Savannah Southern Safaris Terms of Reference
OUR AGREEMENT WITH YOU
We are a Zambian Tour Operator called Savannah Southern Safaris, our Business is located in Livingstone, Zambia. Currently presentations are found at the National Art Gallery, our Postal address is: P.O. Box 60620, Livingstone, Zambia and Our Agreement with You sets out what you are legally entitled to expect from us when you buy a Tour or Package from us and will not apply to any course of dealings between us other than the Tour or Package booked. The Tour or Package as advertised by us will also have restrictions mentioned below or otherwise.
Please be advice, that we do not take any responsibility for links to other pages and their contents.
1. Your Travel Booking
Whether you book alone or as a group, we will only deal with the lead booking name in all subsequent correspondence, including changes, amendments and cancellations. You must be 18 years old at the time of booking and possess the legal capacity and authority to book as the lead name and travel on holidays with us and take up the offers advertised by us if they are still available. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the personal details or any other information supplied in respect of yourself and any other person travelling on the booking and for passing on any information regarding the booking or any changes made in relation thereto, to all persons travelling on such booking, including but not limited to information on schedule changes or copies of booking confirmations.
In addition, if your holiday includes a flight, you are also responsible for (a) notifying us prior to the time of booking of any personal circumstances and needs pertaining to a person included in the booking including, without limitation, whether any such person is not self reliant or is a person with reduced mobility – for example if you, or a member of your party, have difficulty in walking 500 meters; and (b) notifying us at any time from the time of booking until 48 hours prior to the flight’s departure by calling our office if any person travelling on the booking has ceased to be self reliant or a person with reduced mobility or if a person previously reported to be with reduced mobility or as not being self reliant does no longer fall into either category.
It is a condition of your booking with us that you and all other members of your party, including infants and children, are adequately insured on holiday for all activities booked. Any person who is under 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult on his or her journey. There may be other restrictions and conditions on some offers, but these are explained in the details of those offers. When you or (if you are booking through a travel agent) your travel agent asks for your booking to be confirmed, we will confirm the booking there and then, and set aside your chosen accommodation, activities or transport for you. Next, we will send you or your travel agent a Confirmation within 14 days. We may not be able to confirm some of our ground arrangements straight away (e.g., bespoke accommodation, tours etc). In these instances, we may issue a Confirmation. However, a contract for arrangements that have not been confirmed on that confirmation will only be made when we have sent you written (Email) confirmation that those additional arrangements have been completed. If there is any change to any of the details discussed at the time of booking, before the Confirmation is issued, we will notify you promptly of any new or changed details, including a change to the total price (if any). If any detail on the Confirmation is not correct tell us or your travel agent immediately. If there is an obvious error on the Confirmation, we reserve the right to correct it as soon as we become aware of it, but we will do this within 7 days of issuing the Confirmation or, if your departure is within 7 days, no later than 24 hours before you go. If any of these changes are not acceptable then you will be entitled to a full refund.
The contractual terms of Our Agreement apply between you and us because you have chosen a Tour or Package with us (hereafter, a Tour). We are cooperating with different partners and might our source some parts of your Tour, while we choose partners carefully to ensure highest quality.
2. The Price You Pay
All prices we advertise are accurate at the date published, but we reserve the right to change any of those prices from time to time. Prices include a cost for fuel that was estimated at the date of this publication.
We reserve the right to add a fuel supplement to tour prices should this increase after the date of this publication. Prices can go up or down. We will be able to tell you or your travel agent the up-to-date price of your chosen travel arrangements and of any other services advertised by us before confirming your booking. We reserve the right to increase the price of your tour after you have booked but no later than 30 days before the departure date stipulated and will forward an Amendment Invoice reflecting any changes made. After a Confirmation has been sent to you, any increase to your holiday price will be as the result of changes in our costs of supplying your tour resulting from transportation charges, (fuel, airport charges, scheduled air fares and other transport charges which form part of our contract with the transport provider), currency fluctuations and government action. An administration charge and any relevant travel agent’s commission is included within these amounts.
If the increase would be 2% or less of the holiday price shown on your Confirmation Invoice (excluding insurance premiums and any amendment charges), we will absorb the changes in our costs described above and will only pass on any increase above that level. If any change in our costs would cause a reduction in your holiday price, we will not make refunds of amounts less than 2% of your holiday price (calculated as above).
