Terms and Conditions

Company Name - Pictus Safaris Limited

Company Number - 12812872

Registered - 14th August 2020

Trading name - Pictus Safaris

Registered Address - Kemp House, 160 City Road, London, UK, EC1V 2NX

It is important that you read the below information (defined as terms and conditions) prior to making any booking with Pictus Safaris Ltd. It may be necessary for Pictus Safaris Ltd to amend this information, so please check this information regularly, particularly when you are about to book a holiday.

Overview

In these terms and conditions, “you” and “your” refers to all persons named on a booking, regardless of when their name is added to the booking. “Lead client” refers to the individual on a booking who is responsible for all parties named on that booking. “We”, “us”, “our” and "Pictus Safaris" refers to Pictus Safaris Ltd. These terms and conditions provide only an outline of what is included in each holiday. In order to book a holiday with us, please read the itinerary on our website and all other information we have provided regarding the holiday, before sending a deposit to confirm the booking of that holiday. Once the deposit payment has been received, you will receive a booking confirmation, a deposit invoice and a details & release form, which must be completed and returned to us within 30 days of you receiving the booking confirmation document. Once you have received these materials from us, it is your responsibility to notify us if you are unhappy with any aspects or details of the holiday. If you are unhappy, and we are unable to reach an agreement to rectify this, we will cancel your booking and provide you with a full refund, provided that we receive written notification (by post or by email) within fourteen days of the date on the deposit invoice and that a booking has not been made fewer than 90 days prior to the holiday start date. In instances where your booking has been made fewer than 90 days prior to the holiday start date, the deposit and balance payments are non-refundable. At least 30 days prior to the holiday start date, you will be provided with a pre-departure information document. If you require detailed information prior to this date, and this information is not available on the webpage specific to your holiday, it is your responsibility to contact us to request this information. You will be required to complete the details & release form and send it to us by post or by email at within 30 days of you receiving the booking confirmation document.

The Booking Process

In order to confirm a booking with Pictus Safaris, you or the lead client must complete the details & release form provided to you by Pictus Safaris, and pay the deposit amount as outlined on the webpage relevant to the holiday you wish to book. The full amount due for the holiday must be paid to confirm your booking should you make the booking within 90 days of the holiday start date. The details & release form must be completed by all individuals within the party, and the parent/guardian of anyone within the party aged under 18 at the time of the booking is made. The lead client must be permitted to make and amend the booking for all party members in accordance with these terms and conditions, which is confirmed by your signature on the details & release form. The details & release form will be sent to the party leader by Pictus Safaris once you have made a written request to book a holiday with Pictus Safaris – this document must be completed, signed and returned to Pictus Safaris within 30 days of you receiving the booking confirmation document. All bookings are subject to these terms and conditions and the aforementioned details & release form – should this form be required ahead of making a booking, this will be made available by email on request.

The lead client must be at least 18 years old at the time a booking is made, and all individuals named on the booking must be at least 16 years old with exceptions made only when specifically agreed with Pictus Safaris. The payment of monies due to Pictus Safaris is the responsibility of the lead client.

Once we have received the deposit payment and the details & release form, we will provide the lead client with a booking confirmation document. At least 30 days prior to departure, you will be provided with a pre-departure information document, detailing the final itinerary, a packing list and an overview of your destination. Please review these documents and alert us to any inaccuracies as soon as possible – we reserve the right to cancel or significantly amend your holiday with no refund as the result of inaccuracies to which we are not alerted in good time.

Should payments due to Pictus Safaris not be received fully and on time, we reserve the right to cancel your holiday and retain any monies paid or due to us. Should your balance payment not be paid 30 days prior to your holiday, we will alert you by email and allow you a five-day grace period in which to rectify this. If you do not do so, your booking will be cancelled and all payments (be they due or already paid) will be retained.

The Contract

When Pictus Safaris send the lead client a deposit invoice, the booking confirmation document and the details & release form, a legally binding contract comes into existence between you and Pictus Safaris. We both agree that English law (only) applies to this contract, as well as any disputes that arise from this contract, with the exception of clients living in Scotland or Northern Ireland. Should a client live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, proceedings may be brought in courts in that country in which you reside (limited to Scotland and Northern Ireland), as well as England and Wales. For those clients not living in Scotland or Northern Ireland, court proceedings must be brought in the courts of England and Wales. Should proceedings be brought in Scotland or Northern Ireland, those proceedings may be governed by the laws of that country. Should a situation arise during a holiday with Pictus Safaris that causes you to wish to bring proceedings resulting from a service not included within the price of your trip (e.g. dissatisfaction with service received from an airline), you must bring those proceedings against that third party and not Pictus Safaris.

