting visitors?

I had a similar experience at Satara in September 2008. I sent quite a few emails to the various managers at Satara but never got any reply on the subject. I know they got the emails as they answered all my other questions but never the one about the fees I had to pay. I also queried the fact that there is no breakdown on the slip explaining how they get to the specific amount. That usually makes me very suspicious of any establishment.
KNP needs to change their system to be transparent and self-explanatory to visitors. This would help to limit this kind of thing happening.

This story really saddens me, and I hope the allegations are not true. However what is troubling is the number of wild (!) assumptions made with no proof.

1. If a receipt was issued for the amount paid then the money would be expected to be in the till at cashing up, and could not just be siphoned off into pockets.

2. There are trainees around at the moment at the start of their year internship so mistakes can be made eg charging the wrong conservation fee level.

3. The conservation fee for overnight visitors is paid when checking into the camp, not at the gate. These folk appear to have entered as day visitors and then tried to book in - so confusion could easily occur especially in a training situation where the 'trainer' did not look at the entrance document first, but merely reminded the 'trainee' about all the charges to be made (perhaps conservation fees were overlooked on a previous transaction???).

4. The guests should have asked for a breakdown of charges - it is simply a matter of saying a few words - and the confusion could have been sorted out then and there.

5. If the complaint is addressed to the head office with dates, times, and the reservation number on the slip they can follow up and find out who was involved and clear up the confusion that way.

Interesting blog. I can't believe that the gentleman paid the R821 without querying it or making a fuss. It's pretty obvious that he was being "charged" incorrectly.

The man's wife was at least a bit sharper so she queried it, but it begs the question, how many overseas visitors who don't really understand the Rand value, and also might not know what all the fee's are for, blindly give that extra R300 or R400 towards "Conservation Fee's"?

I'm willing to bet it will be the same overseas visitors who booked their accomodation through FIFA's Match travel agent. Paying $700 a night for accomodation in Kruger!

A little bit of internet investigation will assist anyone with getting the correct prices.

Mods please merge with the thread in Kruger parks 'beware of Berg en Dal'

I agree with EJ. It could have been an honest mistake. In the end it is the responsibility of the customer to ensure that he/she has been charged correctly and has received the correct change, accommodation, etc. It works that way in any shop.

Maybe a good solution to prevent these type of mistakes will be to put up a pricelist at reception…. indicating the prices for everything from the different accommodation, conservations fees and prices for the various activities? Then the client can actually work out if they are being charged the right amount.
I do also agree that the receipts should contain more detail.

This specific incident might be have been an honest mistake….but denying there are some “problems” in the park, will also not be realistic ….at Olifants’ reception they have a notice up, stating people should ensure they get a receipt for all payments…this would have not been put up, if there were not issues in the past

@Senyetse -
Definately true, the responsibility lies with you, otherwise you'll end up getting ripped off everywhere\anywhere you go. I still can't believe that the transaction for R821 was paid for in the first place.

I'm not saying that the author of the blog\e-mail is lying, but I really find it hard to believe that anyone would fall for such a massive amount being charged as conservation fees and 1 nights camping accommodation. Sometimes persons will blog anything to get a reaction, as I said, not specifically referring to this person.

I agree with Senyetse and EJ. It was in all likelihood an honest mistake. If not, then the sad situation is that, as all over SA, corruption has spread to KNP.

In view of some of the responses posted and PM's I have received I have decided to delete this message.