not really so strange
Greed. Remote location with poor or no ground transportation. Wealthy tourists. These things are fertilizer for pushing people to conduct marginally sleazy operations when they can always throw down the safety card. How can you argue with being cautious? The folks who are being taken advantage of need to know the score (costs?) before they step aboard. Not likely to ever happen. I suppose if your guide says " you have to go" that you really don't have any choice. It's a Barnum and Bailey world and you pay your money and take your chances. Every crowd has a silver lining......