1. TERMS USED
a) The "Company" is Dragoman Overseas Travel Ltd. which is incorporated in England with limited liability. Registered Office: Camp Green, Debenham, Suffolk IP14 6LA. UK Reg. Number: 2732524.
b) The "Client" is the person or persons listed on the booking form.
c) A "tour" is any expedition, safari, tour, trip or combination of sectors that has its own reference as shown in the Dates & Prices section of this website.
d) The "GSA" or General Sales Agent is: Australia: Adventure World, 73 Walker Street, North Sydney 2060, New South Wales. Tel: (02) 9956 7766 (A.C.N. 001741519). LIC. 2TA001198. New Zealand: Adventure World, 101 Great South Road, Remuera, PO Box 74008, Market Road, Auckland. DX: CX10177, Auckland Mail Centre.
e) "Force majeure" is any situation or event beyond the Company's control. This could be an Act of God, war, terrorist activity, civil strife, riot, industrial dispute, natural or industrial disaster, fire, adverse weather or road conditions, bureaucratic obstacles, changes in schedules or mode of transport by ferry companies, airlines, bus or train operators.
f) "Consolidation" refers to the fact that each tour is dependent on a minimum number of persons participating. The minimum number varies and depends on the tour, vehicle scheduling and/or time of year.
2. THE CONTRACT
a) A contract is made only after the GSA receives a non-refundable 10% deposit and signed booking form and issues the client a confirmation invoice. A contract is made between the Company and all those listed on the booking form. The person who signs the booking form does so on behalf of all those listed on it and is responsible for ensuring that all those listed have read the booking conditions and agree to abide by them. b) No persons, organisation or employee of the GSA or of the Company has any authority to vary any of these booking conditions, or any information, itineraries, dates and prices, etc., printed in this brochure.
c) The Company, the GSA or their agents reserve the right to decline any booking at their discretion. The Company further reserves the right to cancel any booking at any time at the Company's sole discretion in the event that the Company considers the client to be unsuitable for the tour booked.
d) The contract including all matters arising from it, is subject to English law and the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
3. PAYMENTS
a) If you book your tour more than 56 days before the departure date, you must send a non-refundable deposit of 10% of the tour price with your booking form. The balance of the tour fare must be paid to the GSA not later than 56 days before the departure date of the first tour booked, otherwise the Company will treat the booking as cancelled by the client(s) and will be subject to the cancellation charges shown below.
b) If you book your tour less than 56 days before the departure date, you must send the full tour price with your booking form.
4. CANCELLATIONS
a) If you cancel your tour you must inform the GSA in writing. Cancellation charges are calculated on the day written notification is received by the GSA. The table below shows the number of days before the tour departure date that the GSA receives written notification of a cancellation, and the percentage of the total tour fare, including any surcharges, that will be imposed on the client as cancellation charges:
Days % charge Days % charge
More than 55 10% 15 to 27 90%
42 to 55 30% Less than 15 100%
28 to 41 60%
b) Cancellation for trips including the Galapagos: For tours including the Galapagos (ref GAL), Cancellation charges are as follows:
Days % charge Days % charge
61 days or more 10% Less than 61 100%
c) Please note the cancellation charges mentioned above do not cover flights and extra hotel accommodation. Cancellation charges on flights vary but can be as much as 100% after purchase. Extra hotel accommodation may also be 100% cancellation charges after booking.
d) Once the tour has started, no refunds will be made under any circumstances for unused section(s).
e) The Company reserves the right to cancel your tour for any reason more than 56 days before the departure date in which case you will be refunded any monies which you have paid to the Company towards the tour fare (excluding insurance premiums) but that will be the extent of the Company's liability. If the Company cancels your tour within 56 days of the departure date, you will receive a refund of all monies which you have paid towards the tour fare (excluding insurance premiums) and compensation as set out in the table in clause 8 c) unless cancellation is for reasons of force majeure or consolidation in which case you will not receive any compensation. Please note that if you fail to pay the balance to the GSA by the due date, the Company will cancel your tour and you will not receive a refund of any monies paid to the Company.
5. TRANSFERS
a) If you want to transfer from one tour to another, you must inform the GSA in writing together with a completed, signed booking form (and increased deposit if necessary) for the trip to which you wish to transfer. If the GSA receives written notification more than 55 days before the departure date of the original tour, an administration charge of AUD250 / NZD300 per person will be made, plus any other non-recoverable charges or expenses. If the GSA receives written notification less than 56 days before the departure date of the original tour, all transfers will be treated as cancellations and subject to the scale of cancellation charges shown in clause 4 a). If you subsequently cancel the new tour, cancellation charges will be calculated on whichever tour is of the greater value.
b) You may only give, sell or in any other way transfer your place to another person under the following circumstances:
i) Because of personal illness or serious illness of a close family relative, jury service, redundancy or unavoidable work commitments.
ii) The Company receives documentary evidence of such reasons, a AUD250 / NZD300 administration charge plus any other non-recoverable charges or expenses, and a completed and signed booking form from the transferee at least 28 days before the departure date.
c) Transfers between you and anybody else may not be made less than 28 days before departure.
