Refund policy

Cancellation and Refund Policy

Planning a trip to Tanzania, whether it's Kilimanjaro or a safari through the parks, takes months and a fair amount of money. We get that life doesn't always cooperate. An illness comes up, something happens at home, a flight gets cancelled for reasons that have nothing to do with you. When that happens, our first move isn't to pull up a policy document. It's to call you and figure out what we can actually do.

This page walks through how cancellations and refunds work with us at Jairos Adventure, what we can almost always fix, and where our hands are a bit tied because of partners who set their own terms.

Where we're coming from

We're not trying to sound nice for the sake of it. This is genuinely how we operate. If you reach out because your plans changed, you're talking to a real person on our team, not filling out a form that goes into a queue. Most situations have more than one way to handle them, and we try to find the one that's best for you.

But we're also not the only ones involved in your trip. Park authorities, hotels, airlines, the people who supply food along the route, our own staff who've already been building your itinerary- a lot of that has already been paid for, sometimes weeks before you even land. So, we'll always tell you straight what's recoverable and what isn't.

Kilimanjaro climbs

This is where we have the most say over your trip, so it's also where we can be the most flexible.

Most of what you pay for a Kilimanjaro climb goes toward things we run ourselves: guides, porters, gear, our hotels. The food we source. So, if you need to cancel or push your dates, there's usually a way to make it work.

A few things worth knowing:

Your initial deposit is 30%, and it's refundable, but it also never expires. You can put it toward any future expedition, whenever that ends up being.

Park fees can be refunded up to a day before your climb starts. We pay these to the Tanzania National Parks Authority on your behalf, and we handle getting that money back for you.

Honestly, postponing is usually the better move over cancelling outright. Your money doesn't expire with us, so if you need to reschedule, we just hold the full payment as credit for whenever you're ready to go again.

And if your situation doesn't fit neatly into any of that, tell us anyway. Family emergencies, sudden illness, things nobody could plan for- we look at those case by case. We've given full refunds to climbers before when the circumstances genuinely called for it, and we'll keep doing that.

Safaris

Safaris work differently, and it's worth explaining why.

A safari is built around where you stay, and those lodges and camps make up a big chunk of the total cost. Almost all of that money goes to properties we don't own, and each one has its own rules about cancellations, which vary a lot:

Some partners will let you postpone to new dates with no penalty at all, and that's the first thing we check for you, since it's the easiest way to salvage a trip that's falling apart.

Most places work on a sliding scale that gets stricter the closer you get to your dates. Roughly speaking, across the industry: about 10% if you're more than 90 days out, 30% somewhere between 60 and 90 days, 60% between 30 and 60 days, 80% if you're inside 30 days, and basically the full amount in that last week. We push back on partners where we can, and our relationships with them help more often than not.

The nicer, higher-end properties tend to be the least forgiving here. That's kind of the trade-off that comes with staying somewhere really exclusive; it's harder for them to fill a cancelled booking, so they hold firmer on the terms.

Internal flights are usually a lost cause, unfortunately. The small aircraft that fly into remote parks run on thin margins, and most operators just don't offer refunds, even with plenty of notice.

Park fees follow the same rule as Kilimanjaro: refundable up to a day before your safari begins.

When you need to cancel, we go line by line through your booking with every partner involved and push for the most we can get back. Whatever comes through, we send straight to you, minus whatever the banks take.

Postponing instead of cancelling

If it's really your dates that are the problem and not the trip itself, postpone rather than cancel. It almost always leaves you better off.

For Kilimanjaro, this costs you basically nothing on our end. Your payment just sits as credit until you're ready to pick new dates. The one caveat: park fees can go up over time, so if the Tanzania National Parks Authority raises theirs before your new dates, that difference gets passed along.

For safaris, we reach out to every partner as soon as you tell us your plans have changed. A lot of lodges will move your booking with no fee, especially if it's outside peak season, and we've had a lot of success getting this done when we ask early enough.

Travel insurance

Get it. We really mean that. Tanzania travel comes with a handful of things that are genuinely out of anyone's hands: flights getting cancelled internationally, getting sick or hurt before you even leave, needing evacuation once you're here. A decent policy covers all of that, and it can get you money back on things even we can't refund, like a non-refundable lodge stay or an internal flight.

We'll give you whatever paperwork you need to file a claim. If you're shopping for a policy, look for trip cancellation, medical evacuation, and, if you're climbing, coverage for high altitude specifically.

How to reach us about a change

WhatsApp or email to your travel consultant is the fastest route. We try to get back to you within 24 hours, usually a lot sooner. Some of it depends on lodges and airlines responding on their end, so weekends, holidays, and time zones can slow the more complicated requests down a little. But whatever it takes, your consultant stays on it with you until it's sorted.

There's no automated form here, and no script we're reading from. You'll be talking to the same people who planned your trip in the first place.

We hope you never need this page again. What we really want you to take home from Jairos Adventure is the feeling that you saw something worth seeing, and that someone good had your back the whole way.