Refund policy

This document is a placeholder template prepared by Savunda for the demo build. Final language must be reviewed by qualified legal counsel before public launch. Last reviewed by counsel: pending.

If you need to cancel a confirmed booking, the following charges apply, calculated against the total trip price:

• More than 60 days before departure — full refund of all monies paid, less a USD 150 per-booking administration fee to cover work already done by our planning team and any non-refundable supplier deposits.
• 14 to 60 days before departure — 50% refund. We have already paid camps, lodges, and permit fees that are non-refundable at this stage.
• Fewer than 14 days before departure — no refund. The trip is fully committed with suppliers.

Cancellation must be in writing to hello@savunda.com. The effective cancellation date is the date we receive your written notice.

These figures are minimums. Specific camps and lodges may impose stricter terms (notably the Serengeti during peak migration weeks, and Kilimanjaro climbs in January, February, July, August and September). Where stricter terms apply, we will tell you at the time of booking and the stricter terms govern.

Where a trip cannot proceed because of circumstances genuinely outside both parties' control — war, civil unrest, pandemic, natural disaster, airspace closure, or government travel restriction — we will assess each case on its facts.

Our default response is to postpone the trip to a future date with no change fee, holding all monies paid as credit valid for 24 months. Where postponement is not workable for you, we will refund all amounts we are able to recover from suppliers, less unrecoverable costs and an administration fee. We will be transparent about what we recovered and what we did not.

Force-majeure events do not entitle either party to consequential damages.

If you do not arrive at the agreed pickup point on the day of departure and have not given us notice, the booking is treated as cancelled with no refund. Where the no-show is due to a delayed international flight, contact us as soon as possible — we will do our best to rejoin you to the itinerary, although you remain responsible for the cost of any catch-up transport.

Most of the cancellation losses set out above are recoverable through travel insurance, including cancellation for medical reasons, bereavement, work emergencies, and missed connections. This is why we make travel insurance mandatory in our booking conditions. We strongly recommend buying your policy at the time you pay your deposit, not closer to departure, because most policies cover pre-existing medical changes only if the policy was in force before the change occurred.

If Savunda has to cancel your trip for reasons within our control — for example, a vehicle breakdown we cannot work around, the failure of a key supplier, or the inability to maintain our minimum safety standards — you are entitled to:

• A full refund of all monies paid to us, with no administration fee, or
• A substitute trip of equivalent value and quality, with any cost difference refunded to you. We will make reasonable best efforts to put together a substitute that respects your original dates, destinations, and accommodation tier.

You choose between these two options. We will not unilaterally substitute a trip you did not approve.

Approved refunds are returned to the original payment method within 14 working days of approval:

• PayPal refunds typically appear in your PayPal account within 1 to 3 working days.
• Bank-transfer refunds depend on your bank and intermediary routing — count on 5 to 10 working days for international wires.
• Credit-card refunds through PayPal can take up to a further billing cycle to appear on your statement.

Where the original payment method is no longer available (closed account, expired card), we will issue the refund to an alternative account in the lead traveller's name on receipt of supporting documentation.

Trips paid for in whole or in part with a Savunda gift certificate follow the same cancellation schedule above, with one variation: the portion of the trip price covered by the certificate is refunded as a new certificate of equal value, valid for 24 months from the refund date, rather than as cash. The cash portion (deposit and balance paid by card or bank transfer) is refunded to the original payment method as above.

Gift-certificate redemption rules are set out in our booking conditions and on the gift-certificate redemption page.

If you believe a refund decision is wrong, write to hello@savunda.com within 30 days of the decision setting out why. A second member of our team — not the person who made the original decision — will review the case and respond within 14 working days. If you remain unsatisfied, the dispute-resolution procedure in our terms of service applies.