6. PRICES
a) The Company reserves the right to vary prices at any time until paid in full due to currency fluctuation or other factors outside our control.
b) Prices quoted in this programme are based on costs and exchange rates as published on 1st October 2007 in the Financial Times. They remain current until 1st December 2008.
c) The Company undertakes not to increase your tour price once the contract has been made, unless it is because of changes in transportation costs, including the cost of fuel, dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports or airports, or the exchange rates applied to your particular tour.
d) The Company undertakes not to impose any surcharge once the full tour price has been paid.
7. ITINERARIES
a) The itineraries and other details are published in good faith as statements of intention only and reasonable changes in the itinerary, vehicle and equipment use, etc. may be made where deemed necessary or advisable by the Company.
b) If any additional expenses are incurred through delays, accidents or disruption of planned itineraries because of force majeure or considered advisable by us, such expenses are to be borne by the client.
c) The client accepts that force majeure may prevent the Company from supplying services and/or itineraries as described.
d) No refund will be made for any unused services which are included in the tour fare.
8. CHANGES
a) The Company reserves the right to alter its descriptions of the facilities and services described in the brochure at any time before a booking is made although notification of any such changes will be given to clients at the time of booking.
b) When you have made your contract with the Company, the Company will use its best endeavours to ensure that none of the ingredients of your tour arrangements have to be altered. However, you will appreciate that, because arrangements are planned many months in advance and because of the unpredictability of travel in most areas, sometimes changes have to be made. Where a significant change (see 8c below) is made, you will be informed when you book or, if you have already booked, as soon as possible, if there is time before departure. You may then:
i) accept the change, or
ii) book any other available tour from this brochure (where the price is less, the Company will pay you the difference but where the price is more you must pay the difference), or
iii) cancel your booking and receive a full refund of all moneys paid towards the tour price.
c) If the Company makes a significant change because of force majeure or consolidation before departure, the Company will be liable to offer the alternatives set out above. If a significant change for any other reason occurs less than 56 days before departure, the Company will be liable to offer the alternatives set out above and, in addition will offer compensation. The table below shows the number of days you are told before the tour departure date and the compensation payable:
Days Compensation Days Compensation
More than 55 Nil Between 15 and 27 AUD60 / NZD75
Between 28 and 55 AUD$35 / NZD40 Less than 15 AUD85 / NZD100
d) A significant change is considered to be not visiting more than 1 of the number of countries listed in the tour description.
e) The Company reserves the right to use alternative forms of transport and/or vary the itinerary if force majeure, breakdown, accident, sickness, etc. make such a change necessary.
f) Because of the nature of the areas we travel through, significant changes can and do occur after departure, over which Dragoman has no control. Dragoman will organise contingency itineraries but cannot be held responsible for compensation or additional expenses.
g) All other changes are defined as minor changes. Minor changes may occur at any time before or after the tour departure date. While the Company will make reasonable efforts to inform you of minor changes, it is under no obligation to do so or to pay you any compensation.
9. COMPLAINTS
a) If you have a complaint about your tour, in the first instance you should inform the tour leader so that remedial action can be taken if possible. Otherwise, you must make any complaint in writing to the GSA within 28 days of the tour finish date.
10. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE COMPANY
a) All information on this website has been compiled with reasonable care and is published in good faith. It is not issued on behalf of, and does not commit any airline or ferry company whose travel arrangements form part of the tour. In circumstances where the Company is acting as an agent only - e.g. when making arrangements locally (i.e. in the course of any tour) it does so on the express condition that it is not liable for any additional expenses, loss, damage, injury or breaches of contract whether negligent or otherwise howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly from the actions or omissions of the supplier or independent parties with whom the arrangements are made.
b) Subject to Clause 10 c) & 10 d) and Clause 11 below, the Company accepts liability:
i) For injury and illness arising from those arrangements that are prearranged before the start date of the tour and are included in the tour price.
ii) Subject to Clauses 7 and 8, for the arrangements of the tour.
iii) For the actions of the tour leader while he/she is acting on behalf of the Company in the pursuit of his/her duties normally associated with running the tour. This does not include personal frolics.
c) The Company accepts no liability:
i) If there has been no fault on the part of the Company or its suppliers and the cause was your own fault, or the actions of someone unconnected with the provision of your tour which actions were unforeseeable or unavoidable, or unusual and unforeseeable circumstances beyond the Company's control, the consequences of which could not have been avoided even with the exercise of all due care or something which the Company or any supplier of services, even with all due care could not have been foreseen or forestalled.
ii) In cases of personal liability, injury or death in circumstances when the client has been participating in any activity which does not form part of the original arrangements booked through and contracted with the Company, even though they may have been supervised, arranged or recommended by the Company or its representatives. Examples are mountain or rock climbing, trekking, skiing, canoe and rafting trips, bungi jumping, diving, ballooning or any other activities of a risky nature.