Changes and Cancellations By You

Should you wish to make a change to a confirmed booking, we reserve the right to refuse this change. However, we will always do our best to honour your request, and a fee of £100 will be payable should any such change be made. If your requested change leads to an increase cost born by Pictus Safaris (e.g. a boat safari operator levies an additional charge), that increase will be passed on to you and must be paid by you prior to your holiday start date.

You may cancel your booking with Pictus Safaris at any time. You must do so in writing. All payments made to Pictus Safaris by you are non-refundable. However, you may transfer your booking to another client up to 45 days prior to your holiday start date, subject to a £100 fee. You will also be required to pay for any additional costs born by Pictus Safaris arising from this change, to which we will alert you as soon as possible. This transfer is permitted only when the transferee meets all the requirements of the booking.

Should you die after booking your holiday with Pictus Safaris, any monies due to us must be paid by any beneficiaries of your assets and estate, or the executors of your last will and testament.

Changes and Cancellations by Pictus Safaris

Pictus Safaris are a highly specialised tour operator. As such, we often operate in unstable countries and regions with limited accessibility. There is an inherent danger in operating holidays to such areas and, as such, Pictus Safaris must be flexible in arranging holidays. We are obliged only to aim to complete the activities outlined in the itinerary for your holiday, and not to adhere to the itinerary rigidly. We reserve the right to amend all and any itineraries without prior warning. This extends to changes made whilst your holiday is in progress – the final decision to amend an itinerary in such circumstances lies with the Pictus Safaris representative on your tour. Pictus Safaris insists that clients take out appropriate travel insurance prior to travelling with us, and details of this insurance are required as a part of the details & release form. Should you be travelling to a destination demarcated as “advise against all travel” or “advise against all but essential travel” by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), you will be required to take out insurance that specifically covers such areas – we recommend High Risk Voyager travel insurance. We offer tours to such areas on the understanding that, whilst the specific areas the holiday takes in are considered safe by Pictus Safaris despite the blanket travel warnings, we take no responsibility for injury, loss or death arising from circumstances we could not have foreseen whilst visiting these locations.

We reserve the right to make changes to and/or cancel holidays both before and after bookings are confirmed. If we are forced to make a significant change to an itinerary, or cancel a holiday, due to force majeure (as defined below), we will postpone the start date of the holiday and transfer the payments already made by you to us to the holiday with the amended start date. We are not obligated to offer a refund in such circumstances.

Should we make a significant change (defined as moving the start/end date of a tour by more than one day, or offering a lower standard of accommodation than advertised for one or more nights of a holiday) to an itinerary or cancel a holiday for reasons other than force majeure, we will endeavour to communicate this to you as soon as possible. In such a scenario, we will offer you at least one of the following options: acceptance of the change, transfer of monies paid by you towards an alternative Pictus Safaris holiday (at which point the booking on the holiday subject to change becomes null and void) or cancellation with a refund (the amount of which will be subject to discussion with Pictus Safaris). If we make a change to a holiday that does not fall into the category of a significant change, none of these options will be made available to you. Should you choose to accept a significant change to the itinerary, you will be eligible to £25 compensation if the change is made fewer than 60 days prior to the holiday start date. If the change is made 60 or more days before the holiday start date, no compensation will be payable. No compensation will be payable if at any point, including during a holiday, changes or cancellations are made by us resulting from force majeure. Should a holiday be cancelled due to a failure to secure the minimum number of clients as advertised on the specific holiday webpage, we will communicate this 60 days prior to the holiday start date and issue a full refund – no additional compensation will be payable.

Should a change be made to a holiday that is not defined as a significant change, no compensation will be due to any client. If a change of any significance, including termination of a holiday that is already underway, is required as a result of force majeure (as defined in this document), then no compensation is payable by Pictus Safaris.

If circumstances arise that give reason for you to claim compensation from your travel provider (e.g. an airline) used when travelling to begin, or travelling home from, a Pictus Safaris holiday, we are not liable to pay any compensation or provide any refunds. You must pursue such a claim against the travel provider only.

