Limosa - Birdwatching and Wildlife Hoildays Worldwide

Booking Conditions

Limosa Holidays is the trading name of an unincorporated travel partnership founded in 1985 by Christopher and Barbara Kightley, and joined as a partner in 1995 by Stephen Madge. The conditions below form the contract between us. Please read them carefully.

1. A reservation is made once a completed booking form, together with the appropriate booking deposit, have been received from you and confirmed in writing by us. At this date a contract will come into force between us. Our written confirmation of your booking means that we agree to operate your holiday as stated in the brochure. The contract, which is deemed to have been made at our offices in Northrepps, is governed by English law and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
2. The balance must be paid not later than 70 days (more in the case of some tours and cruises) prior to the start of the holiday. The date the balance falls due will be advised by us when we confirm your booking. If the balance has not been paid by the due date we reserve the right to treat your booking as cancelled and levy appropriate cancellation charges.

3. You may cancel your booking at any stage. Notice of cancellation can only be accepted in writing and takes effect on the day such notice is received by us. In the event of cancellation your booking deposit is non-refundable. Cancellation charges are as follows:

Over 70 days before departure	deposit only
70-43 days before departure	50% of total tour cost
42-29 days before departure	75% of total tour cost
28 days or less before departure	100% of total tour cost

To protect yourself against cancellation we recommend that you purchase travel insurance. If the reason for cancellation falls within the terms of your insurance, the above charges will normally be refunded to you by the insurance company, less premium cost and any excess applicable.

If you are unavoidably prevented from proceeding with your holiday, you may transfer your booking up to 30 days prior to departure to another person, providing the transferee meets any conditions which may apply to the booking. We shall make a charge of £50 per person for administrative costs, plus all additional charges imposed by our suppliers arising from the transfer.

4. We do everything possible to ensure each tour runs as advertised. However, we reserve the right to alter the holiday, or to substitute accommodation and leaders if necessary, in which case participants will be informed. Most such changes will be minor (see below). If a major change (see below) becomes necessary, we will advise you as soon as reasonably possible and offer you the choice of: (a) accepting the new arrangements; (b) an alternative holiday of comparable standard if available (with you paying any additional amount or receiving a refund in respect of any price difference); or (c) cancelling the holiday in return for a full refund (save for any insurance premiums). Irrespective of which you choose, we will pay reasonable compensation, as follows:

   Period before scheduled departure date within which a MAJOR change or cancellation is notified to you	Compensation per person
   More than 56 days	Nil
   56-43 days	£10
   42-29 days	£15
   28-15 days	£20
   14-0 days	£30

   A major change to your holiday is one which involves a significant change of accommodation or itinerary; a change of flight time by more than 12 hours (but not a flight delay as this is covered by travel insurance) and a change in UK airport (except as between London airports). No compensation is payable in respect of other changes which are minor, or where cancellation or change is as a result of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, examples of which include: force majeure (war or threat of war, riot, civil strife, terrorist activity, natural or nuclear disaster, epidemic, fire, adverse weather conditions, non-availability of fuel; or by industrial dispute which unavoidably prevents a carrier, hotelier or other supplier from performing their contract; the balance has not been paid by the due date; or the tour is cancelled because the number of persons actually booked is insufficient to operate the tour. Save for the compensation payments set out above, we will be under no further liability to you.

   We reserve the right to cancel any trip up to 70 days prior to departure should the minimum number of bookings (in most but not all cases 6) required to run a tour not be met. In this event you will have the choice of accepting an alternative holiday or of withdrawing from the contract with a full refund of all monies paid.

