Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting the privacy and personal information of visitors to the BestSafari.africa website, safari guests, prospective guests, clients, suppliers and other persons with whom we interact.

This Privacy Policy explains how Peart Projects (Pty) Ltd t/a BestSafari.africa processes personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA), the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2 of 2000 (PAIA), and other applicable South African laws.

In this Policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to BestSafari.africa. “You” refers to a website visitor, safari guest, prospective guest, client, supplier, service provider or other person whose personal information we process.

BestSafari.africa provides a travel agent and booking service for safari guests. We help guests identify, compare, enquire about and book safari experiences with third-party safari lodges, operators, camps, transfer providers and related travel suppliers.

We do not own, operate or manage safari lodges, camps or reserves. When we share information with a lodge, operator or other travel supplier, we do so only to the extent reasonably necessary to respond to your enquiry, prepare a quotation, manage a booking, provide guest support, or comply with legal and contractual obligations.

Our Information Officer is responsible for assisting with privacy enquiries, requests to access or correct personal information, and PAIA/POPIA related requests. Our Information Officer can be contacted at info@bestsafari.africa.

Information Officer: A. Arthur-Gegg

Depending on your interaction with us, we may process the following categories of personal information:

• Identity and contact details: name, email address and phone number.
• Enquiry and travel-preference details you submit through our quiz or enquiry forms.
• Booking and itinerary information relating to your safari arrangements.
• Special information relevant to travel, where you provide it: dietary restrictions, allergies, mobility or accessibility needs, medical considerations relevant to travel, passport details, and details of children in a travel party.
• Payment, billing and transaction information, including invoices and refunds.
• Correspondence and communications between you and us.
• Marketing preferences and records of consent.
• Technical and usage information collected via our website, such as cookies, analytics data, IP address and device information.

We process personal information only where we have a lawful basis and a legitimate business or legal purpose. Our purposes include:

• responding to safari enquiries and providing travel advice, quotes and proposed itineraries;
• operating our safari-matching, travel-agent and booking services;
• creating, managing, changing or cancelling safari bookings and related travel arrangements;
• communicating with you before, during and after travel;
• sharing booking-relevant information with third-party lodges, camps, operators, transfer providers, destination management companies and other suppliers;
• processing payments, refunds, invoices, accounting records and tax records;
• maintaining website security, fraud prevention, record-keeping and business administration;
• improving our website, marketing, guest experience, analytics and service quality;
• sending newsletters or marketing communications where permitted by law or with your consent, and allowing you to opt out;
• obtaining professional advice, managing risk, enforcing rights and handling complaints or legal claims;
• complying with legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, PAIA and POPIA obligations.

Where required, we will ask for your consent. Where consent is not required, we may process information because it is necessary to perform a contract with you, take pre-contractual steps at your request, comply with a legal obligation, protect a legitimate interest, or protect your or another person’s vital interests.

Safari travel may require information that could be sensitive, such as dietary restrictions, allergies, mobility or accessibility needs, medical considerations relevant to travel, passport details, and details of children in a travel party. We will process this information only where necessary for your travel arrangements, where you have provided it to us or authorised us to use it, where a supplier reasonably requires it, or where the law allows or requires us to process it.

If you provide personal information about another person, including a spouse, partner, child, family member or other guest in your travel party, you confirm that you are authorised to provide that information and that the person understands that we will process it in line with this Policy.

We may disclose personal information to the following recipients or categories of recipients, where reasonably necessary and proportionate:

• safari lodges, camps, reserves, operators, guides, transfer providers, airlines, destination management companies and other travel suppliers involved in your enquiry or booking;
• payment processors, banks, accounting providers and fraud-prevention providers;
• website, cloud-hosting, analytics, CRM, email, communications, cybersecurity, backup and IT service providers;
• professional advisers, auditors, insurers, legal advisers and risk-management providers;
• public authorities, regulators, law-enforcement bodies, SARS, courts or other bodies where required or permitted by law;
• a purchaser, investor or successor in title if our business or assets are restructured, merged or sold, subject to appropriate confidentiality safeguards.

We require operators and service providers that process personal information for us to treat that information confidentially and to apply appropriate security safeguards. Third-party travel suppliers may also process information as independent responsible parties under their own privacy policies and legal obligations.

Because safari travel and related services may involve suppliers, systems and service providers in South Africa and other countries, your personal information may be transferred to or accessed from outside South Africa. For example, a lodge, safari operator, transfer provider, cloud-hosting provider, CRM, analytics provider or email service may be located outside South Africa or may store information outside South Africa.

