Booking your trip

Recapping on the enquiry process...

As soon as you make contact with us we allocate a unique booking reference number and assign your request to the specialist in our company most suited to assisting with your planning.

Please remember that

• your correspondence will always be treated as confidential in line with our privacy policy
• your unique reference number should be used in all correspondence

Our consultant is your single point of contact with the company...

... the person who takes responsibility for your trip from start of planning until you return home

You may be contacted by ground-handling and accounts staff from our UK head office but our consultant is still your main contact

If at any time you need to speak to one of the other key people in the company then you'll find the main contact details here

Provisional Reservations ...

• Prior to making any reservations we work with you on your safari plan and provide all necessary details with a final costing.
• In order to reserve your safari, please take note of our Standard Booking Conditions and send us a clear instruction on your final itinerary decision.
• We then hold reservations as provisional for a maximum of 14 days pending receipt of your deposit.

Confirming your safari....

• You send us a payment instruction/advice which includes acceptance of our Standard Booking Conditions.
• You send us your Client Information Record.

On receipt of your deposit the booking is confirmed subject to availability and a "key" document is issued detailing your final itinerary and terms of payment for the outstanding balance of your account.

We issue vouchers for the individual activities on your safari if you require them, on receipt of your final payment.

Some general notes...

• Our prices are generally quoted in US dollars, net and exclusive of bank charges. Payments can be made in USD, GBP or Euro.
• A provisional booking is only "confirmed" subject to availability and on receipt of a deposit.
• The value of the deposit and terms of payment on the balance will be spelt out during the enquiry stage. Our normal terms are 30% deposit with the final balance due 60 days prior to travel. In some cases (usually only for group bookings or set date departures) a deposit of up to 40% is required.
• No reservation is confirmed without prior payment unless agreed to in writing and no vouchers are issued unless full payment has been received.

Payment currencies

• We hold US dollar, Sterling and Euro currency accounts.
• Like most clients, we also prefer to keep our banking costs to a minimum. As a general rule, in descending order of preference for both parties, these are the preferred methods:
  

First:         USD/GBP/EUR bank transfer - you pay your bank charges/we pay ours
Second:     Cheque to our postal address in England
Third:        Credit or debit card; we process Visa, Master Card or American Express cards
Fourth:      Any other non-USD/GBP/EUR bank transfer.

• Exchange rates where applicable are determined on date of payment. The "Olsen and Associates" "interbank rate" is generally applied. Be aware that small exchange rate variations can occur particularly when converting from weaker currencies to US dollars or Sterling.

Payment methods

US dollar, Sterling or Euro Cheque: if you're a UK, European or US resident

Credit Card (Visa, MasterCard or American Express)

Bank Transfer: if you'd prefer to arrange a bank transfer

We accept cash and traveller's cheques with great reluctance and only in our regional offices. Bear in mind that Sales Tax and VAT regulations in Africa vary from country to country and in some cases add to the cost of your bill if paid in cash (eg. since 1998, an additional 17.5% Sales Tax became due if you paid on arrival in Zimbabwe; from June 2002, 10% VAT affected all trips in Botswana; others could follow suit....)