iii) In cases of disease or illness contracted during or after the tour (see Clause 11 c or 11 d).
iv) For any information and advice on visas, travel documents, climate, spending money and other costs, clothing, equipment, etc. All such information and advice has been compiled with reasonable care and is given in good faith but without responsibility on the part of the Company or the GSA.
v) For your personal belongings while in the sight of yourself or other group members, or while under the care of airlines or airports.
vi) For any information or handouts given by trip leaders. Such information is given in good faith but without responsibility on the part of the Company or its local agents.
d) Compensation for personal injury is limited in accordance with the provisions of any applicable International Conventions. These include, for example, in the course of road travel, air travel, rail travel, sea travel, or hotel accommodation is limited to the provisions of, respectively, the Geneva Convention 1973, the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol 1955, the 1961 Berne Convention, the 1974 Athens Convention and the 1962 Paris Convention.
e) Where the Company or GSA supplies air transportation (either directly or through an agent), its responsibility in respect of air travel is limited to the airlines' conditions of carriage and the conventions in condition 10 d). The responsibility of the airlines is similarly limited to the carriage of passengers and baggage in accordance with their conditions of carriage and the conventions in booking condition
10 d). The Company or the GSA has no responsibility where a flight has not been purchased from the Company or the GSA.
f) The Company or the GSA cannot accept any liability for any delay or cancellation in your flight to the joining point of the land tour or returning from the end point of the land tour, whether the delay or cancellation is caused by adverse weather conditions, rescheduling by an airline, airport authority and/or action by air traffic controllers, mechanical breakdown or industrial action. In certain circumstances delayed departure may be covered by the passengers' travel insurance.
g) The Company, its employees, the GSA and agents accept no responsibility or liability for expenses, inconvenience, loss of enjoyment or anything else caused by non-compliance with any of the Client's responsibilities listed below.
11. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CLIENT
a) By their very nature, tours in this programme may involve an element of personal risk and potential hazard not normally associated with holiday tours. Clients must accept these attendant risks and hazards. Clients must also accept that safety standards of hoteliers and other suppliers of accommodation, local transport and other operators in most of the countries they visit will not be of the same standard as in their home country.
b) It is the client's responsibility to arrange suitable adventure travel insurance with benefits that cover personal accident, medical expenses, repatriation, loss and damage to personal effects. The policy must include a minimum cover of approx. US$1,000,000 for medical and repatriation expenses. In the event that a client does not have suitable travel insurance, they may not be allowed to join the trip.
c) It is the client's responsibility to ensure they seek professional medical advice before travelling and to take all necessary health precautions and preventative measures.
d) It is the client's responsibility to check their tickets and notify the GSA immediately if there are any mistakes.
e) It is the client's own responsibility to comply with all current passport, visa and health requirements.
f) Clients must give to the tour leader at the beginning of the tour their local payment, kitty contribution and/or flight cost as shown in the brochure and updated if applicable. Failure to do so will be deemed a breach of contract on the part of the client and the client will not be carried on the tour.
g) Clients must at all times comply with the laws and customs of the countries visited. The company has absolute discretion to order a client to leave the tour if they are found contravening such laws and customs, or interfering (or is judged to have the potential to interfere) with the well-being of the group, individual member, members, or themselves. In such cases, there will be no refund of the tour fare and the company accepts no liability for expenses incurred as a result.
h) Clients are responsible for informing the Company or GSA at the time of booking of any known illnesses, disabilities or medical condition, or, if not known at the time of booking, at the earliest opportunity thereafter prior to the departure of the tour. Any client found to have an undeclared or understated medical condition may be ordered to leave the tour with no refund of the tour fare.
i) Clients must follow the tour joining instructions issued to them.
j) In booking a tour from this brochure the client acknowledges that they are responsible to make themselves aware through Foreign Office, State Department warnings, advisers and any other sources available to them, in regard to the safety of countries and areas in which they will be travelling and to make their own decisions accordingly.
k) Clients must be aware that our tour leaders, representatives and passengers may take photographs, videos and films of our clients while on any of our tours of which the Company reserves the right to use such material for any advertising, brochure and video production, and other marketing uses (including footage for television) without obtaining further consent. The Company also reserves the right to use any comments clients make regarding our tours on any questionnaires or letters in future promotional literature.
l) Clients must reimburse the Company for any expenses incurred on behalf of the client. This especially applies to non-compliance with clauses 11 b), f) and h) above.
12. LIMITED INSURANCE HELD BY THE OPERATOR
a) The client acknowledges and accepts that there may be no policy covering the operator's liability to its clients for death, injury, damage or loss occurring anywhere in the world. The client also specifically acknowledges that with respect to passenger accident liability cover, this cover may be very limited or may not exist at all. The client acknowledges that the operator has taken reasonable steps in safeguarding its liability. Although the operator does hold various insurances this booking condition states that the client must assume he/she is not covered by any operator's insurance policy, including all liability insurance, for death, injury, damage or any other loss.