Booking a trip element with Expert Africa
When booking a trip to Africa, most travellers ask us to put together a tailor-made itinerary for them, including all of their arrangements from flights and transfers to accommodation and activities. This is what we excel at, and this is what we believe will give you the best trip; see Booking a tailor-made itinerary for details.However, occasionally travellers ask us to book just a few nights at a lodge or camp for them. These are essentially just individual components of a trip, which you're going to combine into your own DIY itinerary. To cater for requests like this, we have developed the idea of booking a Trip element.
We now offer a trip element booking service for a selection of the camps and lodges we feature, and for these:
- You can take advantage of our great prices. We have close partners in Africa, so our prices are often lower than those quoted by online travel agents or by the camps, lodges and hotels themselves.
- Our bonding covers the elements that you book with us, no matter how small. Your money is therefore protected, whereas it may not be if you book directly. See Our Guarantee page for details of our bonding.
- The currency is fixed when you book, and so we guarantee no changes in price due to currency surcharges after your booking is confirmed.
Free quotes
Before you book a trip element with us, we'll send you a free quote, in your choice of GB pounds, US dollars, South African rand or Euros. This will detail exactly what you are booking, clearly indicating what's included and what is not.Once you receive this quote, we'll leave you to think about it before getting in touch. We will never pressurise you!
Exchange rates
We base our quotes in the currency of your choice (GB pounds, US dollars, South African rand or euros), using the exchange rates of the day when the quote is produced. We will honour each quote for seven days, though once any booking is confirmed there will be no changes in cost due to currency fluctuations.Making a booking
When you have a quote for a trip element that you are happy with, and want to book, we'll ask you to send us a completed booking form with a deposit. Please read our Make a payment for details.Note that even if you're only booking a trip element with us, all our normal booking conditions apply. So, for example, it's still a condition of booking that you are covered by a comprehensive travel insurance policy for at least the duration of the trip element that we have booked for you.
Because of the time it takes to communicate with many of our suppliers in Africa, we don't make overseas bookings without a signed booking form and payment.
When your reservation has been confirmed, only then will we finally process your deposit and issue you with a combined confirmation invoice and travel document.
Changes after booking
Once we have issued your confirmation invoice and travel document, we promise not to change our prices as the result of currency movements, giving you peace of mind that the price shouldn't change.In the very unlikely event that Expert Africa has to change something (e.g. if a hotel/lodge burns down), then we will either make alternative arrangements for you, or offer you a refund.
If you need to change or cancel this booking, note that it will be subject to our normal booking conditions.
Balance payment and late bookings
The balance of your account is usually due 10 weeks before your departure. For bookings within this period we require the full amount to be paid immediately on confirmation (please read our Make a payment page before you make any payment to us).You then travel with your combined confirmation invoice and travel document that was issued to you at the time of confirmation. Note that for trip element bookings, we will not re-issue this combined confirmation invoice and travel document after payment has been made.