Essential Travel Information
Great care has been taken to keep our information up to date, but legislation, entry and health requirements change constantly, and we recommend you always reconfirm travel requirements when you book your trip.
Great care has been taken to keep our information up to date, but legislation, entry and health requirements change constantly, and we recommend you always reconfirm travel requirements when you book your trip.
We will require a copy of all travelling passengers’ passports to book and confirm flights.
All booking confirmations are to be communicated via e-mail.
(We deal with very small and exclusive properties in high demand, and they apply their cancellation policies very strictly)
It is very important that you are aware of our payment and cancellation policy, which comes into force as soon as a booking is made definite.
Standard Journey Beyond Payment terms:
(All properties have their own sets of booking and cancellation terms and conditions. These will be shared in your quotation.)
Standard Journey Beyond Cancellation terms
Cancellation charges will be levied when travellers cancel their confirmed reservations as follows:
Cancellations made within the following number of days before travel date will be charged cancellation fees expressed hereunder as a percentage of the total booking value, and are as follows:
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: We contract services and accommodation of third parties who have their own payment and cancellation policies. These policies may differ from ours and must be adhered to. All parties will require a partial or full payment upfront to confirm a booking. On cancellation, this larger deposit may therefore be forfeited as per the third party’s cancellation policy.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: We contract services and accommodation of third parties who have their own payment and cancellation policies. These policies may differ from ours and must be adhered to. All parties will require a partial or full payment upfront to confirm a booking. On cancellation, this larger deposit may therefore be forfeited as per the third party’s cancellation policy.
Please note that Peak Season and Festive Season cancellation policies are stricter.
Cancellation charges will be levied as follows:
For OUT OF SEASON BOOKINGS
For PEAK SEASON AND FESTIVE SEASON CANCELLATION POLICIES
Payment can be made by electronic transfer directly into our account or by credit card. Journey Beyond accepts all major credit cards i.e., Master Card, Visa and American Express. For credit card payments we will send a link. If you choose to pay by credit card, Journey Beyond will have to convert the USD/EUR payment into South African Rand at the bank selling rate of exchange on the day payment is processed. This is a requirement of South African foreign exchange regulations. Credit card payments may incur a card fee which your travel designer will share with you.
Please note visitors travelling to Africa must have a MINIMUM of two blank/empty (non-endorsement) VISA pages in their passport per each country visited. Passports must be valid for six months after intended departure. Temporary and extended validity passports will not be allowed for entering South Africa. Foreign passport holders who do not comply with these requirements will either be stopped from boarding the aircraft at point of departure or risk deportation on arrival in Africa.
Please check travel visa requirements as Journey Beyond, its staff nor its partners cannot be held responsible should the necessary visa requirements not be fulfilled. Border officials may not be able to issue visas on the spot, hence the need for obtaining visas in advance. Both the cost, currency, accepted method of payment and type of visa i.e., single, double, or multiple entry visa should be checked in advance to avoid any inconveniences and delays for when entering countries or crossing borders. Passports should be valid for at least six months after completion of travel.
Selected border posts can issue visas on arrival, but this must be re-confirmed via an Embassy before travel. Should you choose to apply for the visa at the airport, you need to ensure that you carry enough cash and in smaller denominations as there are often no credit card facilities available. Visitor’s crossing over by road should obtain visas before travelling as the border posts are very small and they rarely issue visas. Please ensure you have outgoing travel documents and sufficient funds to finance your stay. Neither Journey Beyond, nor any of its agents, can be held responsible for any errors in this regard.
Malaria
Guests going on safari in Africa, are likely to enter a malaria area. Should you wish to go on safari to non-malaria areas, please request/specify this very clearly. Precautions against malaria will need to be taken prior to the commencement of your safari. We recommend that you contact a doctor or local travel clinic for advice as to which prophylactic is recommended, as there are several different brands available.
Yellow Fever
All travellers from or through the countries which have been declared yellow fever infected areas must provide an international health certificate of vaccination for yellow fever upon arrival. In-transit passengers, irrespective of the time in-transit, will also require proof of Yellow Fever vaccination. Please take note that a Yellow Fever Vaccination needs to be done a minimum of 10 days prior to travelling. Travellers will not be allowed to get the vaccination on arrival. PLEASE NOTE, yellow fever certificates no longer expire even if yours has an expiry date. It is highly recommended that when travelling in Africa, you have this certificate at hand.
Yellow fever-declared countries are:
Africa
Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, Uganda.
South America & Central America
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela.
Please note Websites may from time to time not be updated or down. Please also refer to local government embassies for up-to-date information.
Certain countries in Africa require that you travel with an unabridged birth certificate and other documentation when you are travelling with children under the age of 18.
