While the Albright praise NOLS for the manner in which they handled the situation, they criticize both the American and Kenyan governments for failing to inform them in advance of potential problems.

"The State Department is not that well-informed," Lars said. "In the next two weeks, there were three other attacks" on other travelers.

But Chris Wilson, desk officer for Kenya at the State department, says the country has been calm for more than two years. Until Albright's experience, that is.

"It came as a surprise because security in the game parks had been improving a lot," Wilson says. "It appeared the problem [of bandit attacks] had gone away.

But Jacob K. Chumba, first secretary for the Kenyan embassy in Washington D.C., questions whether the attack actually occurred.

"I don't know what is happening in Nairobi--we're waiting for adequate information from the ministry of Home Affairs," Chumba said. "I have not seen this thing before."

Chumba says Kenyan game parks are still safe for tourists. He adds pointedly that recent events in Rwanda have not affected Kenyan security.

But John N. Gans, operations director for NOLS, says he still has doubts about security efforts in the Kenyan game parks.

"You have four different agencies patrolling the Masai-Mara area," he says. "And they don't coordinate well."

As a result of the Albright attack, Gans says NOLS trips will no longer travel to the Masai-Mara area. Instead, student groups will spend more time around Mount Kenya, he says.

Albright, who was admitted to Harvard last spring but was asked to defer admission for a year, spent three months shearing sheep in Australia before joining the NOLS trip to Kenya.

Albright says his experiences in foreign lands do not leave him with a "bitter taste." But instead, they gave him "a better perspective on the inherent risks of traveling."

"I don't want to discourage anyone from heading over there," he says. "NOLS was an amazing program."