The Services of Echo Wild Africa can only be used by Customers who have first taken note of the Echo Wild Africa Terms and Conditions for Bookings (hereinafter: “Terms and Conditions”) Customers must comply with the obligations in these terms and conditions. The agreement between Customers and Echo Wild Africa comes into effect as soon as Echo Wild Africa sends confirmation of the booking by e-mail Echo Wild Africa offers customized and standard safaris and tours. In consultation with you as a customer, a fully customized package can be offered that meets your wishes. Because you would still like to know in advance what the conditions are for the trips that Echo Wild Africa offers, the conditions have been laid down in the document below. By signing an offer, you agree to these terms and conditions.
When your wishes are clear to us, we will prepare a tailor-made offer for you without obligation. The quotation can of course be adapted to new insights and wishes. A quotation is valid for 7 days from the date of dispatch. You can only book the trip when you are completely satisfied with what we offer you. When you book a trip, you must provide us with some information that is necessary to book the trip definitively. We will send you a confirmation form that you must complete and sign and return to us by e-mail or by post. As soon as we have received your confirmation and (down) payment, we will book the various travel components. You must ensure that your
flights and or car rental match the reserved travel dates. Echo Wild can not be held liable for any financial cost relating to your delayed, canceled or missed flights. If you want to change the trip after booking (this is the quote you have confirmed), Echo Wild Africa will do its best to realize the changes. The resulting costs, including the change costs of € 50 per change, are borne by the traveler. All quotes and offers offered by Echo Wild Africa are non-binding and can be revoked after acceptance in all cases until 5 p.m. of the next working day (Mon-Fri) without stating reasons.
If you book a trip with several people at the same time, the address of the main booker will serve as the correspondence address. This traveler receives the quotes, the confirmation form and the invoice. The main booker is liable for the full payment as well as for providing the travel information to the fellow travelers. The main booker is responsible for providing information about the (co-)travellers to Echo Wild Africa, which may be important and/or influence the trip. Examples are: heart and back problems, pregnancy, disability, infectious diseases and diabetes.
Echo Wild Africa charges, separately from the Safari amounts communicated on the website, two extra booking costs, which are stated under a separate heading on the quote and invoice, namely;
● Booking costs for the GGTO guarantee fund – usually an amount of €15 per booking (annual increments) depending on group size
● Booking costs for the Travel Calamity Fund – usually an amount of € 2.50 per booking (annual increments) depending on group size All prices listed on any of Echo Wild Africa itineraries are to be seen as example prices only.
After your confirmation you will receive an invoice within a few days. The deposit is 60% of the total travel sum and must be paid within 7 days after the invoice date. The full travel sum must be received by Echo Wild Africa at least 8 weeks before departure. If you wish to book a trip within 8 weeks before departure, the full travel sum must be paid within 7 days after the reservation. Your trip can only go ahead with timely and full payment. In the event of incomplete payment before departure, the same conditions apply as for a cancellation. All bank transfer cost are bared by the client.
Echo Wild Africa is affiliated with the GGTO guarantee fund. The GGTO Guarantee Fund guarantees travelers who have booked with one of the affiliated tour operators that they will receive a refund of the already paid part of the travel sum if the tour operator becomes financially insolvent and cannot properly carry out the trip for that reason. This can be before departure, but also during the trip. In addition, the GGTO Guarantee Fund guarantees your return journey during your stay if the tour operator, due to financial inability, can no longer take care of this (of course only if you have also booked the return journey with the tour operator). For this guarantee scheme, the tour operator charges its travelers a customer contribution of €15 per booking up to €10,000, an additional amount of €15 to €20,000 and another additional amount of €15 to €30,000. Echo Wild Africa takes care of the payment of this amount. With these contributions, which are paid to the GGTO, the guarantee fund is built up and maintained. The amount is stated separately on the invoice. For more information, see https://www.stichting-ggto.nl/html/Watbiedenwij.asp If you book a trip (component) with Echo Wild Africa and also a trip component directly with an African operator, please bear in mind that that which you book directly with the African operator is not covered by the Dutch warranty conditions. In
Africa, there is not yet a consumer protection law that secures your payments, as there is in Europe.