An Unabridged Birth Certificate is a birth certificate containing information on both biological parents and legal guardians. Certificates must be in English. If they are not in English, they need to be translated into English and certified by a Commissioner of Oaths/Notary.
IMPORTANT TO KNOW that even if you transit through South Africa, you will be requested to supply these documents for your onward connections.
BOTSWANA: Requirements for Minors Entering Botswana
NAMIBIA: Requirements for Minors Entering Namibia
It is a requirement, when travelling with Journey Beyond, to take out comprehensive travel insurance. In addition to the insurances, and because of being a Bonded Member of SATSA, JB has Liability Insurance, however, it is a condition of booking that the traveller has comprehensive travel and medical insurance to cover themselves and any travelling dependents/companions for the duration of their trip. This insurance should include cover in respect of, but not limited to, the following exposures:
Journey Beyond, including its representatives, employees and agents will take no responsibility for any costs or losses incurred or suffered by the traveller, traveller’s dependents or travelling companions, with regards to, but not limited to, any of the above mentioned eventualities. Should the traveller not be carrying the relevant insurance cover, they will be charged directly by the relevant service providers for any emergency services they require or find themselves in a position unable to access such services.
Airlines: Domestic & Regional requirements
For domestic airlines, the recommended check-in time is 90 minutes prior to departure.
For international/Regional flights the recommended check-in is three hours prior to departure. This is very important as late check-in may result in a reservation being cancelled. Passengers may only carry liquids, aerosols, and gels (LAGs) in their hand luggage in containers that have a maximum capacity of 100 millilitres each. They may carry several containers with liquid contents which must be packed in a re-sealable, transparent plastic bag – a maximum one bag per passenger with a total capacity not exceeding one litre. It must be possible to open and re-seal their plastic bag as they will need to remove it from their hand luggage and present it to security personnel for inspection. Baby formula and food, as well as medication, carried on-board need not be in their LAGs bag, but they must remember to show them to security. If carrying medication, they may need to produce their prescription.
PLEASE DO NOT include the following items in checked baggage, fragile items, money, jewellery, precious metals, negotiable documents, cameras, Laptop’s, mobile phones, and chronic medication. Should these go missing out of checked-in luggage the airline will not assume liability and passengers will be advised to claim against their personal insurance
Airlines: Baggage out of OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg:
To increase operational efficiency and on-time performance for luggage processing, O.R. Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg, South Africa) has embarked on an awareness campaign to enable departing passengers to comply with acceptable baggage restrictions.
Round bags, bags with long hanging straps and those without flat surfaces are the largest sources of jams in the baggage handling system, causing shutdowns, delays and inconvenience to passengers and airlines.
ACCEPTABLE BAGGAGE RULES
TO COMPLY WITH BAGGAGE RULES
HAND LUGGAGE RESTRICTIONS AT SOUTH AFRICAN AIRPORTS
CARRY-ON BAGGAGE RESTRICTIONS
No bag should exceed these dimensions:
AIRPORT RANDOM INSPECTIONS
If you are travelling in a light aircraft during your Safari PLEASE READ
The maximum baggage allowance on the light aircraft utilized for transfers between game lodges is 20kg (44lbs) per person in a soft-sided bag. This includes photographic equipment and hand luggage. Only soft-sided bags will be accepted. Soft bags with a rigid structure at the base (including wheels and/or a collapsible handle) will be accepted if the basic dimensions are similar to that of the bag.
To comply with baggage restrictions in South Africa, bags must be a regular shape, have at least one flat surface and long, hanging straps must be removed or secured.
The maximum dimensions of the soft bags which can be accommodated are as follows:
To be checked in:
Should you require a bag, we do have a supply of soft canvas-all bags at a reasonable cost. Please note that the baggage compartments on light aircraft are only 30 cm (11.8 in) high, so pilots must be able to manipulate the bag into the compartment. If you need to bring additional luggage (not included in the weight restriction), an extra seat can be purchased. Excess luggage needs to be in soft bags as per the above dimensions as well.
Please inform us in advance if your clients personal body weight exceeds 100kg (220 lbs), as an extra seat must be purchased for safety and comfort. The per person male passenger weight is 100 kg (220 lbs), the female passenger weight is 80 kg (176 lbs) and the child (age 2 – 12 years) is 35 kg (77 lbs).
Your travel designer will also alert you to luggage restrictions in your Journey proposal.
In many African countries, a drone permit, as well as approval to operate the drone from the local Aviation Authority, is required for recreational drone use.
The use of drones or camera drones are strictly prohibited in the following areas:
Service staff in Africa depends on tips as part of their livelihood. However, we recommend that tipping be based on the quality of service provided. Always bearing in mind that all tipping is for good & exceptional service and NOT compulsory.
As a guideline we recommend the below.
In City Hotels
On Safari