If the increase is more than 10% of the holiday price (calculated as above), then: –
1. You may cancel your holiday booking within 14 days of the Amendment Invoice date and receive a refund of all monies paid to us except any amendment charges; we will only consider an appropriate refund of insurance premium paid if you can show us that you are unable to transfer or reuse your policy; and
2. the increase will be considered a Major Change as described in section 4 below and, unless you choose to cancel under paragraph 1 above, you will be entitled to the alternatives set out in section 4 for those circumstances, but in either case you will receive compensation in accordance with section 4.
The price quoted on the last Amendment Invoice issued is guaranteed, unless you change your holiday booking. Any increases in our costs which occur after the last Amendment Invoice has been sent will be borne by us. Should you instruct your credit/debit card company to “charge back” any payment(s) properly due from you in respect of your booking, we will charge you a fee of 15 U$ per incident and associated costs. We further reserve the right to cancel your booking and/or take legal action against you for all outstanding payment(s).
3. If We Cancel Your Booking
We aim to provide your tour as booked. But if, for example, there are not enough people booked on your tour or you do not pay the balance of the tour price on time, we may cancel it. We reserve the right to cancel your tour in any circumstances but if we cancel your tour, except where this is because you have not paid, you can either have a refund or accept a replacement tour from us of equivalent or similar standard and price, if we are able to offer you one. We may offer you a replacement tour from a partnering business. Should you choose this option the terms and conditions of your tour will not change and these conditions will still apply to your booking. In either case, we will pay you compensation, using the scale shown (unless we cancel your tour because you do not pay us the balance of the tour price or because of one of the events listed in the ‘Important Note – Events Beyond Our Control’) and we will always refund the difference in price if the replacement tour is of a lower standard and price. We will not cancel your tour less than 12 weeks before you go, unless this is the result of one of the events in the ‘Important Note – Events Beyond Our Control’.
4. If We Change Your Booking Details
We hope that we will not have to make any change to your tour, but it might be necessary. We reserve the right to do this at any time. We will let you or your travel agent know about any important changes when you book. If you have already booked, we will let you know as soon as we can, if there is time before your departure. Flight timings shown by us are for guidance only and may change. Occasionally it may be necessary to change the aircraft type for your flight which may mean that some facilities such as in-flight entertainment or the advertised seat pitch may not be available. Where we are unable to provide a seat option that you have paid for, we will refund the amount you have paid. Your Confirmation Invoice will show the latest planned timings. Your actual flight timings will be shown on your ticket (including any e-ticket itinerary), which you should check carefully as soon as you receive it.
Major Changes To Your Tour
Occasionally, we have to make major changes to the flight, vehicle or accommodation making up your tour with us.
Major changes to your tour for which we will pay compensation unless the change is for reasons beyond our control (see ‘Important Note – Events Beyond Our Control’), using the scale shown, may include the following changes: a significant change of destination; a change in accommodation to that of a lower category, a change in the time of your departure or return flight by more than 12 hours, a change of departure airport A delay to your flight that we need to make within 24 hours before you are due to depart will not be considered a major change unless the delay is for more than 24 hours. These changes are only examples and there may be other significant changes which constitute major changes.
If we tell you about any of these changes after we have confirmed your tour booking, you may either:
– accept the new arrangements offered by us; or
– accept a replacement tour from us of equivalent or similar standard and price, at the date of the change, if we are able to offer you one. We may offer you a replacement tour from another partner.
– cancel your tour with us and receive a full refund of all monies paid.
Either way, we will pay you compensation, using the Compensation table shown, unless the change is for reasons beyond our control (see the ‘Important Note – Events Beyond Our Control’) and we will always refund the difference in price if the replacement tour is of a lower standard and price, at the date of the change.
This standard payment will not affect your statutory or other legal rights. We will only make one payment for each full-fare-paying adult in the tour booking. Any children not paying the full adult fare will receive 50% of these amounts. Children using a free child place will not receive any standard payment.
Compensation
Any compensation payable will be on these scales, based on how many days before your booked holiday departure we tell you of a major change.
Period before departure when a major change is notified Compensation payable per person
84 days or more 0
83 – 29 days U$ 10
28 – 15 days U$ 20
14 – 8 days U$ 30
7 – 0 days U$ 40
If The Change Is Not Acceptable To You
If any major change indicated above is not acceptable to you, you can cancel your tour booking. In this case, we will refund all the money you have paid us and will pay you compensation, as shown above, depending on how many days before your tour we tell you about this change unless the change is for reasons beyond our control (see ‘Important Note – Events Beyond Our Control’). This standard payment will not affect your statutory or other legal rights.
