Real Africa Booking Conditions

realworld-travel.com ltd, trading as RealAfrica, ( "the company ") accepts bookings subject to the following conditions:

1. Your Holiday Contract

You must send the company a signed booking form, the person who signs doing so for all individuals included on the form. The contract is between the company and the person/s intending to travel/travelling on ground-arrangements offered by the company. For Air travel the person/s travelling are contracted to the ATOL holder as detailed on the Confirmation. The services that we agree to supply are those that appear on your confirmation invoice. You must check that this is accurate. Special requests not included on the confirmation invoice do not make up part of the contract. This contract and all matters arising from it are subject to English law and the sole jurisdiction of the English Courts.

2. Secure your booking and payments

A non-refundable deposit of 10% of the tour price (or £150, whichever is the greater) must be sent with the signed booking form. If for any particular tour a higher deposit is required this will be outlined in the tour information. Acceptance of the booking will be made in writing by the company, at which point a contract comes into existence. The balance of the tour price is due 56 days before departure, and should this payment not arrive the company reserves the right to treat the booking as cancelled, with normal cancellation conditions applying. Should the booking be made within 56 days of the departure date then the full payment is required on booking.

3. To change your booking

Should you need to change your departure date or tour, this can be done subject to availability, for a set fee of £30 so long as it is more than 56 days before departure. Within 56 days the amendment charge will be £50 + any non-refundable costs incurred from cancellation of your original arrangements. This charge is to cover the costs we incur in the changing of travel arrangements with the overseas operator, hotels and other services.

4. To cancel your booking

Any cancellations by you must be made in writing. The date on which the company receives the letter will determine the cancellation conditions that will apply. These are listed below, and are a percentage of the total tour cost:
a. 56 and more days before departure: retention of the deposit.
b. 55-42 days before departure: 30%
c. 41-29 days before departure: 50%
d. 28 days or less: 100%
The premium of any insurance will also retained in the event of cancellation. We strongly advise that insurance is taken out that covers the refund of monies paid should, for certain reasons, the need arises for cancellation.

5. If you have a complaint

Should you have a complaint while on holiday, you must notify your guide or the local operator so that they can do what they can to immediately rectify it. Failure to do so will result in the client's ability to claim compensation being removed or at least reduced. If the problem is not brought to the operator's attention they have no opportunity to rectify it. If they are unable to do so then you must notify the company in writing within 28 days of your return home in order to give the company a reasonable opportunity to make inquiries of the operator. If you have a complaint that cannot be resolved, ABTA has an arbitration service and complaints procedure, details of which are available from realworld-travel.

6. Insurance

Travel insurance is compulsory for all clients travelling on a tour with the company. This insurance must cover personal accident, medical expenses and repatriation. Clients are solely responsible for arranging their own insurance and they should ensure that they are covered for the full duration of their tour.

7. Tour Authority

At all times the authority of your guide or the operator will be final when concerning matters likely to endanger your safety and the well-being of the tour. You must always comply with the local law, customs and drug regulations of the country/ies you are visiting. Failure to do so may lead to you being ordered to leave the tour without recourse to any refund or any legal claim against the country. In the case of ill health the company and its operators can make those arrangements that it sees fit and recover all monies paid from the client.

8. Pricing system and surcharges

All prices for tours and land arrangements are quoted in UK Sterling unless otherwise stated. The prices quoted on the web site, with our brochure and on individual quotations made by e-mail or post may vary week to week due to fluctuations in the exchange rates. These are based on the mid-price commercial exchange rates given out by the Financial Times / FT.com. Price increases and surcharges are based on the full extra cost compared to the costs and exchange rate from the time of booking. In any event we shall absorb the first 2% of any such increases. Should any increase to the price exceed 10%of the total holiday cost you shall be entitled to cancel your holiday and receive a full refund.

