Sophia2022年10月

PLEASE READ!! Animal abuse & neglect, lies, worst experience ever! Such severe animal cruelty going on here that within ONE DAY of our departure a beautiful, sweet PUPPY was KILLED by extreme neglect. I left Maji ya Chai Backpackers Airbnb last week after a 1 month stay, and needed some time to compose my thoughts. Although my heart is still so heavy, it is important for me to write this review to share the facts and truth. The most accurate words to explain the experience are HORRIFIC and TRAUMATIC. I expected my time in Tanzania to be different than that I am used to in the US, and came with every intention to be respectful & understanding of cultural differences, but I was not prepared for the cruelty and total disregard towards animals when the host has every resource and the education to provide a safe and decent life for his animals. I write this as a warning to anyone considering staying here and in memory of the beautiful puppy Gustavo who lost his life. I’m writing in the hopes that the host may finally take in my words and look at himself and his actions in order to prevent further tragedy and abuse. I don’t believe he will because my partner and I as well as other guests tried for weeks to tell him, his wife, and staff that the conditions for the animals were not good, they were suffering, they would continue to suffer, this would be bad for him, for his family, for the guests, and for his business. Our experience with Nelson started of well but we came to see him as manipulative, disingenuous, and untrustworthy. He has a calculated & rehearsed come back for every compliant and concern I came to him with (I’m sure he will have a polished rebuttal to this review as well to protect his image). I saw him do this with other guests and he continued to do it after I confronted him about the preventable death of his dog. Absolutely NO responsibility taken (he only said it wasn’t his fault…). His words, his image, are all calculated to appear as a nice guy who takes care of his animals, listens to others worries & advice, and values his guests experience but sadly this is not the case. I can look past and even respect personality & cultural differences, I can look past of issues with the stay like lack of WiFi, a “lost” shirt in the laundry, but I can not ignore innocent animals being abused & neglected! Gustavo and the story of the dogs- 2 weeks into our stay, Nelson invited my partner and I to pick up 2 puppies, Gustavo & Tequila. He said they were from “like a shelter” but they were purchased from a breeder. We know they were purchased to be guard dogs which is common there, but from the moment he tossed them into the back of the van, he never once extended any care or kindness to the terrified young dogs. Alarming things began to occur from that day when we also noticed that the two dogs they already owned were caged for all hours of the day without water, enough food, or enough space to move around sufficiently or use the bathroom. What we witnessed over the last 2 weeks with the treatment of the dogs was highly disturbing-at first caged at almost all hours, severely underfed, withheld water, openly hit or kicked by some of the staff, untreated painful infection of older dog (Blackie) that between the 7 people living or working on the property during the time somehow went “unnoticed” for weeks. Another guest brought the infection to the attention of Nelson in which he replied (always with a smile or laugh) “I don’t think so”. Only when the guest agreed to pay for a vet visit was the dog treated. Additionally, she paid for the puppies vaccines which was pathetic to say the least that Nelson would let her do that and not take responsibility for the dogs he had just purchased. Besides us, and this guest, there were others that too raised concerns about the dogs treatment and well-being. We encouraged they be let out and we all saw they were so much happier, never left our side after that & loving guarded our door every night. All but Gustavo were eventually allowed out until the day we left when the puppies were put into a dangerous space as soon as we weren’t there to watch out for them anymore. We wanted to leave the Airbnb as soon as we discovered the abuses towards the animals but we stayed out of fear for them and because we knew that we needed to keep them safe as long as we could. We thought we could make a positive change and spoke at length with Nelson and everyone about how to improve the situation, but the adults there were unwilling to make any efforts, or treat them with decency which was harshly brought to a head and proven with the tragic death of Gustavo. Before his accident and death there were multiple sleepless nights (I know other guests also experienced this) because the dogs were crying and barking loudly as they were fighting each other, sometimes to the point of bleeding injury and welts. This was because the young German Shepard there already had, Pablo, was having major conflict with the 2 new puppies. Pablo is confined all day so if he ever gets out he is full of pent up energy and aggression as he has not been socialized or given attention. He is a good dog but the lack of care leads to behavioral issues and he’s in desperate need of attention. Nelson never once got out of bed to separate the dogs during these chaotic altercations outside all of our doors, never went out to protect them, or make sure that his paying guests could sleep