SA Adventure Motorcycle Tour, Terms and Conditions
The Legal Stuff… Terms and Conditions and Indemnity…
Authority on Tour:
The trip is run by the tour/ride leader, including guest or celebrity leaders when applicable.
The decisions of the tour leader will be final on all matters regarding safety and wellbeing of the participant including the motorcycle riding abilities of the participant and any change in itinerary due to unforeseen circumstances be that due to weather, local conditions, politics or various other reasons. No refund will be considered in the event of any such changes.
The tour leader retains the right to remove a participant from the tour. If the participant fails to comply with the decision made by the tour leader or interferes with the well-being of the group in any material way, the tour leader may order the participant to leave the tour immediately. In those circumstances, the participant will receive no right of a refund. Furthermore, in circumstances where the participant is removed from the tour, SA Adventure accepts no responsibility for the ongoing travel expenses or any other incidental costs incurred by the participant.
Acceptance of Risk:
You acknowledge that the nature of the trip is adventurous, and participation involves a degree of personal risk. You acknowledge your journey will have the usual risks of travel, and the additional risks that are associated with adventure travel and motorcycling. You accept these risks and the possibility of personal injury, death, property damage or loss resulting from your decision to participate in the tour or expedition.
You will be visiting places where the political, cultural and geographical attributes present dangers and physical challenges greater that those present in our daily lives. We use information from foreign government departments and reports from our own contacts in assessing whether the itinerary should operate. However, it is also your own responsibility to acquaint yourself with all relevant travel information and the nature of your itinerary.
Motorcycling can be dangerous and traffic conditions, roads, weather and other conditions in the countries you will be travelling, as well as the actions of other members of the trip can influence those risks.
You acknowledge that your decision to travel is made in light of consideration of this information and you accept that you are aware of the personal risk attendant upon such travel.
Changes to Routes/Schedules:
Every effort is made to adhere to scheduled and planned routes. The SA Adventure reserves the right to occasionally alter the itinerary accordingly, due to changing conditions or to make up any lost time due to any unforeseen circumstances. In the unlikely event of a vehicle breakdown that is beyond anyone’s control and immediate repair, SA Adventure will not be responsible for the cost of any accommodation and will not be liable for any airfares or any other compensation to the client.
What to bring along:
A full list of items will be issued on receipt and confirmation of your reservation. We suggest you travel light. Please pack warm clothes for the winter months of June to September. Further items should include a torch, water bottle, camera, binoculars, suntan lotion, comfortable walking shoes and any prescription medication.
What is not included:
Fuel and oil for your motorcycle, motorcycle hire costs. Border fees, 3rd party insurances, fishing rod hire, personal visas, international flights, visas, departure taxes, airport taxes, sleeping bags, personal and medical insurance, personal expenses, drinks, gratuities, portages, optional excursions, restaurant meals except where specified on non-camping trips, unscheduled game park visits. Your lunch meals and drinks.
Special Dietary Requirements:
Anyone with special dietary requirements is requested to advise us in writing at least one week prior to departure. Every effort will be made to supply the required diet, given that some of the areas travelled through are quite remote and supplies are sometimes scarce.
Medical Aid:
It is strongly advised that you take out your own medical insurance to cover medical, personal and repatriation costs. Please notify your Medical Aid Company of your departure and return date of the tour and the various countries you will be visiting. Please bring your medical aid card or proof of international travel cover on the tour.
Medical Equipment and Supplies:
SA Adventure reserves the right to charge for any medical supplies and/or equipment used from our medical kit that you may need on the tour or expedition. Supplies and equipment used must be paid for before the end of the tour or expedition.
Medical Consent:
In the case that you have been rendered unconscious or incapacitated, you agree to Implied consent to be treated by the tour medic or first aider.
Motorcycle Hire:
We take pride in the quality of our motorcycles and ensure that they are maintained to the highest standards. Our fleet comprises late-model bikes that are carefully selected to provide you with a comfortable and hassle-free riding experience. Each bike undergoes thorough inspections and servicing to ensure that it is in optimal condition before renting it out to you. Furthermore, we equip each bike with a GPS and fit it with new tyres that are specifically chosen to match the terrain of your adventure, these, as well as fully comprehensive insurance are included in the hire cost. You can be confident that you will ride a reliable and safe motorcycle on your adventure.
Please note that motorcycle rental options only include hire for the days of the tour and that a deposit of 20000 South African Rand will be held on your bank card. If you wish to rent your motorcycle for a longer period, please let us know and we can arrange this for you.