Our liability to our clients

Pictus Safaris promise to exercise due skill, care and diligence in performing the activities we have agreed to make in our contract with you. We will, therefore, accept liability for personal injury, death or the failure to perform the contractual obligations placed upon us that arises from the failure to perform those contractual obligations without due skill, care and/or diligence. We will only be responsible for our employees, ground agents and/or suppliers if they are acting on the behalf of Pictus Safaris when the failure to perform the obligation occurs. It is your responsibility to prove that due skill, care and/or diligence has not been exercised should you bring a claim against us.

Pictus Safaris are not responsible for any injury, illness, death, loss or expense that arises as the result of an act/omission by a client or a member of their party, an act/omission by a third party unconnected to Pictus Safaris which could not have been foreseen, or force majeure as defined in these terms and conditions.

Pictus Safaris are not responsible for any activities not included in the itinerary of the holiday you have booked, unless we specify otherwise in your booking documentation. Even in those instances where we have arranged for you activities supplementary to the itinerary, we only promise to exercise due skill, care and diligence in doing so and no more.

The promises contained within these terms and conditions, as well as any provided to you verbally or in writing by Pictus Safaris, and the laws of the jurisdiction in which your claim occurred will be used to determine whether we have met our contractual obligations to you. If the service that gave rise to a complaint or claim was provided in line with the regulations of the country in which the service was provided, the service was provided in a proper manner, even if UK regulations differ from those of the aforementioned country. This is not the case in instances where safety standards were sufficiently low that a reasonable client would not have booked the holiday were they aware of them.

If a claim is based entirely or partly on travel arrangements (including embarkation and disembarkation) or accommodation, Pictus Safaris will be liable to pay an amount of compensation limited to the amount that the accommodation or travel provider would have to pay under international regulations and conventions. If the travel or accommodation provider would not be obligated to pay any compensation, Pictus Safaris are likewise not obligated to pay any compensation. Copies of these international conventions are available on request.

Pictus Safaris cannot be liable for any damage, illness, injury, death, loss or expense that arises from an event we could not have foreseen would breach your contract based on the information you provided to us at the time of booking. We are also not liable for any damage, illness, injury, death, loss or expense that arises from an event that does not constitute a breach of contract.

You must provide to us and our insurers all reasonably required information and/or assistance during the claims process. If asked to do so, you must transfer any rights you have against the party against whom the claim is raised to us or our insurer. Should we or our insurer wish to enforce any of these transferred rights, you must agree to do so.

Force majeure

Pictus Safaris cannot accept any liability or pay any compensation where our contractual obligations cannot be met, or damage or loss is incurred by you, due to force majeure. Force majeure is defined in these terms and conditions as any event that could not reasonably have been foreseen and which affects our, or third-party suppliers’, ability to meet obligations or expectations of us. These events include, but are not limited to, war, civil unrest, the threat of war, tribal conflict, terrorist activity, the threat of terrorist activity, natural disasters, industrial strikes, adverse weather, the closure of borders or nuclear accidents.

Financial Security

Customer payments will be placed in a trust account operated by Protected Trust Services. In compliance with The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018, this policy protects customer prepayments in the event of the financial failure of Pictus Safaris. This policy covers non-flight inclusive packages commencing in and returning to the UK, the ground handling aspects of packages where the customer is responsible arranging travel to the destination offered by Pictus Safaris and non-ATOL flight inclusive packages sold to customers outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). This insurance policy covers a refund of prepayments should customers not yet have travelled, making arrangements to continue a holiday if customers have already travelled and repatriation of customers (if included in the specific policy). Details of this policy will be made available to you upon request.

Pictus Safaris do not offer a flight booking service. We recommend that flights are booked with a provider that has an Air Travel Organiser’s License (ATOL) – this will provide financial protection in the event that your chosen flights provider becomes insolvent. For those clients wishing to book flights directly with airlines, or with providers not holding ATOL protection, this is done at the client’s own risk. In such instances, we strongly recommend you take out travel insurance including cover for the insolvency of your flight provider.

Insurance

All clients and members of their party must have travel insurance prior to travelling with Pictus Safaris. This insurance must cover you for cancellation by you, medical care and repatriation, and medical evacuation. Please note that many Pictus Safaris destinations are in areas demarcated as “advise against all but essential travel” or “advise against all travel” by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) – and similarly marked as high risk destination by other government travel advisory bodies – and this will invalidate many travel insurance policies. We recommend High Risk Voyager Travel Insurance, as this covers medical evacuation from all destinations offered by Pictus Safaris. Please note that annual multi-trip cover is not available for this policy for several destinations, including Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and therefore single-trip cover is recommended. Some holidays may include activities that require additional coverage, such as walking safaris, and it is your responsibility to insure such activities are covered by your insurance.

