all wildlife holidays from the Travelling Naturalist are ATOL Protected by the Civil Aviation Authority AITO has placed us amongst the top ten member tour operators in the UK, according to their customer satisfaction survey last year

RSPB Butterfly Conservation

Wildlife Trusts World Land Trust

Conditions of Booking

The Travelling Naturalist
1. The Travelling Naturalist is the trading name of a small, unincorporated wildlife holiday operator, set up in 1984 by James McMillan who is the sole trader.

The Contract
2. When you sign our booking form you are entering a contract made with James McMillan, trading as The Travelling Naturalist, PO Box 3141, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 2XD. This means that you agree to accept all the conditions of booking. Our written confirmation of your booking means that we agree to operate your holiday as stated in the brochure. The contract is governed by English law and is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.

Deposits
3. Bookings must be accompanied by a signed booking form and a deposit. Once the booking has been confirmed, the deposit will not be refunded under any circumstances, unless we have to cancel the holiday due to low numbers of clients or other unforeseen circumstances. We reserve the right to decline to accept a booking at our own discretion.

Balances
4. The balance must be paid at least 12 weeks (18 weeks for USA tours and some other tours; some Expedition Cruises may also have an earlier balance date) before the starting date. Late bookings can sometimes be accepted within this time and the payment made in full on booking. Your invoice will state when the balance is payable in any case. Should the balance fail to reach us by the date specified on your invoice, we reserve the right to cancel your booking without refund.
5. You may cancel your booking at any stage. Cancellations must be made in writing, and will be deemed to be made on the date on which we receive the written cancellation. All tour deposit and interim flight deposit payments you have made to us will be retained by us. In the event of cancelling after the full balance is due, the following cancellation charges will apply if the cancellation is received:
Tours to destinations outside the USA
84 - 43 days before departure: 50% of the total invoice cost
42 - 29 days before departure: 75% of the total invoice cost
28 days or less before departure: 100% of the total invoice cost
Tours to the USA
120 - 61 days before departure: 50% of the total invoice cost
60 days or less before departure: 100% of the total invoice cost

To protect yourself, please ensure that you take out travel insurance to cover this as early as possible.

You may transfer your booking to another person up to 30 days before departure, provided you are unavoidably prevented from coming on the holiday, and bear any extra costs that such changes necessarily incur plus a £ 50 administration fee. Please note that a new travel insurance premium will also be payable.

6. If circumstances force you to leave a tour early, or follow a separate itinerary, you will have to bear any extra costs involved, although these may be covered by your Travel Insurance.

Tour alteration
7. If we are forced to cancel a holiday for any reason, we will refund the full amount you have paid us for that holiday.
8. The tour descriptions and itineraries in this brochure and on our website are meant only as a guide. Circumstance such as flight times and other uncertainties of travel may change, and the itinerary may therefore have to be changed. Leaders may also have to be substituted, and the wildlife mentioned is not guaranteed! We therefore reserve the right to amend the itineraries according to circumstances, but will strive to maintain the advertised standard of the tour.
9. We reserve the right to change any of the prices in this brochure or on our website at any time before we enter into a contract with you. We will notify you before we enter into such a contract.
10. Special requests must be advised to us prior to departure and preferably at time of booking. We will advise the relevant suppliers of your requirements but cannot guarantee that such requests will be met. Furthermore, we have no liability if such requests are not met.
11. Please note that we usually charge a £35 booking fee for booking separate flights from (or additional flights to) the main group flights to cover our administrative costs. If you wish to book a tour with a connecting flight from a regional airport, you must tell us at the time of booking.

Surcharges
12. The prices of our holidays are calculated well in advance, and unexpected cost increases sometimes occur. Rather than cancel the holiday, or not accept a booking, we may have to levy a surcharge on the holiday price on the following items: governmental action, currency fluctuations, fuel, overflying charges, airport charges, increases in scheduled air fares and increases in transfer and other transport costs at the holiday destination. Even in this case, we will absorb an amount up to the first 2% of the holiday price which excludes premiums and any amendment charges. No surcharge will be imposed less than 30 days prior to departure and only amounts in excess of this 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 of the surcharge invoice date.

