Tipping.
Tipping is the appreciation of services offered. It is not compulsory but highly recommended as it is a safari tradition. Most lodges, camps and hotels have a tip box located at the reception, or a central location. We recommend US $ 5 per client per day. Tips left here will be devided amongst the lodge staff that you don't get to meet during your stay. If you are particulary satisfied with assistance received from someone a personal tip is acceptable - a guideline on how tip is as follows. Porters: US $ 5 for the luggage, restaurant staff - 10% of cost consumption per meal and safari guide: US $ 20 per person per day. However, if services are exceptionally good, you are free to give over the guidelines.

Departure taxes, health and visas.
All participants are responsible for, and must be in possession of, a full valid passport for the period of the tour. In addition they must obtain visa and any necessary vaccination certificates required for the tour. With confirmation of your booking all the necessary information about passport, visa, and health requirements as well as details covering climate, clothing will be sent to you.

Flights within East Africa.
For the fly-in packages we use scheduled flights within East Africa. On a few cases we use charter flights, normally because direct scheduled flights don’t exist or because charter flights are more frequent or more suitably timed. In every case we provide you with a return ticket that has been paid for in full prior to the start of the tour. Most flights are direct though they may stop en route to drop or pick up other passengers.

Accommodation.
Accommodations have been carefully selected in each area and it provides the most friendly and pleasant surroundings to match the general atmosphere, which we feel is such an important part of our tour. Our accommodations always include a private toilets and showers in each room unless otherwise stated. However, in a few remote areas, the best available accommodation may be below western expectations, but his is always noted in our description. Participants should be aware that in order to explore some of the remoter, wild parts of East Africa it is sometimes necessary to accept lower standards of accommodation than on more

Single rooms.
We have been receiving requests for single rooms. Unfortunately, some hotels are unwilling to guarantee more than a few single rooms until quite close to the tour departure date, when they can be sure that they have rooms to spare. Some hotels will never give more singles than twins, a requirement that has occurred on several tours. Participants should be aware that while we will do our utmost to secure sufficient single rooms this may not always be possible and you might occasionally be asked to share. A refund of the single room supplement in proportion to the number of shared nights would of course be made.

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Risks, insurance and liability.
The hazards of traveling in undeveloped areas may inevitably give rise to some risks and dangers including, inter alia, those inherent in the travel by boat, train, road, vehicles, aircraft or other means, the forces of nature, political unrest and accident or illness in remote regions without means of rapid evacuation or medical facilities. In certain cases these risks and dangers may lead to death, injury, delay, loss or damage.

Travel insurance .
Travel insurance is essential these days and we insist that suitable cover be affected as soon as you book your tour. This will ensure that necessary protection is provided against loss of deposits that you would incur as detailed in our terms and conditions. In addition medical cost that might be incurred, should you fall ill during the tour, can be so high as to make it foolhardy to travel without such cover. We have found that for the majority of our safaris the flying doctors evacuation service suits our packages as it backed up by swift service with peace of mind provided by the knowledge that they have a 24-hour emergency service response.

Please note: What we are offering in our safari packages is evacuation cover only to be undertaken by the African Air Rescue service, you are therefore mostly advised to take out adequate health insurance cover, you are also advised that items such as binoculars, money, watches, cameras, telescopes and video equipment should be covered by your home policy for their full replacement value to ensure that you are fully reimbursed in the event of accidental damage or loss.  

Restrictions and participation.
Our safaris do not normally require strenuous physical exercise, but if it cannot be avoided this has to be made clear in the tour plan. Most of our safaris require the participants to be able to complete gentle walks of up to half-a-day’s duration.  

If you have a health problem or other physical problem limitation and you would like to come on one of our programmes please advice us in details and you will be taken care of. Any participant failing to notify the office of matters which are seriously affect their ability to participate in the tour faces the risk of being sent home at the start of, or during, the tour at their own expense.

Our safaris calls for certain amount of toleration and consideration for, other participants in order to ensure that everyone on the tour has enjoyable time.  

Kenya conservation act does not allow collecting of bones, flowers, insects etc and is highly prohibited while on safari, as the export of such materials is totally illegal.

