I will begin with: I love the original Kisumu sandals.  I received my first kisumu, put them on and after months of thinking I would never walk without pain again, I was in heaven.  I had expected to break them in as recommended over a few weeks but I put them on my feet, was off and never looked back.

Now, years later I needed to replace my beloved Kisumu and find none of the original in my size but a sleeker, more feminine Kisumu 2 available. I purchased without hesitation and of course I did it at the last minute before leaving for a 2 week trip to the UK were a lot of walking was on the agenda.

I can not tell you how disappointed I was when I wore these the first day walking.  It is without a doubt less bulky, more slender and feminine looking.  However more importantly, YOU MUST PLAN TO build up callouses to wear without pain. The first day walking I did not get blisters but holes on the sides of my ankles where the strap carved out a nice section of my foot to rest in.  Unlike the original Kisumu the padded back strap is not so padded and the padding does not extend as far as it did on the originals.  The strap over the top of your foot by your ankle is also shorter so adjusting it is difficult at times and it seems to ride higher up my foot so I had to continually adjust it.

Looks wise, it is a nice sandal. After the vacation and forced limited use, I have now begun to wear them again and they are getting better.  How they fit my feet is fine although they do not "feel" the same as the original Kisumu. I can walk in them without pain but I seem to tilt my foot and have to be sure I am walking properly were in the originals, I did not have to think about it, my stride was straight on without doing as much thinking.

I really like the more slender style but I would have been happier had they kept some of the features which made the sandle so great.  With the handle of Kisumu 2 you expect the same great sandal with a few tweaks, these are not the same as the original Kisumu.

MBT should have given these sandals their own name so comparisons would not be made and certain expectations would not be in place.  They were probably hoping for folks like me who saw the kisumu name to jump and it worked, I did.

Update: it is (was) spring here 2012 and once again I have the same problem of these sandals carving holes in the side of my foot. By the end of last summer I had developed basically a callous where the strap rubs and therefore it no longer bothered me.  Over the winter my callous has disappeared and I am back at square one....even worse I am wishing I had not purchased these sandals.  You should not have to develop foot armor to wear a shoe that is supposed to be comfortable and whose purpose is for walking.  I actually don't even want to put them on because I do infact know the pain they will cause.