If You're Using Your Own Motorcycle:
Your motorcycle must be road legal, insured, licenced up to date, and have the correct number plate fitted. For this tour, it is a requirement to have your vehicle insured. Please send proof of insurance with your indemnity forms. In the event of your vehicle having trouble or breaking down, every effort will be made to get it back on the road again, however, if it is a terminal problem we will make sure you are towed to a place of safety and have contact to a family member, tour funds are non-refundable in this case, we recommend insuring your vehicle through Craig Coward at First for Africa Brokers, who will assist you if something like this should happen!
Fuel and Water:
On the tour, we will be travelling in remote areas where fuel and water are sometimes not always readily available. It is therefore imperative that we are self-sufficient and carry our own; your motorcycle must have a fuel range of at least 250km. If it does not have this range available please let us know.
Motorcycle Repairs:
SA Adventure reserves the right to charge for any mechanical spares and/or equipment used such as tyres, brake and clutch levers etc from our spares kit that you may need on the tour or expedition. Supplies and equipment used must be paid for before the end of the tour or expedition.
Health & Fitness:
You are responsible for ensuring that you are fit and healthy enough to participate in your selected tour or expedition and to disclose any relevant medical conditions when booking. We reserve the right to insist on a medical certificate from your doctor stating that you have a suitable level of health and fitness. You must ensure that you are aware of any health requirements for your travel and ensure that you carry all necessary vaccination documentation. Please check with your local doctor or specialist travel vaccination clinic. You agree that should you be affected by any sickness, serious injury or other unforeseen circumstances SA Adventure, and/or our tour leaders, can arrange any urgent medical treatment or emergency evacuation as deemed necessary for your safety and that you and your travel insurer will bear all such costs.
Cancellation:
In the event that the client should cancel their booking 30 days or more in writing to SA Adventure Tours and Training (PTY) LTD, the client will receive a credit for the amount paid less 20% of the tour fee as a cancellation fee. No refunds will be made for cancellations made within 30 days of the tour commencement date.
Cancellation or postponement by SA Adventure: We may cancel or postpone any tour at any time before departure if:
- The number of clients booked does not meet the minimum requirement to operate the trip. This number is usually 6 people.
- Due to terrorism, natural disasters, political instability, weather or other external events it is not viable for us to operate the planned itinerary or force majeure. A credit will be passed and no refunds will be entertained in these instances. We are not responsible for any incidental expenses that you may have incurred as a result of your booking including, but not limited to, visas, vaccinations, travel insurance excess or non-refundable flights or accommodation.
Drinking and Riding:
Drunk Driving is one of the biggest threats to Road Safety in South Africa. Research indicates that 50% of people who die on the roads have a blood alcohol concentration above 0.05 gram per 100 millilitres. No reckless riding will be tolerated and a strict NO DRINKING & RIDING policy exists. We have an 8 hour bottle to throttle rule! If you are caught drinking and riding you WILL be asked to leave the tour, no exceptions! No refund will be given in this instant.
Privacy:
To be able to supply services to you, SA Adventure will need to collect certain information from you, some of which may be of a personal nature. The information may be disclosed to our service providers to enable the services to be provided but will not be used for any other purpose.
Image, Likeness and Social Media:
You grant SA Adventure the right to take photographs and videos of you in connection to your participation on a tour or expedition. You authorise SA Adventure to copyright, use and publish your image and likeness of yourself and your vehicle in print and/or electronically for marketing purposes. If you do not wish to feature on our website or social media, please disclose this on your indemnity form.
Points to consider to help you prepare for your adventure:
Some off-road riding experience is required for this tour, mainly due to the fact that we do cover significant distance off-road, but nothing is too technical or too difficult on the tour that the SA Adventure support crew won’t be able to coach you through. Pillions can travel in the support vehicle at any time if any dirt or road route becomes too challenging. Although not a requirement, SA Adventure highly recommends taking an off-road training course that gives riders of all levels the tools to tackle off-road riding. We will also teach you new skills and boost your confidence while on tour.
The tour is NOT a race. This is Africa, there are a lot of dangers on the route we will take, mainly livestock and wild animals. Ride within your limits at your own pace. Please remember that everyone’s riding skills are not the same, if you can help your fellow rider with something please do, we are all going to learn something on this tour. Please do not overtake the lead rider, also remember that the support truck will never overtake you, so if you want to stop at any point for a rest or to take a photograph please feel free to do so.
All riders must have a valid motorcycle license.
All motorcycles must be road legal, insured, licenced up to date and have the correct number plate fitted.
Make sure your medical aid is up to date, and that we have your details (on indemnity).
Riding gear:
Riding jacket/pants: We will experience both hot and cold weather on this ride, some rain could be possible, therefore a multi-layer adventure-type jacket and pants are essential. The jacket and pants ideally need to have internal removable liners as the day warms up and have Kevlar crash protection and a waterproof pocket for your documents and a small camera or cell phone. Preferably your jacket/pants should be 100% waterproof or carry a set of waterproofs with you.