As soon as you have taken out travel insurance for your holiday, you must provide the details of the coverage to Pictus Safaris. Clients will have their booking cancelled without refund if they have not provided a valid travel insurance policy number within 7 days of the holiday start date.

Please note that Pictus Safaris is not responsible for the standards of medical cover during your holiday, and it should be expected that standards will be lower than in your home country.

Holiday Costs

Prior to confirming your holiday, we reserve the right to amend the price and correct any errors – we will advise you of this prior to sending any booking confirmation documentation.

We must receive the full cost of the holiday you have booked no later than 90 days prior to the holiday start date.

We reserve the right to increase the price of your holiday after booking should costs born by Pictus Safaris increase by more than 5%. This increase may be the result in changes in exchange rates, increases in park fees or increases in taxes. If the overall price of your holiday increases by more than 20% you will be entitled to cancel your holiday with a full refund. Should the cost of your holiday increase, we will issue a “cost increase invoice” detailing the reason for the increase in cost and amount due to Pictus Safaris. Within 14 days of the “cost increase invoice” being sent, you must advise whether you wish to cancel your holiday if the costs have increased by at least 20%). If you do not advise us of your wish to cancel the holiday, the amount indicated must be paid to Pictus Safaris by the holiday start date. We will not increase costs if the holiday start date is within the next 30 days.

Should the costs born by Pictus Safaris fall by more than 15% after you have booked your holiday, we will issue a refund for the amount costs have fallen to you.

Health Requirements, Passports and Visas

Information relating to passports, visas and health requirements will be included in the pre-departure information document sent to you once your booking is confirmed. Please note that this information is regularly subject to change and it is your responsibility to ensure you travel with the correct travel documentation and health documents. All costs incurred in obtaining this documentation are born by you. In the event that you are unable to begin or complete your journey to your destination as a consequence of your failure to obtain the correct travel documentation or health documents, Pictus Safaris bears no liability for this and you will not be due any refund. Should your failure to obtain appropriate documentation lead to additional costs for Pictus Safaris, you will be responsible for reimbursing us. Pictus Safaris also bears no liability for costs associated with the denial of a request for a visa, although we will always provide basic information regarding the visa acquisition process, including what supporting documentation will be required. It is your responsibility to ensure your passport and visa are valid for the full duration of your holiday, with your passport valid for at least six months after your return from your holiday. You should follow the regulations provided by embassies or third-party visa service providers should it conflict with our advice, as our advice may be inaccurate or out of date.

Should you not have a passport when booking your holiday, we strongly recommend you apply for one as soon as possible, and no later than 90 days before your holiday start date. Should you not have a valid passport 60 days prior the holiday start date, you must notify us and, dependent on the likelihood of you obtaining the passport prior to travel, your booking may be cancelled without refund. We do not accept bookings within 60 days of the holiday start date from clients who cannot provide valid passport details at the time of booking.

We will communicate any health requirements for entry into your destination country or countries (e.g. possession of Yellow Fever Certificate). Outside of these basic requirements, it is your responsibility to consult your GP to determine what vaccinations and medications you will require and to allow sufficient time to acquire them. You must make Pictus Safaris aware of any medical requirements, including allergies, in good time prior to the holiday start date. If any client undertakes actions that jeopardise the health of other clients during the holiday, they will be asked to leave the tour immediately with no refund.

Behaviour and expectations

You take responsibility for any damage or loss caused during your holiday by you or a member of your party. Full payment for this damage or loss must be made to the owner of the property as soon as possible – if you do not, you are liable for meeting any claims arising from the damage or loss, including any legal costs incurred by the property owner or Pictus Safaris.

By booking a holiday with Pictus Safaris, you are agreeing to act with consideration towards other members of the group, the Pictus Safaris representative on your holiday, guides and suppliers used by Pictus Safaris and members of the public. If you fail to do so, you will be spoken to by the Pictus Safaris representative in the first instance. If you continue to act in a similar manner, you will be asked to leave the tour with immediate effect, with no refunds. At this point, you must leave the accommodation being used by the group immediately. No costs incurred by you from that point on will be born by Pictus Safaris.

