Booking terms

About these terms

These terms apply to every journey planned and arranged by Abyssinia Journeys (“we”, “us”). Please read them before you book. When you confirm a booking, you accept them on behalf of everyone travelling with you. Your written proposal and confirmation set out the details of your own trip, and they form part of the contract.

Enquiries and proposals

An enquiry is free and commits you to nothing. We reply with a proposal based on what you tell us: a route, the places you would stay, what is included and the price for your party. Proposals and prices are valid for the period stated on them. Availability is only confirmed once you book.

Booking and payment

Your booking is confirmed when you have accepted our proposal in writing, paid the deposit stated in it, and we have sent you a written confirmation. The balance is due by the date shown on your confirmation, usually some weeks before you travel. If the balance is not paid on time, we may treat the booking as cancelled by you and apply the cancellation charges below. Bookings made close to departure may need full payment at once.

Prices

The price in your confirmation is the price you pay, except for changes you ask for, or changes in government taxes, park and entry fees or fuel costs that are outside our control. We will tell you about any such change as soon as we know of it, with the reason. If a change would increase the total price significantly, you may cancel with a full refund of what you have paid us.

Changes you ask for

We will always try to help. If you ask to change your booking after it is confirmed, we will tell you whether it is possible and what it costs. Suppliers may charge for changes, and we pass those charges on at cost, with a modest administration charge where the change takes significant work.

If you cancel

You can cancel at any time by writing to us. Because we commit money to hotels, flights and other services on your behalf, cancellation charges apply. They increase as the departure date gets closer and are set out in your proposal and confirmation. The charge will never be more than the total price of the trip. Insurance may cover these charges in some circumstances.

If we change or cancel your trip

Journeys are planned months ahead, and sometimes we have to change them. If it is a minor change, we will tell you as soon as we can. If it is a significant change, or we have to cancel, you can choose between the changed arrangements, a comparable alternative, or a full refund of everything you have paid us. We will not cancel your trip for lack of numbers, as every journey is private.

We may change or cancel a trip, without paying compensation, because of events outside our control, such as war, civil unrest, natural disaster, epidemics, severe weather or a change in government travel advice. If that happens before you travel, you will get a full refund of the money you have paid us, or a different trip if you prefer.

Travel advice and safety

We plan only routes that the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office does not advise against at the time we quote, and we check again before you travel. If the advice for a place on your route changes, we will change the route, and if that is not possible we will treat it as a cancellation by us. You are responsible for reading the current advice for your nationality before you travel.

Travel insurance

Comprehensive travel insurance is a condition of booking. It should cover cancellation, medical treatment, evacuation and repatriation, and the activities in your trip, including walking at altitude where your route goes high. Please make sure your policy is valid for the places you will visit under the current government advice.

Passports, visas and health

You are responsible for having a valid passport, any visas and any vaccinations or health documents required for your trip, and for meeting the entry rules of every country you pass through. We will point you to the official sources, but entry and health rules can change, so check them with the relevant embassy and a travel health professional well before you go. We cannot be responsible for costs caused by missing or incorrect documents.

On the trip

We ask everyone to respect local laws and customs and the communities we visit, and to follow the reasonable instructions of guides and drivers, especially on safety. If someone puts others at risk or seriously disrupts the trip, we may end their arrangements without a refund.

Our responsibility

We are responsible for arranging your trip with reasonable skill and care, and for the services we have agreed to provide. We are not responsible where a problem is caused by you or someone in your party, by a third party not connected with your trip, or by events that could not have been foreseen or avoided. Where we are responsible, our liability is limited to the extent the law allows, and international conventions may limit it further for flights and other transport. Nothing in these terms limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or anything else that cannot be limited by law.

Complaints

If something is wrong during your trip, please tell your guide or us straight away, so we can put it right there and then. If it is not resolved, write to us at abyssiniajourneys@tourground.com within 28 days of your return, and we will reply in full.

Law

These terms are governed by the law stated in your booking confirmation, and the courts of that country will deal with any dispute. This does not take away any rights you have under the consumer law of the country where you live.

Contact

Abyssinia Journeys
Regus, The Place Building, Cape Verde Street, Bole, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
abyssiniajourneys@tourground.com