Terms & Conditions

BOOKING TERMS AND CONDITIONS

BOOKING TERMS AND CONDITIONS

THE WEBSITE WWW.EXPLORETRAVELAFRICA.COM IS OWNED AND OPERATED BY THE EXPLORE AND TRAVEL AFRICA COMPANY (PTY) LTD. THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS FORM THE BASIS OF YOUR CONTRACT WITH THE EXPLORE AND TRAVEL AFRICA COMPANY TRAVEL SERVICES (PTY) LTD (HEREAFTER KNOWN AS “THE EXPLORE AND TRAVEL AFRICA COMPANY”). PLEASE READ THEM CAREFULLY AS THEY ARE LEGALLY BINDING.

PART A: YOUR DEALINGS WITH THE EXPLORE AND TRAVEL AFRICA COMPANY IN RESPECT OF TRAVEL SERVICES AND PRODUCTS OFFERED BY SUPPLIERS

SECURING YOUR BOOKING

In order to confirm your booking, you need to make the following payments to The Explore and Travel Africa Company:-
1. 30% Deposit at time of booking, excepting air travel, which requires 100% payment upon booking as tickets have to be issued simultaneously
1. Final balance due 60 days prior to travel
1. 100% Of the Total Confirmed Price for bookings made less than 60 days prior to departure
1. Greater deposits may be required in instances of specialist product and/or peak season travel
If the above payments are not received as indicated, The Explore and Travel Africa Company will be unable to confirm the booking for you.

PRICES AND PAYMENT

You will be liable for the Total Confirmed Price, less any payments made by you plus any additional charges due to booking changes that may be charged as explained in clause 4 of this Agreement.
All clients agree to transact electronically with The Explore and Travel Africa Company in South Africa.
All payments should be made by internet transfer (electronic funds transfer) or telegraphic transfer (SWIFT) to our South African Rands (ZAR) account in South Africa. Payments are normally cleared within five business days. Cash and travellers’ cheques are not accepted.
It is your responsibility to inform and instruct your bankers that the net invoice amount must equal the funds clearing into The Explore and Travel Africa Company bank account and that all bank charges are for your account.
If you wish to settle payment by means of a credit card, Credit cards (MasterCard and Visa) are accepted and subject to a 3% swipe fee. This swipe fee will be added as a line item to your invoice. If your invoice is in foreign currency, your payment will be converted to South African Rand prior to the transaction being processed due to foreign exchange regulations by the South African Reserve Bank. The rate of exchange on the day that the transaction is processed will be used to determine the equivalent Rand amount with any resulting foreign exchange differences or bank charges being for the client’s account.
The Explore and Travel Africa Company reserves the right to request payment by credit card to secure all short lead-time bookings which have been confirmed within 14 (fourteen) days of travel
If you fail to make the payments on or before the due date, your booking will be cancelled and you will forfeit the relevant deposit paid in terms of clause 1 above.

PRICE INCREASE

All Customer Quotation Forms and Customer Confirmation forms generated by The Explore and Travel Africa Company are based upon external supplier costs such as air fares, airport taxes, fuel surcharges, accommodation, car hire, park fees and gate fees which are outside of the control of The Explore and Travel Africa Company. These supplier costs are therefore subject to change until final payment has been received or in the instance of air travel, until air tickets have been issued.
You agree that should any such costs increase, such an increase will be for your account and shall be payable to The Explore and Travel Africa Company or as otherwise instructed by The Explore and Travel Africa Company.
You also acknowledge that:
1. airlines reserve the right to levy additional or increased airport taxes and fuel charges – without notice – at any stage prior to flight and any such costs increased as a result of an increase effected by the airline will be for the Client’s account and shall be payable to The Explore and Travel Africa Company or as otherwise instructed by the airlines
1. road transportation companies such as transfer and car rental companies reserve the right to levy additional charges due to fuel price increases and/or government road levies – without notice – at any stage prior to and any such costs increase as a result of an increase effected by the road transportation company will be for the Client’s account and shall be payable to The Explore and Travel Africa Company or as otherwise instructed by the road transportation company;
1. Government/National Bodies, concession owners and other such parties involved in the running of private or public natural parks reserve the right to levy additional or increased park fees – without notice – at any stage prior to arrival and any such costs increased as a result of an increase effected by such parties will be for the Client’s account and shall be payable to The Explore and Travel Africa Company or as otherwise instructed by such parties.