Echo Wild Africa is affiliated with the Calamiteitenfonds Reizen. Within the limits of the guarantee scheme of the Calamity Fund, the trips published in our program fall under the guarantee of the Calamity Fund. This guarantee means that you as a consumer participating in a trip organized by us: – (part of) your travel sum will be refunded if we cannot or cannot fully carry out the trip as a result of a calamity; . Calamity is understood to mean an abnormal event caused by acts of war or natural disaster.
The Calamity Fund asks for a customer contribution of € 2.50 per booking . The amount is stated separately on the invoice. Echo Wild Africa takes care of the payment of this amount. For more information https://www.calamiteitenfonds.nl/
You will receive the final planning and reservation from us approximately 2 weeks before departure. The advice is to take this latest overview with you on your trip so that you can show it when requested. You will also receive a +31 06 number from us on which we can be reached for EMERGENCIES ONLY. You will receive a list of numbers for the local emergency organisations. You are expected to check the information on the quotation and the flight tickets you have booked for accuracy. If any information appears to be incorrect in the quote, you must notify us as soon as possible.
Cancellation of the travel agreement by the traveler must always be made in writing by the main booker and sent via email. A fellow traveler is not jointly and severally liable and therefore cannot report a cancellation.
Refunds will be made after deduction of the cancellation costs. The cancellation costs are as follows: A – in case of cancellation up to 60 days before departure: A deposit amount (15-30% of the total travel sum)
B – in case of cancellation from 59 days up to and including 40 days before departure: 60% of the travel sum. Added to this are possible administration/bank charges and cancellation charges for domestic flights and/or non-refundable activities.
C – in case of cancellation from 39 days up to and including the day of departure: 100% of the travel sum. Echo Wild Africa will at all time try to reclaim deposits from partners and third party organisation and reimburse our guests. The deposit rates can vary from each accommodation partner.
Notice of default You are obliged to pay the extrajudicial collection costs if you have been unsuccessfully demanded to pay within a period of fourteen days, starting the day after the demand has been received, stating the consequences of non-payment, including the exact collection costs that are claimed. The extrajudicial collection costs amount to 15% of the amount claimed up to € 2,500 and 10% over the subsequent € 2,500 and 5% over the subsequent € 5,000 and 1% over the excess, with a minimum of € 40. If you are in default, Echo Wild Africa can suspend sending the travel documents without further notice until full payment has been received. If payment is not made even after a reminder, or if payment is not made before the start of the trip, we have the right to exclude you from participation. The obligation to pay remains.
Some local operators ask for a non-refundable reservation of 50 or 100% and we are forced to stick to that. For such an agreement, these costs will then be charged in addition to the cancellation costs referred to under 6.1. No refunds will be given in the event of no-show, late arrival, or when a trip/part is canceled prematurely. If you have cancellation insurance and a valid reason to cancel (at the discretion of the insurer), you are covered for the above costs, depending on the insured amount.
Obvious errors and obvious mistakes do not bind Echo Wild Africa. Such errors and mistakes are errors and mistakes, which, from the perspective of the average traveller, are or should be recognizable as such at first sight.
8. Change of departure date or number of participants Changing the departure date or reducing the number of travelers is considered a partial cancellation. If a traveler from a travel group cancels the trip, he/she will owe cancellation costs. The remaining travel group will receive an amended travel proposal based on the new group size for the same accommodations, transfers, domestic flights and activities in the same travel period. If a change offer is not
possible or is not accepted by the remaining travel group, all agreements will be canceled and all travelers will owe cancellation costs. In the event of cancellation by one or more persons of the travel group, Echo Wild Africa will always strive to limit adverse financial consequences for the remaining travel group as much as possible or, if possible, offer another suitable alternative. You can cover the financial risk by taking out cancellation insurance.
The traveler can be replaced by another traveler if the original traveler has to cancel the trip and cannot claim reimbursement from a (cancellation) insurance. The mainbooker, the original traveler and his/her replacement are jointly and severally liable for the payment of the part of the travel sum still due, any amendment costs and/or additional costs resulting from the replacement. The substitution is subject to a number of conditions:
a. The substitution must take place in good time before departure and no later than 4 weeks before departure.
b. The substitute must meet all the conditions set out in the contract.
c. The organizations/service providers involved have no objection to the substitution.
An exception concerns flights booked by Echo Wild Africa. Echo WIld Africa follows the airline’s regulations for this. In practice, this means that booked flights cannot be taken over by a replacement.
