Cancellation Policy

Where It All Began is the trading name of English Safari CC, registered in the Republic of South Africa. Any booking you make with us is regulated by the following cancellation policy.

Why do you have a cancellation policy?

We fully appreciate that any journey to Southern Africa is a big undertaking in many senses: it takes a great deal of personal commitment, a great deal of time and also substantial financial commitment from you, the traveller. It also requires a great deal of commitment from all the businesses and services you will make use of on your journey. In order to ensure that we meet your expectations, we and our suppliers will always require financial commitment before your journey starts, so that they can offer you the best possible experience. If for whatever reason you have to cancel your trip, because costs have already been incurred to be ready for your visit, some or all of what you have already paid may not be refundable.

How does your cancellation policy work?

Once a reservation has been made for you (either in a hotel, in a plane, on a tour, with a car hire company, at a restaurant), it is very hard for the organisation concerned to resell that place at short notice to another traveller. As such, if you cancel, the organisation stands to lose out. As such, they protect themselves from cancellation by requiring prepayment and not offering refunds for late cancellations.

Our cancellation policy is ultimately determined by our suppliers – if they can resell any booking we have made with them, they are normally able to offer us a refund, which we will pass directly on to you less a small handling fee. However, once a supplier has been paid, it is up the supplier whether they choose to refund or not. As such, the only way to be sure that you can reclaim what you’ve paid, if you need to cancel, is by purchasing a travel insurance policy (see How can I be sure that I will get a refund if I need to cancel my trip?).

When do I have to pay for my journey?

Your invoice us with us sets out the exact costs of your journey with us: anything not specifically mentioned on that invoice is excluded. We normally ask for a deposit, typically 20% of the overall cost of the journey, with the balance payable in full or in instalments at least 60 days prior to departure. Sometimes we’ll need to ask you for full payment further in advance, such as for major sporting events or over Christmas or Easter. If you’re booking your trip within 60 days of departure, we’ll need to ask you for the full balance at the time you book.

Once you’ve booked a journey with us, you can of course at any time add additional services to it: we’d be very happy to assist you. These additional services will need to be paid for at the time that they are booked and as they are booked shortly before you travel or whilst you’re travelling normally won’t be refundable at all.

How can I be sure that I will get a refund if I need to cancel my trip?

The best way is to make sure you’ve purchased adequate travel insurance. ‘Adequate’ means you need to consider both yourself, as the traveller, and also the journey you are undertaking. So for example, if you’re fit, healthy and completely mobile with no underlying health conditions and you intend to only spend time lounging by the pool during your journey, that would be one type of travel insurance policy. However, if you’re fit, healthy, mobile with no underlying health conditions but you intend to go bungee jumping, shark cage diving and off-roading, that would be another type of travel insurance policy. Likewise, if you’ve underlying health conditions, the policy you need to buy needs to take account of that.

Most credit card companies include a basic level of travel insurance if you purchase your journey through us using the card. We would strongly advise though that you check what is and what isn’t covered on these basic polices – they may not apply to you, as the traveller, or your journey type.

Why do you require proof of travel insurance?

It is a condition of booking with us that you purchase at the very least a basic travel insurance policy for your journey. Before you depart on your journey, we’ll ask you to send us a copy of your policy. We include a very basic level of cover in our journeys – the premium is an optional payment that is added to your invoice. Whilst we purchase the policy for you, it is in your name and you’re the insured party.

We would prefer, though, that you rather work through an insurance company you already deal with at home: our policy is a basic ‘one size fits all’ policy and as such, it may not suit you as the traveller or your journey type. If you contact your own insurer, you’re a known risk to them and as such you’re likely to get better advice and a better price.

What’s not included on my invoice?

Your holiday price does not normally include:

• Visa fees, overseas airport departure charges payable locally, hotel porterage, expenditure of a personal expenditure, hotel extras, fuel and extras for car hire.
• Taxes or compulsory charges introduced by governments, regulatory bodies or airlines after you have booked.
• Security charges introduced or increased after you have booked relating to transportation costs.
• Holiday insurance

I can’t travel on my journey: can I transfer my journey to someone else?