CHANGES TO BOOKINGS

The Explore and Travel Africa Company will make every effort to adhere to the confirmed itinerary. However, where Involuntary Changes are significant – such as change of accommodation or transportation – The Explore and Travel Africa Company undertakes:

To provide a reasonable alternative at no additional cost, subject to the terms and conditions of the relevant Supplier;
In the event that you reject the reasonable alternative provided or should a reasonable alternative not be available as per 4.a.i above, to refund you the monies arising from the Involuntary Changes, subject to the terms and conditions of the relevant Supplier
In the event of refunding you, to assist you in identifying alternative services, subject to all additional costs for the alternative services being for your account.
Should you wish to make a Voluntary Change to your booking, The Explore and Travel Africa Company will use its best endeavours to accommodate you. However, The Explore and Travel Africa Company reserves the right to charge the applicable cancellation fees referred to in clause 7 as well as an additional administration fee of R300.00 per person per booking amended together with any additional costs arising from the Voluntary Change, including those charged by the relevant Supplier.

TRAVEL DEALS AND DISCOUNT RATES

All Travel Deals and Discounted Rates advertised on The Explore and Travel Africa Company website or quoted in the Customer Quotation forms have separate terms and conditions prescribed by the Supplier of the relevant goods and/or Services. It is your responsibility to obtain such separate terms and conditions as you will be bound by them.

WAIVER, INDEMNITY AND LIABILITY

All vouchers, receipts and tickets issued by The Explore and Travel Africa Company to you are subject to the supplier’s terms and conditions.
Participation in any tour or travel package arranged by The Explore and Travel Africa Company and provided by any of its Suppliers (including but not limited to transportation to or from any venue) is undertaken at your own risk.
You indemnify The Explore and Travel Africa Company and its directors, employees, assignees and/or agents against any claim arising for any damages or loss which might be instituted against it arising from or connection with the services
contemplated in these Terms and Conditions.
The Client, his/her/their heirs, dependants, agents, executors or their assignees hereby irrevocably waive any claims
which they may have against The Explore and Travel Africa Company for any form of compensation for damages which they may suffer due to injury and/or loss of any nature whatsoever, which includes accidents caused by the Client’s own actions, injuries or death while on the tour, in a transportation vehicle or at any place during the tour or illness or death at any time after the tour.
The Explore and Travel Africa Company acts solely in the capacity of an agent for third parties and as such The Explore and Travel Africa Company holds themselves free of responsibility or liability for any delays, loss or damages from any cause whatsoever including loss/ delay/damages/ dissatisfaction caused by third party products and services. The Explore and Travel Africa Company shall be exempt from all liability in respect of any claim whatsoever as aforesaid, the Client acknowledging that, in the case of a defective product, it is unreasonable to expect The Explore and Travel Africa Company to have discovered the product failure having regard to The Explore and Travel Africa Company’s role in arranging access to the third-party products and services on behalf of the Client.

CANCELLATION AND REFUND POLICY

In the event that you cancel your booking, in full or partially, for any reason whatsoever The Explore and Travel Africa Company will levy cancellation charges as defined in Section C below. In the occasional instance where the Explore and Travel Africa Company is able to obtain waivers of cancellation fees and/or secure an ex-gratia refund from suppliers The Explore and Travel Africa Company will pass this on to you less the Service Fee. However, The Explore and Travel Africa Company makes no guarantees as to securing such waivers or refunds.
Cancellations of bookings must be done in writing. Where cancellations are sent by e-mail, you must obtain an e-mail proof of receipt and retain written acknowledgement of receipt from The Explore and Travel Africa Company.
Cancellation of bookings
1. 61+ days before departure: Deposit non-refundable
1. 0-60 days before departure: 100% Cancellation fee
The Explore and Travel Africa Company will make every effort to confirm the required services after deposit payment. In the unlikely event of us being unable to confirm the itinerary travel services, you will be offered alternative available travel services. Should the alternative available travel services not be acceptable to you we will provide a full refund
The Explore and Travel Africa Company will make every effort to ensure delivery of services as defined in the confirmed itinerary however we reserve the right to cancel services where unavoidable due to circumstances beyond the control of
The Explore and Travel Africa Company. In the unlikely instance that The Explore and Travel Africa Company should cancel services defined in the confirmed itinerary The Explore and Travel Africa Company will provide a full refund on the cancelled service/s only.
The Explore and Travel Africa Company will make every effort to avoid misquotation. However, we reserve the right to cancel a reservation without liability or penalty if an obvious error or omission leads to a material cost implication.
No refunds will be given by The Explore and Travel Africa Company for partly used vouchers or for no-shows.