The majority of Pictus Safaris clients are non-smokers, and all clients are therefore asked not to smoke in the proximity of wildlife or non-smoking guests. We unfortunately cannot guarantee that members of public will refrain from smoking in our presence and this is beyond the control of Pictus Safaris. You must not act in any way that endangers or distresses wildlife (including flora and fauna), and you may not retain any specimen from the natural world. This extends to excessive noise or “teasing” wildlife with food or superfluous noise. The final decision on whether behaviour has been inappropriate lies with the Pictus Safaris representative on your holiday, and this individual also has the final decision on whether to remove you from the tour going forwards.

Complaints

If any part of your holiday does not meet your expectations, please notify the Pictus Safaris representative (and/or the third-party supplier) on your holiday as soon as practicable. We will do our best to rectify the situation as soon as we can. If this does not resolve the complaint to your satisfaction, please notify Pictus Safaris by post or email within 14 days of your return to your home country. We will then discuss the matter further with you and attempt to reach a resolution. If you are still unhappy, you may take this dispute up with the courts of England and Wales (or Scotland if you are resident in Scotland, and Northern Ireland if you are resident in Northern Ireland). This does not apply for claims of more than £2500 per person, £10000 per booking form or those relating to primarily or only to physical injury, illnesses or their consequences.

Special Requirements and Requests

It is your responsibility to notify Pictus Safaris of any special requirements or requests as soon as possible after booking a holiday. We cannot guarantee that these special requirements or requests will be met, although we will always do our best to do so. We will pass these special requirements or requests on to third-party suppliers and will confirm to you when we have done so – this does not mean that the third-party supplier will ultimately meet this requirement or request. Many Pictus Safaris clients are vegetarians or vegans and we will always do our best to cater for these dietary needs – however, clients should be aware that in many of Pictus Safaris’ destination countries, adherence to such diets are rare and may be difficult to cater for, particularly in rural areas. This may mean that the vegetarian/vegan food options are severely limited on some holidays.

If you or a member of your party has a medical condition or disability that may hinder your participation in or enjoyment of a holiday, it is your responsibility to notify us prior to confirming your booking so that we can advise you whether the holiday in question is suitable for your needs. In rare circumstances, we may need to decline a booking request if we feel the holiday is not suitable for you and may hinder your participation in the holiday.

Additional Excursions and Activities

We may, prior to your holiday, offer excursions or activities not included in the itinerary that are available for an extra fee whilst you are on holiday. We do our best to ensure the accuracy of details of these activities, but cannot be held liable for any inaccuracies or errors. These activities will be provided by third-parties and we are not liable for their actions (unless personal injury has resulted from our negligence) – these activities do not form a part of the contract between you and us when you book a holiday with Pictus Safaris.

These activities are not under our control and they may be cancelled or altered at any time – should you want the latest information on any of these activities, please contact Pictus Safaris and we will endeavour to provide this to you.

Accuracy

Pictus Safaris make every effort to ensure that all information on this website and given during direct communication with clients, including prices and dates, are accurate as and when provided. However, omissions and inaccuracies do sometimes occur, and it is the responsibility of the client to check all information provided prior to booking to minimise the risk of errors occurring. Please note that no information on this website creates any obligation on a third-party supplier or organisation to clients.

Supplier conditions

Pictus Safaris often utilises the services of third-party suppliers in arranging holidays. These suppliers have their own terms and conditions, and these may limit or extirpate any liability these suppliers have towards you.

Delays to flights

Please be aware that any flight delays that result in you missing the designated meeting date and time are the responsibility of the airline. The flight element of a tour is separate to the holiday. Any additional costs incurred as a result of such delays must be either covered by the airline or by you and then claimed back on your travel insurance. Although we will try our best to help you in such a situation, it is ultimately your responsibility to arrange any transport required in order to continue with the itinerary.

Safety and security standards

Pictus Safaris runs the majority of its holidays to areas where safety and security standards, and associated legislation, are not as stringent as those in the UK.

Single rooms and single supplements

The vast majority of accommodation providers used by Pictus Safaris levy additional charges for single occupancy of a room. We regret that we must pass this additional cost on to our clients, and the amount required will be clearly communicated in booking documentation and on the webpage specific to your chosen destination. If you would rather not pay this “single supplement”, we will be happy to arrange a room share with another traveller of the same gender. If this option is not available to us, we regret that we will charge the single supplement in full.

For details of our privacy policy, please visit our privacy policy webpage. The privacy policy can also be supplied by post or by email on request.