5. We do all that we can to ensure the price you see in the brochure is the price you pay. Our record in achieving this is second to none. Rather than cancel the holiday, however, we may levy a surcharge on the holiday price on the following items: dues, taxes or fees chargeable for services such as landing taxes or embarkation or disembarkation fees at ports and airports; transportation costs (eg. fuel, scheduled airfares and any other airline surcharges) and tour operator/organiser, and increases in transfer and other transport costs at the holiday destination), or the exchange rates applied to the particular package. Even in the above cases, we will absorb an amount equivalent to 2% of the tour price excluding any insurance premiums and amendment charges. No surcharge will be imposed less than 30 days prior to the date of tour departure, and then only amounts in excess of 2% will be surcharged. If this means paying more than 10% on the tour price, you will be entitled to cancel your booking with a full refund (except for any insurance premiums and amendment charges), but you must exercise your right to do so within 14 days from the issue date printed on the surcharge invoice.
6. We reserve the right to change any of the prices contained in this brochure at any time before we enter into contract with you. If there is any upward change, we will notify you before we enter into such contract. If you have already booked and the change is downward, the price you pay will, of course, be the new lower price.
7. Special requests must be advised to us prior to departure and preferably at the time of booking. We will advise the relevant supplier(s) of your requirements but we cannot guarantee that such requests will be met. Furthermore, we have no liability to you if such requests are not met. Single rooms cannot always be guaranteed and bookings are only accepted on the understanding that you will consent to share a room in the event of unexpected lack of single rooms at any location (a pro rata refund will be made after the tour).
8. Itineraries: The birds, wildlife and itineraries within our brochure, website and tour information packs outline our planned programme but are intended only as a guide. You should see a reasonable proportion of the birds mentioned if you have good eyesight and participate fully in the tour. Our itineraries do not constitute contracts and we reserve the right to change them at any time for emergency, logistical or other reasons so long as these alterations are in keeping with the nature of the tour. The final decision for any change rests with our office, or our experienced tour guide(s) who are often best placed to assess the situation 'on the ground'. We strive rigorously to ensure that all guides accompany their stated tours but in assigning leaders eighteen months or more in advance, we reserve the right to substitute a leader(s) if absolutely necessary. We will not be held liable for any loss whatsoever caused a result of any delay or alteration.
9. You must at all times strictly comply with the laws, customs and regulation of the countries visited, and conduct yourself in a manner deemed by the leader to be compatible with the satisfactory operation of the tour. We reserve the right to dismiss from the group any person unable or unwilling so to do. Any person so dismissed shall have no cause for complaint or refund, and shall bear all the extra expenses of his/her return home.
10. Our holidays are planned well in advance and so we are not in a position to state details of airlines, airports, flight timings or aircraft type in our brochure and tour itineraries. They will however be detailed in your confirmation invoice (if known at that time), and confirmed in our Final Tour Letter sent to you 15-30 days prior to the tour's departure.

11. We will accept responsibility should the services we are contractually obliged to provide prove deficient or not of reasonable standard. We will also accept responsibility for loss or damage due to the acts or omissions of our employees, agents and suppliers. We will accept responsibility for the negligent acts or omissions of our employees, agents and suppliers whilst acting within the scope of their employment in respect of claims arising as a result of death, personal injury or illness to the client. Claims in respect of the above matters shall (in respect of both liability and quantum) fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England. All claims must be notified to us in writing within 28 days of your return from the holiday.

    We shall be entitled to limit our liability in relation to the above in the manner provided by the relevant International Conventions in respect of air, sea and land carriage. We will accept no responsibility or liability in respect of: loss or damage to goods; loss, damage, delay or misdirection of your luggage and personal effects; death or physical injury unless resulting from proven negligence; claims arising out of carriage by air or sea (see above). We will accept no responsibility or liability in respect of claims arising out of your own acts or omissions, or those of a third party not connected with the provision of your holiday. We will accept no responsibility or liability in respect of losses or additional expenses incurred as a result of transport delays, sickness, weather, war or political crises, strikes, acts of God or other events which amount to force majeure. All such losses or additional expenses will be borne by you.

12. If you should have a complaint please notify the leader(s) as soon as possible in order that the matter can be dealt with promptly. If it is not dealt with to your satisfaction on the spot, the nature of the complaint should be stated in writing promptly and preferably within 28 days of the date scheduled for your return from the tour. In any event, we will not be under any liability in respect of any claim of which we are not notified in writing within 3 months of the date scheduled for your return. If you have a dispute with us which you are unable to resolve, you may refer the matter to a court of law or call upon the low-cost AITO Independent Dispute Settlement Service (details on request). Claims which exceed £2500 per person or £10000 per booking form, or claims which apply principally or exclusively in respect of (or as a consequence of) illness or physical injury are not admissible for settlement under the service.
13. All participants must be covered by insurance before setting out on holiday. Your insurance must cover you fully in respect of medical care and repatriation should you become too ill to continue with the tour, including the cost of emergency evacuation by helicopter or air ambulance should this be necessary. Note that passenger liability insurance covering the transportation that we hire, particularly in Third World countries, may be inadequate; it is therefore important that your insurance cover includes sufficient provision for your dependents in the event of an accident.
14. All names and addresses on the Limosa Holidays mailing list are held on computer. These are strictly confidential and NOT available except for our own use. However, if you object to your details being stored in this way please let us know and we will remove your details.