Where we transfer personal information outside South Africa, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipient is subject to a law, binding corporate rules, agreement or other safeguards that provide an adequate level of protection, as contemplated by POPIA, or that another lawful basis for the transfer applies.

We take reasonable, appropriate and proportionate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. These measures may include:

• access controls, password management and role-based access to business systems;
• secure website hosting, backups, logging and monitoring where appropriate;
• reasonable cybersecurity tools such as anti-malware, software updates and system-hardening measures;
• confidentiality obligations for staff, contractors and service providers;
• limiting collection, use and disclosure to what is needed for the relevant purpose;
• incident response processes for suspected or actual security compromises.

No website, email or electronic system is completely secure. If we become aware of a security compromise involving personal information, we will assess the matter and notify affected data subjects and/or the Information Regulator where POPIA requires us to do so.

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or further processed, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law, contract, tax, accounting, regulatory, dispute-resolution or legitimate business requirements.

The retention period may depend on the nature of the information, whether a booking was made, whether there are ongoing client or supplier relationships, whether payment or tax records must be retained, and whether the information may be needed for legal claims, complaints, audits or regulatory purposes. When information is no longer required, we will delete, de-identify or securely archive it where reasonably practicable.

We may send you service communications relating to enquiries, quotes, bookings, payments, itinerary changes, guest support, safety or operational matters.

We may also send marketing communications, newsletters or safari-related updates where you have consented, where you are an existing client and the law permits this, or where another lawful basis applies. You may opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe mechanism provided, replying to the communication, or contacting us at info@bestsafari.africa. Opting out of marketing does not stop necessary service or booking communications.

Our website may use cookies, pixels, tags, analytics tools and similar technologies to operate the website, remember preferences, improve performance, measure usage and support marketing or advertising activities.

Cookies may be session cookies or persistent cookies. You can usually disable or delete cookies through your browser settings. Blocking cookies may affect website functionality. Where required by law, we will request your consent before using non-essential cookies or similar technologies.

We use the Meta Pixel, a tracking technology provided by Meta (Facebook), to measure the effectiveness of our advertising and understand how visitors interact with our quiz. The Meta Pixel only loads after you accept cookies via the banner shown on your first visit; if you decline, it does not load and no data is shared with Meta. You can change your mind at any time via cookie settings, which re-shows that banner.

We use PostHog, an EU-hosted analytics service, to understand how our website is used. Until you accept cookies via the banner, PostHog runs in a cookie-free mode: nothing is stored on your device, activity is not linked across visits, and no session recordings are made. If you accept, PostHog may store identifiers on your device and record how you interact with the site to help us improve it; anything you type into forms is always masked and never recorded. If you later withdraw your consent via cookie settings, the stored identifiers are deleted and PostHog returns to cookie-free mode.

Subject to POPIA and other applicable laws, you may have the right to:

• ask whether we hold personal information about you;
• request access to your personal information;
• request correction, update or deletion of inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out-of-date, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained information;
• object to the processing of personal information in certain circumstances;
• withdraw consent where processing is based on consent, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal;
• object to direct marketing;
• submit a complaint to the Information Regulator.

To exercise a privacy right, please contact our Information Officer using the details in section 3. We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request. Some rights may be limited where we are required or permitted to retain or process information by law, contract or legitimate business interests.

Requests for access to records under PAIA should be directed in writing to our Information Officer. The PAIA Manual may also be inspected at our offices during normal business hours. Where a person requests a hard copy or other reproduction, BestSafari.africa may charge the prescribed reproduction fee permitted by law.

Where a request relates to access to, correction of, or deletion of a data subject’s personal information, BestSafari.africa may require adequate proof of identity and sufficient information to verify the requester’s authority before processing the request.

Our PAIA Manual explains the categories of records we hold, the process for requesting access, and how the Information Regulator’s PAIA Guide may be obtained.

If you have a privacy concern, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve it. You may contact our Information Officer at info@bestsafari.africa.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa). At the date of this Policy, the Regulator provides the following channels:

• General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
• POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
• PAIA complaints: PAIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
• Telephone: 010 023 5200; Toll-free: 0800 017 160

We may update this Policy from time to time by publishing a revised version on our website or otherwise making it available. The latest version will apply from the date stated at the top of the Policy. Material changes may be brought to your attention by email, website notice or other reasonable means.

Peart Projects (Pty) Ltd t/a BestSafari.africa

Email: info@bestsafari.africa

Reg No: 2024/591656/07

44 Constantia Road, Wynberg, Cape Town, 7800, South Africa