Please note
13. Clients must observe any instructions given by our leaders as regards logistics, safety and conservation. Failure to do this could lead to dismissal from the group, as could any behaviour that, in the opinion of the leader, is severely detrimental to the safety, welfare and enjoyment of other members of the group.
14. In the event of our declining to retain a client during a holiday, full refund of the unused portion of the holiday will be paid to this client. However, the client must bear any extra expenses involved in returning home under these circumstances.
15. We regret that no pets may be brought.
16. We ask clients not to smoke in any vehicle we use, when in close company with other members of the group, or anywhere where there may be a fire risk.
17. We reserve the right to take photographs during the operation of our tours, and to use the resulting images for promotional purposes. By booking with us, tour members agree to allow their image to be used in this way; clients who prefer that their image should not be used must inform us prior to the tour.

Single rooms
18. We will always try to accommodate clients who request single rooms, but this is not always possible, and clients may be asked to share for all or part of the holiday. In this case we will of course not charge the single room supplement for the portion of the holiday where the room is shared. We will also try to accommodate clients travelling on their own but wishing to share, but if there is no other single person on the tour willing also to share we will have to charge the single room supplement.

Responsibilities and liability
19. 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 proven negligent acts or omissions of our employees or our sub-contractors, agents or suppliers or their servants and/or agents.
20. We will accept liability in respect of death, bodily injury or illness resulting from our proven negligence or that of our employees or our sub-contractors or agents or suppliers or their servants and/or agents provided they were acting within the scope of their employment at the time. 21. Claims in respect of the matters referred to in paragraphs 19 & 20 shall (in respect of both liability and quantum) fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
22. We shall be entitled to limit our liability in relation to claims within paragraphs 19 & 20 in the manner provided by any international convention applying to any air, sea or land carriage.
23. Where appropriate and subject to our reasonable discretion we will afford general assistance to our clients who through misadventure suffer illness, personal injury or death during the period of the holiday arising out of an activity which does not form part of the holiday.
24. Where we have complied with our responsibilities set out in paragraphs 19 & 20 we will accept no liability in respect of death or physical injury unless resulting from proven negligence; loss or damage to goods; loss, damage, or delay or misdirection of your luggage or effects; claims arising out of carriage by air or sea, the liability being limited in accordance with the International Convention subject to which such carriage is performed.
25. We will accept no liability in respect of losses or additional expenses incurred as a result of transport delays, sickness, weather, war or other political crises, strikes, acts of God or other events which amount to force majeure. All such losses or additional expenses will be borne by the client.

Disabilities and medical conditions
26. Many, but not all, of our holidays may not be suitable for people with certain disabilities and medical conditions. Please ask us if in any doubt. In any case, if any client suffers from any disability or medical condition which may affect the running of the holiday, they must provide us with full details before the balance is due. We reserve the right to cancel a booking and impose the appropriate cancellation charges if such details are not provided. We further reserve the right to decline any booking whenever we feel unable to accommodate the particular needs of a particular client on that trip.

Your Safety, Travel Advice & Insurance
27. Risks to your safety and security are an unavoidable aspect of all travel. The best current advice on such risks is provided for you by the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office Travel Advice unit. We will send a copy of the relevant FCO Travel Advice to all participants along with their final tour letter. In order to assess and protect against any risks in your chosen destination, however, it is strongly recommended that you refer to the FCO website (www.fco.go.uk/travel) or telephone 0870 6060290 prior to booking and regularly before you travel.

28. It is also very important that you are well- informed about health risks and issues in your chosen destination country before making your booking. For trips outside Europe we will provide the latest Health Brief from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine with our information pack, but clients are strongly recommended to refer to their website www.masta-travel-health.com for detailed advice before booking.

29. Good travel insurance is essential before departing on any overseas trip (and is to be much recommended for UK holidays as well). In common with most other operators now, we insist that participants are fully insured before travelling overseas with us.

Complaints
30. Please notify your party leader of any complaint as soon as possible in order that we may assist you. If the complaint is not dealt with to your satisfaction there and then, the nature of the complaint should be stated, in writing, as soon as possible within 28 days of the completion of the holiday. We will not be under any liability in respect of claims of which we are not notified in writing within 28 days of the date scheduled for your return.

We will do our best to deal with the matter to your satisfaction, but in the unlikely event that you are still not satisfied, you may refer the matter to arbitration under AITO's low-cost Independent Dispute Management Service (details on request) to bring it to a speedy and acceptable conclusion.