Travel information on Security & Safety for visitors in Ethiopia

Terms & Conditions

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When do we require payment?

A deposit payment is required in order to confirm your booking.

On confirmation please pay a minimum deposit of 10% in order that we can confirm the bookings and pay required deposits ourselves. (This could be more depending on the type of trip and deposits we are required to make on your behalf). The 10% payment is non-refundable.

30 days before the trip start we require a 40% deposit to be paid into our account.

5 days in advance we require the full final payment to be paid into our account. If you have time at the start of your trip to come by our office on a working day we maybe able to accept final payment on arrival.

Please allow 5 working days for transfers, 3 days for credit card payments.

What happens if we need to cancellation or postpone - can we get a refund?

Tesfa Tours reserves the right to withhold a percentage of the trip cost to cover administrative costs.  These amounts are:-

Once your holiday is confirmed – 10%  + the value of any non refundable payments made on your behalf.
30 days prior to departure date – 20%  + the value of any non refundable payments
10 days prior to departure date – 30%  + the value of any non refundable paymentsFor cancellation received less than 5 days before the start of the trip no refunds can be made.

Please note that refund payments are only possible against credit card payments  (please note that this will be the birr that we received on the credit card at the exchange rate the bank uses on the day) or paid locally in birr. It is impossible for us to persuade the banks to reverse bank transfers due to shortages of foreign currency in the country.

If you postpone your trip, depending on the circumstances, Tesfa Tours will be willing to ‘roll-over’ payments made for trips if the trip is postponed. This will be based on the birr amount received into our bank. This ‘roll-over’ policy will remain in place for 12 months. In general if the cancellation leading to the ‘roll-over’ is done with less than 60 days notice Tesfa Tours will not roll over the 10% for administrative costs, and will need to deduct any advance payments made to lodges and for tickets subject to their cancelation policy (although some lodges may allow payments to be rolled over to a later booking).

How can we pay you?

You can pay for your trip by credit/debit card, bank transfer or in cash in our office.

We can accept major credit cards, but to process remotely we will need a copy of your passport, credit card – both front & back, (we will ask you to blank out key numbers and send them to us separately) and a letter or email authorising us to deduct the payment. (This is a stipulation from the bank.)

With a bank transfer, payment is in USD or Euro/ Pound equivalent. Payment goes from your bank via an intermediary bank to our bank in Addis. Please see the transfer details in separate PDF file (we will send you this). Banks here do NOT use the IBAN system but do have a SWIFT address. There is no routing number. Banks will deduct fees for making transfers – and we have to add this to your bill as a transaction fee.

If you are in Addis you can pay directly by credit card using your pin number (we do not need all the supporting documents) or in cash, either in US Dollars or at the equivalent on the day in Birr, Euros or Pounds.

For local birr cheques please allow up to 10 days for processing.

 

Arrangements & Policies for the Community treks / guesthouses

Solo guests – If a guest is staying at guesthouses on their own they will need to pay a solo supplement on top of the normal charge. Obviously the cost to cover for the community is significantly higher and this means it is still profitable for the community. Tesfa Tours will seek to join the solo guest with other individuals or groups but this may not always work out. It maybe that a planned co-guest cancels in which case the solo fee will be applicable to the remaining guest.

Tesfa’s policy on exclusive use of Guest houses by small groups: On behalf of the communities, Tesfa Tours reserves the right for groups of less than 5 guests to add additional guests to the trek. People in their own group however may be required to share bedrooms, but people will not be required to share rooms from other groups. This is to maximise the income for the communities. However guest can pay for a private guide – see personal guide supplement- if they wish.

Guests wishing exclusive use of a guest house will need to pay an additional fee. Their total group payment will be the equivalent of 5 guest’s payment.

Personal guide supplement – If guests wish to have their own guide and not share with another group there is a personal guide supplement that will be applied.

The landscape is spectacular and the people too. It has inspired us to want to visit other parts of the country, and to travel with your help once more. You did everything you said you would do and so much more. A huge thank you.

Matthew Boice | May 2014