COMPLAINT AND DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Any complaints should be telephonically reported to The Explore and Travel Africa Company at the time of the incident and should be followed up in writing to The Explore and Travel Africa Company no later than 30 days after the incident has occurred.
Complaints should be forwarded to info@exploretravelafrica.com
The Explore and Travel Africa Company will acknowledge your complaint and endeavour to investigate it with the relevant service provider within a 30 days period after which it will provide you with written feedback.
Although The Explore and Travel Africa Company will make every effort to assist in the resolution of the complaint, it cannot guarantee the satisfactory resolution of complaints for services and products outside of its control and for which it is not responsible.

PART B: YOUR DIRECT DEALINGS WITH OTHER SERVICE PROVIDERS

FLIGHT RULES

All airlines require the full names of passengers as stated in their passports.
After air tickets have been issued, any changes will be subject to the relevant Airline’s terms and conditions applicable to that fare type.
It is your responsibility to check and correct any errors in respect of your flight reservations that appear on the Customer Confirmation Form and Customer Booking Form. The Explore and Travel Africa Company accept no liability for incorrect details provided by you.
Airfares are only guaranteed once final payment has been received and the air ticket has been issued.
If any Airline levies additional or increased airport taxes and fuel charges at any stage prior to your flight, you agree that such an increase will be for your account and shall be payable to The Explore and Travel Africa Company or to the Airline if instructed to do so.
You must reconfirm all onward and return flights with the relevant airline at least 72 hours prior to your flight.
The Explore and Travel Africa Company cannot guarantee any airline seating or meal requests. However, The Explore and Travel Africa Company will endeavour to assist you in this regard.
All of your baggage and personal belongings are at all times at your responsibility. The Explore and Travel Africa Company will not accept any liability for your misplaced baggage or any loss or damage to your baggage or personal effects.
Should you cancel your air ticket, the cancellation will be subject to the relevant Airline’s terms and conditions applicable to that fare type.
Should a refund be granted by the relevant Airline, it may be subject to a delay. The Explore and Travel Africa Company will only be obliged to refund any amounts once it receives them from the relevant airline.
Air tickets that are unused for more than 1 year from the date of their issue are considered as expired and must be submitted to the relevant airline for their authority to refund. The Explore and Travel Africa Company will make every effort to assist you in obtaining this refund but cannot provide you with any guarantees in this regard.
The Explore and Travel Africa Company will provide you with an e-ticket reference number together with a full itinerary, once the air ticket has been fully paid for.
In the event of a Voluntary Change, you will be responsible for the difference in all applicable fares and taxes.
Light Aircraft Charter flights in Southern and East Africa have a very specific weight policy for both travellers and baggage. Please ask for a detailed breakdown of this from your consultant. Any excess charges, for both travellers and baggage, is for your own account.

BAGGAGE RULES

You must ensure that you meet the baggage regulations of the airlines and charter companies that you will be using. The Explore and Travel Africa Company recommend that you seek the advice of its consultants. However, you remain responsible for ensuring you meet the baggage regulations of each airline and charter company you travel with.
In particular, light aircraft flights have extraordinary baggage regulations which include but are not limited to weight, structure and shape. The Explore and Travel Africa Company recommend that you seek the advice of its consultants.
If you do not adhere to the relevant baggage regulations, the transfer of your baggage may be delayed and/or transferred at extra cost to you.

PASSPORTS AND VISAS

You must ensure that you meet the necessary travel documentation, permit and/or visa regulations of the countries you intend entering, transiting or visiting. The Explore and Travel Africa Company recommend that you seek the advice of its Consultants. However, you remain responsible for ensuring you meet these regulations.
Your passport must have sufficient blank visa pages available in accordance with the regulations of various African countries. A minimum of 2 adjacent blank pages per country to be entered, transited or visited is recommended.
Your passport must be valid for the prescribed period contained in the applicable regulations of the countries you will be entering, transiting and/or visiting. A minimum of 12 months after travel date is recommended.
If you are travelling alone with minor children, you will need to provide a letter of consent from the absent parent/s that the children are allowed to travel with you.