Important Note – Events Beyond Our Control
Events beyond our control include: war, threat of war, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist activity and its consequences, industrial disputes, natural and nuclear disasters, fire, epidemics, health risks and pandemics, unavoidable and unforeseeable technical problems with transport for reasons beyond our control or that of our suppliers; closed or congested airports or ports, hurricanes and other actual or potential severe weather conditions, and any other similar events.
In February 2005 a new Europe-wide law relating to denied boarding, delays and cancellation of flights came into force. This law granted rights to passengers including in certain circumstances the right to cancel their flight and receive reimbursement of the cost of the flight from their airline. Full details of these rights is publicized at EU airports and is also available from affected airlines. However, you should note that reimbursement of the cost of a flight that forms part of your holiday is the responsibility of your airline and will not automatically entitle you to reimbursement of the cost of your holiday from us.
5. What Happens to Holiday Complaints
We can usually sort out any complaints you may have. But in any case, we cannot agree, we will try to search help and support from third associations. Be sure we always aim to be at your best service.
6. Our Responsibility for Your Tour
We will arrange for you to receive the services that make up the tour that you choose and that we confirm. These services will be provided either directly by us or through independent suppliers contracted by us. Except where we are a Booking Agent, we are responsible for making sure that each part of the tour you book with us is provided to a reasonable standard and as was advertised by us (or as changed and accepted by you). If any part of your tourism not provided as described, we will pay you compensation, if appropriate, unless this is due to reasons beyond our control (see ‘Important Note – Events Beyond Our Control’).
Many of our tours aim to view animals (mammals, birds, and insects) in their natural habitat. Our guides are well trained and usually know where to find or how to track animals. But being the ‘wild’ after all we can’t give any guarantee of any animal sightings.
We have taken all reasonable care to make sure that all the services which make up your tour advertised by us are provided by efficient and reputable businesses. These businesses should follow local standards. However, overseas safety standards are generally lower than in Europe, for example few hotels yet meet EC fire safety recommendations even in Europe.
7. Personal Injury
If you suffer injury, illness or death directly as a result of the services provided as part of your tour, we may make a payment to you. We will not make any payment if your injury, illness or death was caused by an event or circumstances which the person who caused it could not have predicted or avoided even if they had taken all necessary and due care. We will not make any payment if your illness, injury or death was your own fault.
1. You should cooperate fully with us if we or our insurers want to enforce those rights.
4. Any payments we make may be limited in accordance with international conventions.
We ask you to transfer your rights to us so that we can claim back from suppliers any payments we make to you, plus any legal or other costs. We will not make a profit from this. If we get back from the supplier more than we have paid you plus these costs, we will give the extra money to you.
If you or someone on your tour booking is injured, falls ill or dies while taking part in an activity which is not part of the tour, or you need to incur unpredictable extra expenses for which we are not liable because the event is beyond our control (see ‘Important Note – Events Beyond Our Control’) we will, where appropriate and subject to our discretion, try to help if we can.
8. Excursions
From time to time we may introduce you to reputable third-party suppliers of excursions or other leisure services. If you choose to enter into a contract for the provision of excursions or other leisure services, your contract will be with that supplier directly and we act only in the capacity of an agent, and therefore would have no liability for the proper performance of that contract.
The terms and conditions in this “Our Agreement with You” will not apply to any contract for the provision of excursions or other leisure services.
YOUR AGREEMENT WITH US
9. Your Contract
By asking us or your travel agent to confirm your booking, you are accepting on behalf of all persons travelling on this booking that the terms of this Agreement, and the conditions of any terms and conditions of carriage – see Conditions of Your Ticket – constitute the entire agreement between us with regard to your booking and your travel arrangements. You also consent to our processing personal information about you and other members of your party. Where the context permits, reference to “you” and “your” will include you and all persons travelling on this booking.
It is a condition of booking that you and all members of your party provide certain information that may be sent to governmental authorities and border control and security agencies for the purpose of security and counter terrorism. This is known as Advanced Passenger Information, sometimes known as APIS. The information you must provide will include, but not be limited to, full name – as shown in your passport or travel document, gender, date of birth, travel document type, number, country of issue and expiry date, and for travel to the United States, your country of residence and the address for your first night’s stay.