Echo Wild Africa does not book (international) flights for its customers. Experience shows that because of the wide range of airline tickets on the internet, many clients look for international flights themselves. For good connections of the transfers and/or domestic flight, you must inform us in good time (at least 14 days before the departure date) of the departure and arrival times.
Travel insurance including medical cover is mandatory and is your responsibility. We advise you to take out reliable travel insurance with worldwide coverage. This can save a lot of inconvenience costs.
Upon departure, the traveler must be in possession of all required, valid travel documents as well as the necessary visas and proof of vaccinations. The generic rule is: the passport must be valid for 6 months after departure from the country and must contain at least two blank pages per country to be visited. The travel documents and vaccinations may differ per country and even per year. You are responsible for being aware of the local applicable regulations. Echo Wild Africa is not liable if a traveler cannot participate in the trip, or part thereof, due to shortcomings in his/her travel documents. Parents traveling with a minor need to provide unabridged birth certificates for customs officials on entry to Southern Africa.
The traveller(s) is/are obliged to comply with all instructions from Echo Wild Africa to promote the proper execution of the trip. The traveller(s) is/are liable for damage caused by his/their unauthorized conduct, to be assessed by the standard of the conduct of a proper traveller.
The traveler who causes or can cause such a nuisance or inconvenience that the proper execution of a trip is or can be made more difficult as a result, can be excluded from (continuation of) the trip by Echo Wild Africa, Echo Wild Africa cannot reasonably be expected that the agreement will be fulfilled. All ensuing costs will be borne by the traveler if and insofar as the consequences of nuisance or burden can be attributed to him. If and insofar as the cause of the exclusion cannot be attributed to the traveler, a refund of the travel sum or part thereof will be granted. The traveler is obliged to avoid or limit any damage as much as possible, in particular by complying with his notification obligation.
Certain circumstances may arise which may require us to make changes to the route, transport or accommodations on site or before departure. In exceptionalcases, an airline may change its flight schedule. Should something like this occur, you can of course count on us to do our utmost to maintain the quality of the trip. Any additional travel and accommodation costs resulting from unforeseen circumstances or changing a flight/transfer schedule or canceling a flight or transfer, which may require a more expensive flight/transfer, will in principle be charged to the participants. . Echo Wild Africa does not bear any responsibility for optional or self-organized excursions.
Echo WIld Africa reserves the right to make unilateral changes to the general terms and conditions due to changing circumstances. These changes will only take effect after the customer has been notified in writing or by e-mail.
If you have any complaints or comments on site, you must make them known immediately on site and put them in writing so that a solution can be found. From Echo WIld Africa you will receive the contact details and accessibility of our organization in the travel documents. If you have a complaint, you must also contact us by email immediately. We will then carefully handle your complaint. If the traveler has not complied with the notification obligation and complaint report and Echo Wild Africa has therefore not been given the opportunity to remedy the shortcoming, his possible right to compensation may be limited or excluded.
If a complaint has not been resolved satisfactorily, it must be submitted in writing and with reasons to Echo Wild Africa within one month after the end of the trip or after the original departure date if the trip has not taken place.
If the complaint concerns the conclusion of an agreement, this must be submitted to Echo Wild Africa within one month after the traveler has become aware of the facts to which the complaint relates. If the traveler does not submit the complaint in time, it will not be processed by Echo Wild Africa, unless the traveler cannot reasonably be blamed for this. Echo Wild Africa informs the traveler about this in writing or electronically. Echo Wild Africa will provide a substantive response in writing or electronically no later than one month after receipt of the complaint.
The purpose of the information on our website is to give you the best possible picture of our services. We offer tailor-made trips so that you can put together your own tripthat suits your wishes and expectations. We advise you in compiling your trip so that you can be sure that everything is arranged according to your wishes and that you can enjoy it carefree. Echo Wild Africa has a best efforts obligation to implement the agreement in accordance with the expectations that the traveler may reasonably have on the basis of the agreement.
At the same time, you must realize that you are not in Europe or Americas but in Africa. Not everything will be arranged equally well or quickly. We ask for your understanding and flexibility if things turn out differently than you expected.
