The following Terms and Conditions, and our private policy and where you have booked your holiday through our website, the terms and conditions of our website use, plus any other pertinent written information that was brought to your attention before confirming your booking, is going to form the valid contract with Virunga Ecotours located in Musanze Northern Province, Democratic Republic of Rwanda.
In this Booking Conditions, references to “you” and
“your” encompasses the first named individual on the booking plus all
individuals on whose behalf the booking was made and/or any other individual to
whom the booking is transferred or added.
ACCURACY
OF INFORMATION
All the
information provided on our website and in our brochures is given in good faith
to the best of our knowledge a fair and up-to-date representation whether it is
of a national park, reserve, wildlife, accommodation, food, security, animal
visibility, itineraries or weather. We pride ourselves on our accuracy of
information. However we do not accept liability or responsibility for any
errors caused by circumstances out of our control.
Through making a booking, the lead name (here the first person on the booking) agrees on behalf of other individuals detailed on the booking that:
1. He/she
is conversant with these terms and conditions, and he/she has authority and
agrees to be bound by them;
2. He/she
is going to provide full and accurate information to other travelling party
concerning the booking, including any alteration changes thereto;
3.
He/she undertakes to provide full and accurate information to other travelling
parties concerning booking, and any other pertinent information;
4.
He/she undertakes full financial responsibility for booking payments for all
individuals included on the booking;
Our responsibilities to you is going to depend upon
whether (1) We act as Package Organiser for selling the tour or (2) as
principals in single-element booking
sale (for instance lodge only bookings).
The following are set of our obligations.
1. Booking Your Arrangements
A booking is considered made with us when a) to
confirm to us you accept our verbal or written quotation; b) you pay the
deposit and c) our company issues you with your booking confirmation. Note that
Virunga Ecotours retains the right to
return your deposit or decline to issue confirmation at its discretion.
A binding contract between you and us will come
into existence immediately we issue you a booking confirmation confirming your
booking details. If you have any reservations or queries about the details, you
immediately contact and advise us within ten days of our sending out.
2. Insurance and Standards
Before booking with us, ensure you have relevant
insurance including medical expenses, personal injury, death, and repatriation
in case of illness, accident or death, cancellation of the holiday by either
side. Activities with greater risk of injury should be covered.
3. Cutting Your Holiday Short
When forced to cut your holiday short, we will not refund the cost of any unused services. Depending on circumstances, you should contact your travel insurance if they provide cover for cancellation or curtailment and make any claims directly with them.
4.
Fitness to Travel and Medical Conditions
We will take reasonable care to ensure that any
disabled person is well catered for. Please ensure you inform us about your or
any member of the travelling party disability before confirming your booking.
If you or any member has any medical condition, furnish us with full details so
that we can make suitable arrangements for you before confirming your booking.
When we are not able to adequately accommodate the needs of the person(s)
concerned, we will not confirm your booking. Failure to provide us with full
details at the time of the booking will lead to cancellation of the booking and
cancellation charges imposed.
5.
Behavior and age restrictions
All guests that have booked with us should conduct
themselves in acceptable manner and should not be some to the other guests. We
reserve the right to terminate your booking when, in our opinion; we deem it
that you are not acting in a responsible way. Your contract with us will become
null and void in such events and we will have no further obligations to you and
your party, and no refunds on accommodation or other services will be made. In
case of damage to property, full payment must be made before departure.
Note also that: Children under the age of 15
are not allowed to track gorillas.
6.
Excursions
If you wish to make other tours while you are on
holiday, this will not be part of your contracted arrangement with us but with
the operator of the excursion tour. We will not be responsible for anything
that happens during the course of its provision.
7.
Passport, Visa and Immigration Requirements and
Health Formalities
Ensure your travel documents are in order. Check
with your relevant Embassies or Consulates for your travel since requirements
often change.
We will not accept any responsibility when you are unable to travel, or you incur any other loss since you have not complied with your travel or health formalities. You also agree to reimburse us concerning any fines or other losses that we incur because of your failure to comply with travel and health requirements.
8. Complaints
We make every effort to ensure that your holiday
arrangements run smoothly but if you do have a problem during your holiday,
please inform the relevant supplier or representative immediately who will
endeavor to put things right. If your complaint is not resolved locally, please
contact us as soon as possible on info@virungaecotours.com +25078453435.
9. Delays, Missed Transport Arrangements and other
Travel Information
Contact immediately your flight company for missed
or cancelled flights, or if the flight, for any reason, is delayed for over 3
(three hours). You also contact us so that take necessary steps for your late
arrival
A delay or cancellation to any flight or travel
arrangement which you may decide to book yourself does not automatically
entitle you to cancel any other arrangements that you have booked with us.
10. Paying for your Safari, Package Holiday
To book your tour or safari you will need to pay a
non-refundable deposit of 20% of the cost of the safari (or the value of your
permits, whichever is greater). If you are booking within 45 days of arrival,
full payment will be required at the time of booking.
The balance of the cost of your safari (including
any applicable surcharge) is due not less than 45 days prior to scheduled
arrival. If we do not receive this balance in full and on time, we reserve the
right to treat your booking as cancelled by you in which case the cancellation
charges set out in the relevant section below will become payable.
Please Note: Gorilla permits can only be purchased
upon receipt of deposit and are subject to availability.
11. Pricing
The price or cost of travel arrangements is quoted
(and purchased by ourselves) in US Dollars.
We reserve the right to amend the price of unsold
holidays at any time and correct errors in the prices of confirmed holidays.
The price of your confirmed safari or holiday is
subject to variations in:
(i) Transportation costs including the cost of
fuel; or
(ii) Dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services; or
(iii) The exchange rates used to calculate your arrangements.