INNOCULATION, IMMUNISATION AND MEDICATION

You must ensure that you meet the immunisation, inoculation and medication regulations of various African countries. The Explore and Travel Africa Company recommend you seek the advice of its consultants and review the guidelines relating to immunisation, inoculation and medication regulations of each country visiting. However, you remain ultimately responsible for ensuring you meet the immunisation, inoculation and medication regulations requirements of each African country your visit.
It is your obligation to ensure that you are medically fit to travel.

TRAVEL INSURANCE

You agree to purchase comprehensive travel insurance at the time of your booking. You acknowledge that without such travel insurance, you will be responsible for all costs arising from any cancellation, re-routing or rescheduling of your trip or any emergency (medical or other) that may arise during your travels. As agreed in Clause 6, you agree that in the event of you failing to purchase adequate insurance cover, you will not hold The Explore and Travel Africa Company responsible for any harm or loss that you may suffer.

PART C: THE LEGAL STUFF

GENERAL

No amendment, addition or consensual cancellation of this Agreement will be binding unless it is recorded in writing.
These Terms and Conditions together with the Customer Booking Form and the Customer Quotation contain all the terms and conditions of the agreement between you and The Explore and Travel Africa Company. Make sure that everything you have agreed to has been recorded in this Agreement. If there is any conflict between the provisions of these documents, the provisions of the Customer Booking Form will prevail.
If any provision of this Agreement is found by a court of law to be invalid or void, such provision will be severed from the remaining provisions, without affecting the remainder of the agreement.
Neither Party shall lose any of its rights under this Agreement if it does not immediately and in every instance insist on them.
This Agreement shall be governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa and shall be enforced by the courts within the Republic of South Africa.
You consent to the jurisdiction of the Magistrate’s Court, notwithstanding the fact that the amount involved may exceed the jurisdiction of the Magistrate’s Court.
If The Explore and Travel Africa Company has to bring legal proceedings against you to enforce payments of amounts owed to it, you shall be responsible to pay all costs The Explore and Travel Africa Company incurs in collecting the payment.
You shall not be entitled to cede any of your rights or assign any of your obligations under this Agreement.
If The Explore and Travel Africa Company is prevented from carrying out all or any of its obligations under this Agreement because of an event beyond its control, The Explore and Travel Africa Company shall be relieved of its obligations under the Agreement during the period that such event and its consequences continue, but only to the extent so prevented and shall not be liable for any delay or failure in the performance of any such obligations or loss or damages which you may suffer due to such delay or failure.
Updated versions of this Agreement may be sent to you from time to time as and when our policies and procedures change and when external factors such as legislative updates require. Please make sure that you read these amended terms and conditions carefully and raise any queries that you may have.

ADDRESSES FOR NOTICES AND LEGAL PROCESS

The Parties choose the following physical addresses at which documents in legal proceedings in connection with this Agreement may be served (i.e. their domicilia citandi et executandi) and at which any written notice in connection with this Agreement may be addressed:
1. The Explore and Travel Africa Company: Cape Town, 7945, South Africa
1. You: The address provided by you on the Customer Booking Form.
Either of the parties may change this address to another address, by way of a notice to the other party to this Agreement, provided that such a notice is received at least 7 days prior to such a change taking effect.

WILD ANIMALS

Please be aware that on any African safari, you may be taken into close contact with wild animals. Attacks by wild animals are rare, but no safari into the African wilderness can guarantee that this will not occur. Neither The Explore and Travel Africa Company, its employees, nor its suppliers can be held responsible for any injury or incident on the safari. Please note that many safari camps are unfenced and animals are able to wander through the camps at all times of the day and night. The onus is on you to ensure you have adequate travel insurance.

CONFIDENTIALITY & COMMUNICATION

The Explore and Travel Africa Company undertakes to take all reasonable and necessary steps to protect your personal information.
You authorise The Explore and Travel Africa Company to electronically record and store the following information for the purposes of communicating information requested by you and in order to provide you with to pages on The Explore and Travel Africa Company website and related websites
1. Your full name and surnames;
1. Your Contact telephone numbers;
1. Your Electronic mail address;
1. Your IP address;
1. Your User selected username and password;
1. Your Non-personal browsing habits and click patterns;
1. Your Profile information; and
1. Your Travel information.

HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION

We use the information we collect in various ways, including to:
1. Complete your booking and ensure all service providers in your itinerary have the information they need
1. Provide, operate, and maintain our website
1. Improve, personalize, and expand our website
1. Understand and analyse how you use our website
1. Develop new products, services, features, and functionality
1. Communicate with you, either directly or through one of our partners, including for customer service, to provide you with updates vii. and other information relating to the website, and for marketing and promotional purposes
1. Send you emails
1. Find and prevent fraud
When you book or otherwise arrange travel-related products and services through us, The Explore and Travel Africa Company acts as an agent for the relevant travel service providers (e.g. for a safari lodge). In this case, we process your personal information as necessary so as to provide the services you requested from us. This usually includes collecting personal information about you both for our internal purposes as described in this Notice and for the travel service provider for whom we act as agent (e.g. to provide you with the booked services). For example, if you book a flight through us, then we use your personal information to enable your flight to be booked and disclose it to the airline to enable the airline to provide the flight service to you.
The Explore and Travel Africa Company may therefore share your information with our travel service providers such as hotel, airline, car rental, or other providers, who fulfill your travel bookings. Please note that these travel service providers also may use your personal information as described in their respective privacy policy and may contact you as necessary to obtain additional information about you, facilitate your travel reservation, or provide you with your requested services. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party travel service providers whose products you purchase through us. We will provide you with copies of all relevant travel service provider terms, conditions and privacy policies on request.
Where permitted by POPIA, The Explore and Travel Africa Company may use your personal information to send you targeted marketing activities relating to our products and services (and those of third parties) that we think may interest you, unless you have requested not to receive such information. These may include, but are not limited to, mail outs, electronic marketing and notifications as described below, and telephone calls). We will only use your personal information to send electronic marketing materials to you (including e-newsletters, email, SMS, MMS and iM) if you have opted-in to receive them or not opt-ed out of receiving them, depending upon the applicable law. You can subscribe to receive e-newsletters and other electronic promotional/marketing materials by following the relevant links on our website or requesting one of our consultants to do so for you.
You can opt-out of all these communications at any time.

DEFINITIONS AND INTERPRETATION

In this agreement the following words will have the meanings referred to below, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
“Consultant or travel expert” means a travel adviser employed by The Explore and Travel Africa Company;
“the Agreement” means the Customer Booking Form (defined below) and the applicable Customer Quotation read with these Terms and Conditions;
“Customer Quotation” means the online itinerary or form sent to you by The Explore and Travel Africa Company, indicating the estimated prices of the travel products and services that you wish to purchase;
“the Customer Booking Form” means the form completed by you and submitted to The Explore and Travel Africa Company confirming your acceptance of the Customer Quotation
“Departure Date” means the date on which you start your travels, as indicated in the Customer Confirmation Form;
“Deposit” means the monies payable by you to The Explore and Travel Africa Company to secure your booking;
“Force Majeure” means any extraordinary event or circumstance beyond the control of the parties, including but not limited to, whether actual or threatened, war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity, industrial dispute, natural or nuclear disaster, adverse weather conditions, epidemics and fire;
“The Explore and Travel Africa Company” means The Explore and Travel Africa Company (Pty) Ltd, a private company, registration number: 2021/487889/07 duly registered in terms of the laws of the Republic of South Africa, carrying on business at xxxx. Cape Town, 7945.
“in writing” means written communication sent to The Explore and Travel Africa Company by recorded delivery post or by email.
“Your/Your” means the client described on the Customer Booking Form.
“Overbooking displacement” means cancellation or rescheduling of a service by a service provider due to a supplier booking error;
“Parties” means both you and The Explore and Travel Africa Company;
“Supplier” means a third party who supplies you with travel services, including but not limited to airlines, transfer companies, car rental companies, tour operators, hotels and suppliers of accommodation;
“Supplier Schedule Failure” means a Supplier’s failure to provide you with travel services as per your booking, including but not limited to an Overbooking Displacement;
“Scheduled Airline Failure” means an airline’s failure to operate at all or to operate according to the flight
schedule for reasons including but not limited to technical failure or weather conditions;
“Service fee” means the portion of your Total Confirmed Price that covers the services provided by The Explore and Travel Africa Company including but not limited to booking services, administration, communication, amendment, cancellation and bank charges.
“Total Confirmed Price” means the total cost of services rendered to you on behalf of The Explore and Travel Africa Company as indicated in the Customer Confirmation Form;
Expressions in the singular also include the plural, and vice versa; and
Pronouns of any gender include the other gender

Last Update: October 2021