Normally, yes, but you may incur fees for transferring the journey, over and above the original invoiced cost of the journey. You can ask us to transfer your booking to any other person you’d like us to. You’d need to give us notice in writing at least seven days prior to your due date of departure. Both you and the new traveller are responsible for paying all costs we incur in making the transfer. We will charge a flat rate administration fee ZAR5 000 in order to change the name on the journey to a new traveller, per traveller. Note that other costs or additional fees may also arise, which you will have to agree to pay before the transfer can be made. Most of our suppliers do not charge fees for name changes but some do. We will produce a full quotation for you of the costs of transferring the journey, including our fee for doing so, before we actually transfer the journey to a new name. When you accept the quotation for the transfer, you’ll need to pay all the transfer costs in full before we can make the transfer. Please note that transfer costs, including our fee, are not refundable.

I need to make some changes to my booking before I set off on my journey?

If you wish to make any other change to your booking at any time after our booking confirmation has been issued, we will try but cannot promise to meet your request. Note that for late changes (i.e. within 10 days of departure or during the journey), a change may require a full cancellation with no refund and then a full payment for new booking. As with transferring a journey to a new name, we’ll require your authority in writing before we can make any change: we will produce a full quotation for you showing the cost of the change. We do not normally charge a fee for once-off events like changing a day tour, a restaurant booking, or a room in a hotel but we may charge a fee for larger events like changing the route of a multi-day tour, altering your travel class in a train or plane or moving a booked event like a conference, celebration or similar. You’ll need to pay the full cost of the change in full before we can make the change and change fees are not refundable.

How do I cancel my entire journey?

If you wish or need to cancel your booking in whole or in part, we will require your authority in writing. A cancellation includes:

• Any member of a travelling party not travelling on the entire journey
• Any member of a travelling party curtailing their journey by a day or more (e.g. returning home early, joining later)
• Any change to a journey which involves removing a booked and invoiced component and not replacing it with another component

Our cancellation charges will apply (see the table 'cancellation charges' at paragraph 8.3 below). These are calculated with reference to the date on which we receive your authority in writing. We will not refund to you any deposits, administration charges, insurance premiums or any other fees or charges made by us and paid by you relating to your holiday in the event of cancellation by you.

We incur costs from the time you make your booking and you agree that if you cancel your booking you will compensate us for our losses and expenses, as per the table below. Our cancellation charges increase the nearer the cancellation is made to your departure date as we may not be able to resell any of the bookings made on your journey.

We strongly recommend that you take out insurance cover for cancellation adequate to cover the value of your holiday. If the reason for your cancellation is covered under the terms of your insurance policy, you may be able to reclaim these charges (see How can I be sure that I will get a refund if I need to cancel my trip?).

How are my cancellation charges calculated?

We calculate the cost of cancelling your journey by working out the number of days between a) your due date of arrival in Southern Africa and b) when we receive your request in writing to cancel your journey. We work out the cancellation charge as a percentage of the total journey price, which you will find on your invoice from us by the words ‘GRAND TOTAL’.

• If you cancel 60 calendar days or more before your journey starts: 0% (full refund, except for flight bookings, which will be refunded pro rata)
• If you cancel between 59 calendar days and 31 calendar days before your journey starts: 50%
• If you cancel between 30 calendar days and 15 calendar days before your journey starts: 60%
• If you cancel between 14 calendar days and 7 calendar days: 75%
• If you cancel with 6 days or less: 100%

What happens if you have to cancel my booking?

In exceptional circumstances (e.g. states of emergency, airline strikes, pandemic, war or any other circumstance beyond our control), we may need to cancel all or part of your booking. We will in all cases aim to cancel at least 8 weeks before your departure date, except for unavoidable and extraordinary circumstances, when we will cancel all or part of your booking the same day we are advised.

If we have to cancel your journey, we will aim to reschedule your trip to the earliest available date, keeping all bookings in place as per the original itinerary. If you’re not able to reschedule at all within the next 12 months and depending on when and why we needed to cancel your journey, we may be able to offer a refund of some or all monies paid. If you have purchased travel insurance independently, we will assist you (at no additional cost) to claim from your travel insurer. If you have purchased travel insurance through us, we will make a claim for you against your trip.