Travel reviews by The K family from London

We’re very pleased that these travellers enjoyed their time so much at Tafika – and particularly to hear that they actually witnessed a kill, which is a very rare occurrence! The guiding at Tafika is really superb!

With regards to the flight, sometimes the way we charter light aircraft may not appear to make any sense at all! Rest assured it usually does, but there are a lot of factors to take into account.

However, taking this traveller’s comments on board, we have implemented systems to ensure that where logistics work, we use an easier route for this flight in the future.

We’re very sorry that these travellers felt that Sausage Tree was over-priced and over-rated, and that the food wasn’t up to standard. We’ve passed these comments to the camp.

Meanwhile, several interesting points are raised here…

Firstly, we’re delighted that this camp has a clear policy of safety talks before every activity – even though to our regular travellers, it’ll seem a bit superfluous.

Secondly, it is becoming more commonplace for lodges and camps to ask their guests to sign indemnity forms. We address this in our brochure’s General Information section, which says:

WILD ANIMALS
In taking a trip to Africa, you acknowledge that it involves risk. Amongst other problems, wild animals can present threats to your safety and your health. These risks are your responsibility. We will do everything we can to ensure that you are well-informed of the risks and, where necessary, have you guided by some of the best guides in the business. You can minimize the risks by following the instructions and advice of your guides, and never walking out on your own. In camps where animals wander freely, make sure that you have a guide to escort you when you walk around the camp. Do not touch any plants, animals or insects, however harmless they seem. Any could be hazardous. Please note that many safari lodges will require you to sign personal indemnity forms, or in some places equivalent indemnities are incorporated by law into the guest register that you sign. If you do not accept such risks, then do not book a trip with us to Africa.

Whilst our travellers are at liberty not to sign such forms … they must accept that there may be a few camps where this will result in them missing out on some activities.

We would always encourage lodges which remind travellers of the inherent risks in any African safari – using a form to read and sign, or briefing of any sort. If a traveller isn’t willing to accept these, then we recommend that they don’t travel with us.

However, we do not encourage lodges to ask travellers to sign disclaimer forms waiving liability for their acts of negligence. There’s simply no point: these are useless!

The good news is that our travellers can rest easy and sign such forms without concern. If any of our travellers tried to claim damages for a (hypothetical) sinking boat, as outlined above, then they would claim directly against Expert Africa, not the camp. So if the (hypothetical) boat driver was guilty of the gross negligence which caused an injury or death from sinking … then no waiver form on the planet would absolve us from liability for this in the British courts!

In the light of this traveller’s comments … we’ll be pointing this out to Sausage Tree camp, so that they can re-consider their form, and their policy.