10. Paying For Your Travel Arrangements
You will be required to pay a deposit to us for each person when you book unless this is within 12 weeks of departure when the full amount for the booking is payable. The deposit amount will be specified by us or your travel agent when your booking is made. If it is not specified then it will be the amount that we ask you to pay when you book, even if this is 100% of the holiday price. If you pay less than the deposit under a low deposit booking scheme, then this is only part of the deposit referred to in this paragraph. The remaining deposit will be due on cancellation or date specified at time of booking or on your confirmation invoice Please note your booking deposit may be increased or there may be a charge payable for some accommodation, tour or flight bookings where it is necessary to secure specific facilities with full payment at the time of booking e.g., weddings, coach touring and specific types of airline tickets. Once confirmed, the booking deposit, additional charges paid and insurance premiums will not be refunded in the event of cancellation except in the circumstances specified in Sections 2, 3 or 4 or as otherwise required by law.
This is your only commitment until 12 weeks before you go. Within two weeks of booking, we will send you a Confirmation Invoice showing how much you owe us. You must pay the amount on the last Invoice issued by us, at least 12 weeks before you go on holiday. If you don’t, we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled and to charge you a cancellation charge up to 100% of the total on that last Invoice, in accordance with the scale in section 12.
If you pay money for your booking to a travel agent appointed by us, they will hold that money as our agent from the time they receive it until they pay the money to us. Telephone bookings may incur an additional charge, check at time of booking.
If your payment is made by credit card a fee will apply, please check fee at time of booking. We do not accept personal cheques, only building society and bankers’ drafts will be accepted.
11. If You Change Your Booking
1. You must ensure all names and details are entered correctly at the time of booking. You will receive an invoice once your booking is confirmed and must contact us straight away if there is something that you need to correct, or if you don’t receive an invoice within 7 days of confirming your booking.
Amendments to correct passenger name misspellings will be free of charge within 14 days of booking, if there are more than 28 days until your departure date. If there are 28 days or less to your departure date, you must correct misspellings within 2 days of booking to avoid being charged an amendment fee.
2. Subject to Section 11.4, you may transfer your booking to another person, providing the following conditions are met:
– You authorize the change in writing
– The new lead passenger accepts the transfer and the terms of Our Agreement
– That person complies with the terms of the existing booking
– That person has valid holiday insurance – you cannot transfer your holiday insurance to the new lead passenger.
We’ll charge amendment fees to change a name on a booking outside 14 days to departure; these will be added to the new invoice. The new lead passenger, and you should they fail to pay, will be responsible for the payment of any balance due on that new invoice.
3. Please bear in mind that certain airlines and other transport providers treat changes as a cancellation and charge accordingly, up to 100% of the cost for that part of the arrangement. Where applicable these charges will be passed on to you.
4. When changing your tour details, the price of your new travel arrangements will be based on the price that applies on the day you make the change. These prices may not be the same as when you first made your booking.
Some accommodation is priced according to the number of people staying there. If your party size changes, we’ll recalculate your booking cost based on the new number of people going. If fewer people share the accommodation, then the cost per person may go up. This extra cost isn’t a cancellation charge, and it isn’t normally covered by insurance.
5. Some arrangements cannot be removed once they have been added to your booking. Certain extras, such as excursions, theme park tickets and airport extras may be non-refundable. We will make this clear when you book those arrangements, please check with us if you are unsure at the time of booking.
* please note there won’t be any reduction in the price you pay, even if your new travel arrangements are cheaper than the original booking.
12. If You Cancel Your Booking
If you want to cancel your booking, or part of it, you must contact us as soon as possible. If you have made your booking through a Travel Agency, your agent must advise us of your request to cancel. Once your booking has been cancelled you can expect to receive a cancellation invoice within 14 days. If you don’t, please contact us.
To cover the cost of processing your cancellation, and to compensate us for the risk that we may not be able to resell your travel arrangements, we’ll make a cancellation charge on the scale shown below. You are responsible for paying this charge.
Guide To Our Cancellation Charges
These charges are based on how many days before your booked departure we receive your cancellation notice, and are a percentage of the total cost of your booking, not including your insurance premium. If you want to cancel one or more passengers on the booking, you’ll have to pay a proportion of the applicable cancellation charge for those passengers.