Such variations may include (but are not limited
to) changes which are part of our contracts with transport providers.
12. Safari Terms
Prices
include accommodation and meals as stated, vehicle, driver, and park fees as
stated, transfers and gorilla permits as stated. Prices international flights,
visas, items of personal a nature, laundry and tips. In the event of some
unforeseen circumstances like weather conditions, park and border closures, and
security issues among others-we reserve the right to amend the confirmed
itinerary. We will try our best to replace a particular service with something
of similar or higher quality.
13.
Primate Tracking
Sometimes a person might be prohibited from tracking on the day of a scheduled excursion due to an illness to the primates or for some other health-related conditions. Only travellers in excellent health conditions are allowed to track primates and the decision of whether a traveller will be permitted or not to participate in primate tracking excursion will be made by the local guides and trackers whose decision on such matters are final.
14. Gorilla Permits
Gorilla Permits in Rwanda cannot be guaranteed until we receive all amounts of US$1,500 Rwanda, 700 Uganda and 400 DR Congo per permit and actually pay for the permits at the Rwanda Development Board offices, Uganda Wildlife Authority and L’Institut Congolaise pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN)
15. Cancellations received
More
than 90 days before the tracking date 25% cancellation fee
46
to 90 days before the tracking date 50% cancellation fee
9
to 45 days before the tracking date 75% cancellation fee
0
to 8 days before the tracking date 100% cancellation fee
Percentages are based on the full current permit price.
16. Photography on Tour
Virunga Ecotours reserves the right to take photographic images of individual tour participants for commercial marketing. Tour members who prefer that their images are not taken are asked to at the start of the tour to identify themselves to their escort.
17. If You Cancel Your Holiday Package
Should you or any member of your party wish to
cancel your confirmed booking, you should immediately notify us. The
cancellation notice is going to take effect when it is received by us in
writing and effective from the date it is received. Since we incur
costs in cancelling your arrangements, you will have to pay the applicable
cancellation charges up to the maximum shown below. The cancellation charge
detailed is calculated as per the total cost payable by the person(s)
cancelling excluding insurance premiums and amendment charges which are not
refundable in the event of the person(s) to whom they apply cancelling:
Cancellation
|
|
Period before departure
within which notice of Cancellation by you is received |
Amount of cancellation
charge |
More than 45 days prior
to departure |
Loss of Deposit |
44 to 15 days prior to
departure |
50% of total holiday
cost |
Less than 15 days prior
to departure |
100% of total holiday
cost |
We will deduct the cancellation charge(s) from any monies
you have already paid to us. A 2% admin fee is charged on all refunds due to
cancellations.
18. Group Departures
Our group departures run on a minimum participation of 2 clients. When we fail to achieve this target number a particular departure by sixty (60) days before the departure, we provide you with the alternative to privately carry on with the tour but bear the additional costs of doing this. But if you do not wish to take up this alternative, the trip is going to be canceled and we will refund you the deposit in full.
19. Change and Cancellation of Your Travel
Arrangement
We plan your travel arrangements several months in
advance and circumstances may sometimes force us to make some changes or even
cancel your booking. We reserve the right to do so at any time.
Changes: Should we make any changes concerning your
booking, we are immediately going to inform you. Minor changes may include
accommodation to another place of the same or higher standard.
Sometimes we may make major changes to your arrangements
and we will duly inform you. These changes may include:
– A change of accommodation area for the whole or a
significant part of your time away.
– A change of accommodation to that of a lower
standard or classification for the whole or a significant part of your time
away.
– A change of overall length of your arrangements
of twelve or more hours.
– A significant change to your itinerary, missing
out one or more destination entirely.
Cancellation: We will not cancel your travel
arrangements less than 30 days before your departure date, except for reasons
of force majeure or failure by you to pay the final balance. We may cancel your
booking before this date if, e.g., the minimum number of clients required for a
particular travel arrangement is not reached.
If we must make a major change or cancel, we will
inform you immediately and if there is time to do so before departure, we will
offer you the choice of:
i (for major changes) accepting the changed
arrangements;
ii having a refund of all monies paid; or
iii accepting an offer of alternative travel
arrangements of comparable standard from us, if available (we will refund any
price difference if the alternative is of a lower value).
You must notify us of your choice within 7 (seven)
days of our offer. Failure to do so we will assume that you have chosen to
accept the change or alternative booking arrangements.
20.
Compensation
Should we make a major change or cancel less than
30 days before your departure, the following are our compensation schedule. But
compensation is not limited so does not exclude you from claiming more should
you be entitled to do so.
Compensation |
|
Period before departure
within which notice of Cancellation or major change is notified to you |
Compensation payable per
person booking |
30 days or more |
Nil |
29 – 14 days prior to
departure |
$20 |
Less than 14 days prior
to departure |
$40 |
IMPORTANT NOTE: We will not pay you compensation in
the following circumstances:
– where we make a minor change;
– where we make a major change or cancel your arrangements more than 30 days
before departure;
– where we must cancel your arrangements due to your failure to make full
payment on time;
– where the change or cancellation by us arises out of alterations to the
confirmed booking requested by you;
Should there be a cancellation or change, we regrettably cannot reimburse you for any incidental expenses incurred by you like as visas, vaccinations, equipment, transport, insurance or similar costs.
Deposit payment to Virunga Ecotours for the
safari/tour certifies that agents and tour participants are read and understood
the terms and conditions. On the advance of a
deposit to Virunga Ecotours the depositor, his or her family and heirs agree to
be bound by the above Terms and Conditions.
21. Law and
Jurisdiction
The terms and conditions are governed by the law
the company is registered and any dispute which arises between the parties will
be governed by exclusive jurisdiction of the laws of the country.