Please note that the game really is ‘wild’ and you should be fully aware that any animal can exhibit unpredictable behaviour. This makes it important to listen to and follow your guide’s instructions. We would like to point out that most accommodations and tented camps are not fenced and that you can get very close to the game during the safaris. An attack by a wild animal is rare, but no organization in the African bush can guarantee this. Neither the local safari operator, nor the guide, nor the employees of hotels/lodges/campsites, nor Echo Wild Africa can be held responsible or liable for any injury or incident during a safari caused by a wild animal.
The local operators reserve the right at any time to refuse or exclude anyone from taking part in a tour, charter flight or safari if a participant’s attitude and/or behavior, mental or physical, is such that he/she endangers others. Neither Echo Wild Africa nor the local operator will be liable for any damages or costs incurred by such an event.
Echo Wild Africa or the local operator are not liable for damage, death, injury, illness, theft or damage/loss of property. Echo Wild Africa is not liable for the costs/damages for non-appearance, late arrival or delay of a flight or transfer as a result of which the trip has to be canceled or changed. If local circumstances make it necessary, Echo Wild Africa and/or the local operators reserve the right to cancel all or part of the tour or change the itinerary. Of course we do our utmost to prevent any problems.
No compensation can be claimed if the shortcoming in the fulfillment cannot be attributed to Echo Wild Africa nor to the persons whose assistance we use in the execution of the agreement or could not have been foreseen or remedied. In any case, no compensation can be claimed if:
a. the shortcoming in the implementation of the agreement can be attributed to the traveler; or
b. the shortcoming in the performance of the agreement could not be foreseen or could not be remedied and is attributable to a third party that is not involved in the provision of the services included in the trip; or
d. the shortcoming in the implementation of the agreement is due to force majeure.
Force majeure is understood to mean abnormal and unforeseeable circumstances that are independent of the will of the person who invokes them and the consequences of which could not be avoided despite all precautions.
In case a service included in the trip is subject to a treaty, regulation or law that grants or permits an exclusion or limitation of liability on the part of the service provider, the liability of Echo Wild Africa is accordingly excluded or limited.
Echo Wild is also not liable if and insofar as the traveler has been able to recover his loss under an insurance policy, such as a travel and/or cancellation insurance.
If Echo Wild Africa is liable to the traveler for loss of travel enjoyment, the compensation will not exceed the travel sum. Without prejudice to the provisions, Echo Wild Africa’s liability for damage other than
caused by the death or injury of the traveler is limited to a maximum of three times the travel sum, unless there is intent or gross negligence on the part of Echo Wild Africa. In that case, Echo Wild Africa’s liability is in accordance with its liability insurance.
Exclusions and/or limitations of Echo Wild Africa’s liability also apply to employees of Echo Wild Africa and the service providers involved, as well as their personnel, unless a Treaty, Regulation or law excludes this. If, due to the same event, compensation or damages are due under international conventions or EU regulations, such as the Regulation on air passenger rights in the event of denied boarding, cancellation or long delay, such compensation or damages
shall not accumulate with the compensation or price reduction under this Agreement. The compensation or damages will be deducted from the compensation or price reduction owed by the Organizer under this Agreement. For the above, it does not matter whether the compensation or compensation under international treaties or EU regulations is owed by the Organizer or a travel service provider engaged by it.
Echo Wild Africa has the right to cancel the agreement due to serious circumstances. These are circumstances of such a nature that further commitment to the agreement cannot reasonably be expected. If the cause lies with the traveler,
then the costs arising from the cancellation are for the account of the traveler. If the cause lies with Echo WIld Africa, the travel sum will be reimbursed to the traveler.
Dutch law applies to agreements concluded, amended or supplemented on the basis of these travel conditions, unless other law applies on the basis of mandatory rules. The traveler who does not wish to make use of the aforementioned binding advice procedure has the right to turn to the competent court. Only a Dutch court is authorized to take cognizance of these disputes, unless another court is competent on the basis of mandatory rules. All claim rights expire one year after the end of the trip (or, if the trip did not take place, one year after the original departure date). Claims regarding personal injury become time-barred one year after the end of the trip (or if the trip did not take place, one year after the original departure date).
Echo Wild Africa may take photographs or film of its travels and travel participants, and the participant grants Echo WIld Africa express permission to use this for promotional or commercial use. Participants who prefer not to have their photos used will be asked to identify themselves at the start of their Safari.
Each travel package is custom designed and quoted for, please fill out the form below and a representative with be in contact with you shortly to discuss your Safari needs.