9. If we change or cancel a tour

It is not our intention to make changes to, or cancel, your tour once we have accepted your booking. However, from time to time it may be necessary and we reserve the right to do so. Most changes are minor and in all cases we will tell you, as soon as reasonably possible, before the date on which you are due to depart.
Occasionally, we may need to make a major change. 'Major changes' include a change of your UK departure airport, of resort, of accommodation where the new accommodation is of a lower official classification, your time of departure or return by more than 12 hours, or change from a day to a night flight when the flight departure time changes by more than 4 hours. If we do make any major changes, you must let us know as soon as possible if you wish to accept the changes or cancel the holiday.
Where we have accepted your booking and we find that we have to cancel it (for any reason other than your fault) before it is due to start or we cancel the holiday because you do not wish to accept a major change by us, you can then either:
a) Take a replacement holiday with us of equivalent quality or higher quality provided that you pay the additional amounts due (subject to availability);
b) Take a replacement holiday with us of lower quality (subject to availability) and we will refund the difference in the sums which you have paid to us and the price of the replacement holiday; or
c) Ask us to refund to you all payments you have made to us.
If you accept a major change or, where we have had to cancel your holiday, choose either of the options in paragraphs (a) or (b) above, we will pay you compensation in accordance with Scale A below. If you choose the option (c) above we will pay you compensation in accordance with Scale B below. Compensation will not be paid where the change or cancellation is made as the result of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which we could not have avoided even with all due care.

Period before departure that notification is given by us:	Compensation per person Scale A	Compensation per person Scale B
0-7 days	£50	£25
8-14 days	£40	£20
15-28 days	£30	£15
29-42 days	£20	£10
43-56 days	£10	£5
More than 56 days	£5	£0

For children in respect of whom reduced rates have been charged, credit/compensation will be paid on a pro-rata basis of the adult rate.
Please note in all cases our liability in respect of significant changes and cancellations is limited to offering you the above mentioned options and where applicable the compensation payments set out above. We regret that we cannot be held responsible for incidental/consequential costs or expenses you may incur as a result of any changes or cancellations. No compensation is payable for minor changes.

10. Our liability for your tour

We accept responsibility for any death, bodily injury or illness caused to you as a result of the proven negligent acts and/or omissions of our employees and agents and our suppliers and sub-contractors and their servants and/or agents while acting in the scope of, or in the course of, their employment. Except as provided in paragraphs (a) to (c) below, we accept responsibility for any damage caused to you as a result of any failure to perform, or improper performance of the services we have agreed to provide to you. We will not be responsible to you where failure or improper performance is not due to our fault or that of our suppliers because:
a) Such failure is attributable to you or any member of your party:
b) Such failure is attributable to a third party unconnected with the provision of the services to be provided to you and is unforeseeable or unavoidable; or
c) Such failure is due to unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even if all due care had been exercised, or to an event which we or our suppliers, even with all due care, could not foresee or forestall. Such circumstances or events include (without limitation) war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, industrial dispute, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, fire or adverse weather conditions.
Subject to the limitation of liability set out in the following paragraph, our liability to you for any loss and damage which you may suffer (other than personal injury resulting from the non-performance or improper performance of the services included in the holiday) is limited to twice the price of your holiday.
Our liability to you for the non-performance or improper performance by air carriers, sea carriers, rail carriers or hotel keepers of any services to be provided by them as part of your holiday is limited to the amount you can validly recover against such carrier or hotel keeper:
a) In accordance with any applicable domestic law or the laws of the United Kingdom. For claims other than personal injury arising out of travel and carriage within the United Kingdom or which is otherwise not International; and
b) For all claims arising out of any other travel, carriage or accommodations, in accordance with the International Convention which governs such service, including those which have not been ratified by the United Kingdom.
We do not accept liability for any claim (other than claims for personal injury arising from the non-performance or improper performance of any service) in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise for consequential, economic or indirect loss or damage. Nothing in these booking conditions effects your statutory rights.
Please note that where the cause of your loss, damage or injuries is due to our agents, suppliers or sub-contractors, our acceptance of liability is subject to you assigning to us your rights against them and to your co-operating with us in any legal action we may take against them.
We accept responsibility for the proper performance of the obligations in the contract between you and the company even where these obligations are performed by one of our suppliers. However we do not accept responsibility for any damage/injury caused that are attributable to your own actions, acts of some other party unconnected with the contract services or where the damage/injury results from events/circumstances which our outside our control and could not be reasonably forestalled.
For injury claims our liability is in all circumstances limited to twice the total price of the tour. In agreeing to these terms you accept this limit on our liability because it helps keep the prices of the tours as low as possible.

11. Flights/delays

We cannot accept any liability for any delay in your outward or inward flight/s, whether the cancellation or delay is caused by the weather, airline rescheduling, industrial action or mechanical failure. We will give no refunds or compensation for lost time and services from the itinerary.