Helmet: Your helmet must be full-faced and of a good quality. Ensure you have a spare visor or replace before departing if scratched. Motocross style helmets are generally unsuitable for long-distance rides on very dusty surfaces, as you will experience considerable dust ingress. Internal drop-down tinted visors are great, but not so if you need prescription sunglasses, here a clear visor is recommended.
Boots: Ideally adventure style boots would be the best boot to consider. When choosing a boot, it is essential to choose a boot that offers the most rigid ankle and shin protection possible, ankle injuries are the most common injuries we experience. The correct footwear can save you from turning a simple fall or drop into a trip-ending incident. Please DO NOT try to do this tour wearing takkies (trainers) or safety boots.
Gloves: We recommend the use of both summer and winter gloves, gloves would ideally be waterproof in case of rainy conditions.
Hydration Pack: Please ride with a hydration pack such as a CamelBak every day. It’s very important to stay hydrated, especially on the off-road sections.
Additional items: Buff neck warmer, great for keeping the wind and cold out. Earplugs, great for keeping the noise out. PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO RIDE IN A T-SHIRT, SHORTS OR TAKKIES (trainers) AT ANY POINT ON THE TOUR.
Your Motorcycle:
Your motorcycle will play a very important part on this tour, here are some tips on how to prepare it. Remember that SA Adventure will carry tools and some spares, as well as puncture repair kits, compressor and tyre changing equipment with us in the support truck, but please take note of the following:
Please fit a set of adventure type tyres such as a Bridgestone AX41, Metzeler Karoo 3 or 4 or Michelin Anakee Wild. On-road tyres are for the road, it takes one off-road section of mud to turn them into dangerous slicks. In our experience, people who ride off-road with on-road tyres fitted, end up with a lot of punctures and fall off quite often! We have tyre-changing tools and compressors in the support truck. If you need a good deal on tyres, we have a partnership with Bike Tyre Warehouse, speak to Bruce and tell him you are going on a tour with SA Adventure: 011 205 0216.
Please DO NOT deflate your tyres at any point unless you are asked to by your guides. Deflating your tyres increases the risk of smashing your rims and pinching the sidewalls of your tyres, destroying them in the process.
If your motorcycle has inner-tubes in its tyres, it’s your responsibility to bring at least one spare front and rear innertube with you. These can go in the support truck and the crew will fit them for you if necessary.
If you have a Garmin GPS fitted to your bike, bring it along and we’ll load the tour routes for you and explain a few things about the way we set our GPS’s up. This little piece of kit can really enhance your tour experience. Google Maps is not good enough to be able to navigate this route.
Your luggage can go into the support truck every day so you don’t have to carry it on your bike, however, remember that the truck can be up to an hour behind us at some points, so make sure you have your wallet and essentials on you and take a pair of shorts and t-shirt to change into at the hotel! Also a point to note is that we DO NOT allow hard metal or aluminium pannier boxes into the support truck!
If you have any questions on tyres, spares or GPS’s please get in contact with us so we can advise you.
Accommodation:
Our hotels and lodges on this tour are generally 3 stars, they are chosen for their location, cleanliness, suitability for motorcycle groups and amazing South African atmosphere. On occasions, we spend the night in more basic accommodation, but we always get the very best accommodation that is available in the location. Many of our hotels and lodges have restaurants and bars attached. Accommodation is an important part of your ride experience and after many years touring in Africa and around the world, we believe we offer a superb mix of excellent hotels and lodges. If at any point something is not up to scratch with your room, please tell one of the SA Adventure tours guides as soon as possible so we can rectify it for you. Please remember that South Africa has been in lockdown due to Covid-19 for the past few months. The tourism industry has been heavily hit. Some of the lodges and hotels we are staying at have had to try and cut costs to survive, and are operating on a skeleton staff. Please be mindful of this, a little kindness and patience with the staff can go a long way.
Meals:
The food is as diverse as the country we are riding in. The hotels and lodges we stay in have restaurants attached, except when we are in Nieu-Bethesda. In Nieu-Bethesda, In Nieu Bethesda, we will eat at some of the finest restaurants in town which are within walking distance of your accommodation. The food in our accommodations is nothing short of spectacular, and mostly taking its inspiration from the area we are in. Vegetarian and plant-based diets are well catered for in the accommodations we stay at. If you have any specific dietary requirements, please note it down on your indemnity form so we can let the lodges know in advance so they have time to prepare.
Medical:
Your tour leader is a qualified ILS Paramedic. We have a comprehensive, fully stocked intermediate life support medical kit in the support truck and a first-on-scene lifesaving kit on the tour leader's motorcycle.
If you are on any medication, please remember to bring it with you, don’t leave it at home!