Period Before Departure When Notice of Cancellation Is Received Percentage Of Total Booking Price
70 days or more Loss of deposit
69-5 days prior 50%
4-0 days prior 100%
Your deposit is non-refundable, even if the cancellation charge calculated is lower than the deposit amount paid. Where extra facilities or transport options, see Sections 10 and 11.4, are non-refundable, in part or in full, the cost of these will be added to the cancellation charge you have to pay.
If you booked using a Low Deposit Offer, the full deposit amount stated on your confirmation invoice will need to be paid upon cancellation.
The cancellation charge may be higher for certain travel arrangements, such as coach tours or scheduled airfares. Please ask for details of cancellation charges when you book and check your insurance policy to see if you’d be covered for the cost of any cancellation charges.
13. If You Have A Complaint
If you have a complaint about your arrangements whilst away, you must immediately notify the supplier of the service in question locally. If they are unable to resolve the problem immediately, and a member of our staff is not available, you should contact us straight away by phone/fax/email and we will endeavor to assist. If you are still not satisfied on your return home, you must write us (Savannah Southern safaris, P.O. Box 60620, Livingstone, Zambia) 28 days of returning from your tour to allow your complaint to be investigated properly. Please write your tour reference number on your letter, and include your daytime and evening telephone numbers. If you do not give us the opportunity to resolve any problem locally by reporting it to the supplier, or calling and informing us, then we may not be able to deal positively with any complaint on your return.
14. Conduct While Travelling
We reserve the right to refuse to accept you as a customer or continue dealing with you if we, or another person in authority, believe your behavior is disruptive, causes unnecessary inconvenience, is threatening or abusive, you damage property, you upset, annoy, disturb, or put any other traveler or our staff or agents in any risk or danger, on the telephone, in writing or in person. This also encounters for damages you might cause to nature.
If the guide, ranger, driver, Captain of your flight or cruise ship or any of the Lodge staff or agents believes that you could be disruptive or that you are suffering from a contagious disease, they can also refuse to let you proceed with your travel arrangements, restrict your movements, disembark you from a ship or aircraft, or remove you from your accommodation or excursion.
If this occurs overseas then you will become responsible for your own return home and any other members of your group who cannot or will not travel without you. We will not be liable for any refund, or compensation or any costs or expenses you incur.
If you are refused carriage because of your behavior, or you are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, your airline may pass on your details and date of the refusal of carriage to other airlines for their information. This in turn may make it difficult for you to book other airline tickets. In any of these circumstances no refunds or compensation will be paid to you and we may make a claim against you for any damages, costs and expenses (including legal expenses) incurred as a result of your behavior including but not limited to (i) repairing or replacing property lost, damage or destroyed by you, (ii) compensating any passenger, crew, staff or agent affected by your actions and (iii) diverting the aircraft for the purpose of removing you from the aircraft. Criminal proceedings may also be instigated.
For the purposes of this section reference to “you” or “““your” includes any other person in your party.
15. Your Accommodation
Any accommodation we arrange for you must only be used by those people named on your Confirmation Invoice (or on latest Amendment Invoice issued). You are not allowed to share the accommodation or let anyone else stay there. You are responsible for the cost of any damage caused to your accommodation or its contents during your stay, these charges must be met by you and may have to be paid locally.
16. The Conditions of Your Ticket
When you travel by air or by sea, your journey may be subject to certain international conventions such as the Warsaw Convention, Montreal Convention or Athens Convention. You agree that the transport company’s own ‘Conditions of Carriage’ will apply to you on that journey. When arranging this transportation for you, we rely on the terms and conditions contained within these international conventions and those ‘Conditions of Carriage’. You acknowledge that all of these terms and conditions form part of your contract with us as well as with the transport company. You can ask us or the travel agent booking your holiday to provide you with a copy of any of the conditions applicable to your journey. We will tell you the identity of the air carrier when you book with us and if it is not known at that time or subsequently changes, we will inform you as soon as possible and no later than at check-in for your flight.
17. Contacting You
If you book via our website or have opted in other circumstances for us to contact you via email, we will communicate with you using the email address you have provided. For example, to provide your confirmation, cancellation, etc. We will assume that your email address is correct and that you understand the risks associated with using this form of communication. Please note that you may still have to contact us via call or in writing as required in our terms and conditions.
Status September 2019