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Group size.
A small group and a high guide-to-participant ratio are the essential to the enjoyment and success of any safari. It ensures that everyone gets full value from the safari in terms of photography, bird watching, wildlife and learning from the experience. It also means that the guide is able to devote time to the individual requirements of each member of the group. The minimum and maximum group size is noted in our tour plans for most of the tours.  

Transport.
We use modern custom-built fleet of 4WD land cruisers or land rover specially designed for comfort and to ensure easy observation birds, wildlife and photography in all our safaris. Each vehicle is customized to give extra leg room and plenty of headroom. Extra large windows and windscreeens improve all round game viewing and room for those with cameras with big lenses, tripods etc. Three generous roof hatches in the rear offer plenty of room for overhead game and birds viewing. All vehicles are fitted with communication radios with our own dedicated private frequency for inter-vehicle communication. The standard versions can carry up to maximum capacity of 06 people, but recommended 04 pax per safari vehicle to allow comfortable sitting and guarantee window seats.  The extended versions carry a maximum of 09 pax, but recommend a maximum of 06 pax per safari vehicle to allow comfortable sitting and guarantee window seats. 

Daily plans.
East Africa Natural history is the primary interest of our safaris with avifauna, flora and fauna taking the emphasis. However, you won't simply focus on birds, wildlife viewing – no you get the chance to learn about the local people and other things as well in general of the areas visited.  

The special interest safaris are a great chance of exploring your interest in details while the birds and butterflies safaris is another far great chance to explore two different interests at the same time.  

Daily plans often allow those who so wish to take part of the day off to explore other interests, or take a more relaxed approach to their tour. Whenever possible we try to divide the day up into optional sections.  

Pre - tour information.
The description in our itineraries tries to give an impressive of each tour, along with an account of the day-to-day activities. However, in our daily accounts we don’t cover such matters as visa and health requirements, climate, and clothing etc. Instead, we have included pre-tour detailed information in (PDF format) covering all relevant points in this page. This information is provided and that is all you need to prepare for your trip.  

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Pace of the safaris.
Especially bird watching and photography safaris, it involves some odd hours and at least a modest amount of physical activity and we want all participants to understand fully what is required. Birds and animals in general are most active during the first few hours of daylight (and again that is the best time for photography) so we make early starts most of the days. Sometimes we’ll have an optional breakfast walk or an early breakfast prior to leaving for more distant points. Sometimes, we’ll have packed food boxes for our bird watching and

Photography and Bird watching safaris.  
Some tours require gentle walking, sometimes for periods of up to half a day. Bird watching and photography is continuous, but of course we rest where necessary. At times we climb hills, walk on uneven or wet terrain or push through vegetation. On tours with more than one guide we sometimes have ‘faster’ and ‘slower’ groups. Sometimes lunches are picnics though we still have a sit-down meal. In very hot climates we sometimes start very early, rest during the heat of the day, and then venture forth again in mid to late afternoon. We normally return to hotel just before it gets dark which is at around 6.30 pm or so before dinner where night game drives are allowed. For the bird watching safaris a bird list is compiled everyday, usually just before or after dinner.  

All activities are optional with the general framework of the safaris. We encourage and assist participants in the pursuit of personal aims if these do not conflict with operation of the safari. However, everyone with important goals should contact us prior to determine if the tour chosen is appropriate.  

In the bird watching tours most tour participants have been bird watching for a while and while their skills and knowledge vary tremendously they normally have binoculars, know how to use them, and are familiar with at least the rudiments of how to watch birds. If you have recently started to watch birds or if you have never taken any tour or a bird watching tour abroad and you have any questions about the suitability of a particular tour please contact us.

Special requests.
Any special requests (e.g. single room or particular diet) must be notified in writing when the booking is made. Whilst the Mbango Safaris will endeavor to meet such requests they cannot be guaranteed and any failure to comply will not be a breach of contract.  

Changes and errors.
Please note the information may change by the time you book your holiday. Whilst every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of the information, regrettably errors do occasionally occur. You must therefore ensure that you check all details of your chosen holiday arrangements with us or your travel agent at the time of booking.

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