Make sure your medical aid/travel insurance is up to date, and that we have your details. You will fill these out on your indemnity form. You are responsible for ensuring that you are fit and healthy enough to participate in your selected tour or expedition and to disclose any relevant medical conditions to us when booking. If you have any medical issues or feel sick at any point on your tour, please go and talk to the medic immediately.
Tips and guidelines for responsible eco-travel:
Leave all negotiations to the tour leader/guide. In certain situations, it is best to leave all discussions and negotiations to your leader/guide e.g. at borders, ferry crossings etc. Keep away from the discussions unless called, and remain patient and calm – remember, things can be slower and more deliberate in Africa.
Adhere to safety advice:
As in many other countries worldwide, it is best to adhere to the safety advice and precautions as provided in the tour documentation, to make the expedition as pleasant and safe as possible. Avoid wearing expensive jewellery, and obvious displays of cameras and other valuables in towns and markets. In the bush, always be alert whilst looking around - don’t wander too far from the vehicles or camp, particularly after dark.
Keep an open mind:
During the tour, you will meet people from all walks of life, where customs, cultures and value systems may be different from what you are used to. Be open to any differences and embrace the life of another culture.
Respect local cultures, traditions, religions and sacred places
Your tour documentation should cover most things to be aware of, otherwise, ask your guide about acceptable behaviour.
Dress appropriately:
Particularly in towns and cities, and cover your arms and legs when visiting churches and sacred sites.
Ask permission before taking photographs of people or their property:
Remember that we are the visitors. Never insult, degrade or patronise our hosts. We each have a different way of reacting to situations, thinking about things, and even a different concept of time. Be patient, and look for the lighter side in potentially frustrating situations.
Support local communities:
Purchasing locally-made jewellery and curios benefits the local communities, rather than shopping at retail outlets in towns and cities.
Bargain fairly:
In many African cultures, it is acceptable to ‘negotiate’ the price of an item, for example at a local market. However, be aware of the economic realities of the area we're visiting and bargain fairly for goods and services.
Don’t litter:
In areas with no refuse bins, we must keep all rubbish until it can be disposed of in an established campsite or town.
Stickers:
You may have been given a tour sticker as a memento of the tour. Please DO NOT stick them on any road, shop or accommodation sign board.
Sweets and Handouts:
Please DO NOT give any sweets or money to begging children. Please ask one of your guides to explain if you are unsure why.
Conserve water:
On the tour, we will travel to areas where water is a precious resource and in short supply. Safeguard water supplies. Use small amounts of water for cleaning dishes, washing hands, shaving or brushing teeth. When bush-camping (no facilities), try and make do without a shower until we reach our next established campsite.
Respect the environment:
Respect Africa’s pristine natural areas and resources. Don’t damage plants, trees and animal life or their dwellings - as a rule, don’t collect anything from the wild.
Respect others:
Respect the right of others to enjoy the peace and solitude of our natural surroundings by avoiding all forms of unnecessary noise pollution.
Knowledge and awareness:
Your tour leader will usually carry a good selection of informative books pertaining to the fauna and flora of the areas visited, tracks and signs, birds, trees and plants, snakes, scorpions, etc.
WAIVER, INDEMNITY AND LIABILITY:
The Client acknowledges that prices quoted on the customer booking form do not include any items or services not specified.
All vouchers, receipts and tickets issued by the Company to the Client, are issued subject to the supplier’s terms and conditions. Acceptance of the vouchers and/or receipts and/or tickets amounts to an acceptance of the Company's terms and conditions which supersede those of the relevant supplier.
Whilst every precaution is taken to ensure the safety of all persons participating in the tour or travel package, participation in any tour or travel package offered by the Company or any of its suppliers (including but not limited to transportation to or from any venue) is undertaken at the Client’s own risk.
The Company, any of its directors, employees, assignees and/or agents are accordingly indemnified by the Client and/or his/her estate, dependents, agents or their assignees against any claim of any nature whatsoever and howsoever arising for any damages or loss which might be instituted against it arising from or connection with the services contemplated in these Terms and Conditions.
The Client, his/her heirs, dependants, agents, executors or their assignees hereby irrevocably waive any claims which they may have against the Company for any form of compensation for damages which they may suffer due to injury and/or loss of any nature whatsoever, which includes accidents caused by the Client’s own actions, injuries or death while on the tour, in a transportation vehicle or at any place during the tour or illness or death at any time after the tour.
The Company acts solely as an agent for third parties and as such the Company holds themselves free of responsibility or liability for any delays, loss or damages from any cause whatsoever including loss/ delay/ damages/ dissatisfaction caused by third party services. The Company shall be exempt from all liability regarding any claim whatsoever as aforesaid.