Terms & Conditions

Reserving Your Place Trip Application Download Payment Schedule Pricing Single Supplements Cancellations and Refunds Cancellation Fee Schedule Transfers Limitation of Liability Trip Members' Responsiblility

*Payment schedules for cruises, private departures, and certain special events vary. These exceptions are clearly indicated in the detailed itineraries printed separately for each of these trips.

Reserving Your Place

You may sign-up online by clicking on the "Reserve this Trip" button available on every trip page. Early reservations are recommended, since group sizes are limited and airlines often sell out their best fares many months in advance. Once you have submitted this reservation request, one of our travel consultants will contact you during our next business day to confirm your arrangements, and to charge the initial $500 per person deposit to your Visa, Mastercard, or American Express credit card. If you prefer, you can email your request to us, or download a blank Trip Application (in PDF format–30K) and send it to us by mail. For immediate confirmation, please feel free to call us at 1-800-368-2794. Our office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30AM to 5:00PM Pacific Time.

Upon receiving your deposit we will send you a confirmation letter, detailed trip itinerary, visa applications (if required), travel insurance application, and
a pre-departure information booklet with clothing and equipment list, suggested reading list, and general information needed to prepare for your trip. Your air tickets (should we be issuing them), rendezvous instructions, and final trip details will be sent about 3 weeks prior to departure.

Payment Schedule

At time of reservation.......................$500
120 days prior to departure................$500
60 days prior to departure..................Balance

*Payment schedules for cruises, private departures, and certain special events vary. These exceptions are clearly indicated in the detailed itineraries printed separately for each of these trips.

Prices are quoted in US dollars and all payments must be made in US dollars whether by check or credit card. All land payments submitted less than 15 days prior to departure must be by credit card or cashier's check. Payment for air tickets is due at the time the tickets are issued. Some special airfares may require payment by check.

In order to offer the lowest possible price, all of our tours are priced according to the number of full-price participants on the trip*. The catalog lists two tier prices for most trips. In many instances, a third tier may exist, generally requiring a 10% price surcharge above the second tier, which allows a trip to run with as few as four participants. For example:
Land Cost: $2595 (13-15 members), $2895 (9-12 members)

* Tier pricing is calculated on the number of full revenue passengers. Wilderness Travel staff, trip physicians, or guests of Wilderness Travel (travel writers, photographers, leaders-in-training) are not included in the tier pricing count.
Prices listed on this website are subject to change because the trip dates and prices have often been published more than a year in advance. Between that time and the time of the trip’s actual departure, we are occasionally faced with exceptional cost increases or currency fluctuations that we cannot absorb. We do everything we can to keep our prices the same as published. Please note that for trips in certain areas of the southern hemisphere such as Patagonia, New Zealand, and Australia, prices are seasonal. In such cases, the prices quoted in this catalog are for Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 only, and are so noted on the catalog trip page and in the detailed itinerary. Prices for Fall 2006 would not normally be available until early 2006.

Accommodations are based on double occupancy. A single supplement is paid by participants who specifically request single accommodations, subject to availability. If you are traveling alone and wish to share accommodations, we will try to match you with a roommate. However, if a roommate is not available, the forced single supplement will be charged which is 50% of the regular single supplement unless otherwise noted in the detailed itinerary.

If it becomes necessary for you to cancel your trip, the following fees will apply, computed as of the date of receipt of written cancellation notice, which can be sent by email, fax, or standard mail.

Cancellation Fee Schedule*
Minimum fee.......................................$0
46-90 days prior to departure..............25% of land cost
45 days or less.................................100% of land cost

* Cancellation and transfer schedules for cruises, WT Expeditions, private departures, and certain special events are often more strict. These exceptions are clearly indicated in the detailed itineraries printed separately for each of these trips.

Rates are based on group participation and no partial refunds will be given for unused trip arrangements for any reason whatsoever. Once you have been confirmed on a trip that requires a medical certificate signed by a doctor, normal cancellation penalties apply if your doctor does not sign the certificate. We highly recommend that all clients purchase trip cancellation insurance.

Wilderness Travel, Inc. reserves the right to cancel any trip prior to departure for any reason whatsoever, including insufficient signup or logistical problems that may impede trip operations. The refund of all land payments received shall release Wilderness Travel, Inc. from any further liability. A trip with insufficient signup would normally be cancelled a minimum of one month prior to departure.

Wilderness Travel, Inc., must normally make substantial payments to its suppliers (hotels, transportation companies, etc.) far in advance of the scheduled embarkation date. If a trip is cancelled due to force majeure (acts of God, war, labor strikes, earthquake, flooding, etc.), Wilderness Travel, Inc., will promptly refund the portion of the trip cost not already advanced to suppliers and use its best efforts to recover and refund the balance as promptly as possible. However, Wilderness Travel, Inc., does not guarantee recovery of any or all of the advance payments made, and our use of best efforts to recover these payments will not include the institution of any legal proceedings in foreign jurisdictions.

Wilderness Travel, Inc., is not responsible for expenses incurred by trip members in preparing for a cancelled trip (e.g., nonrefundable advance purchase air tickets, visa fees, inoculations, equipment, etc.) or for any additional arrangements should the trip member have embarked prior to the scheduled group departure date.

Transfers

You may transfer to another trip without penalty by notifying us of your wish to transfer 91 days or more prior to departure. After that time, you are subject to the cancellation fees outlined above. Special Events, cruises, and private trips are
subject to special terms outlined in the detailed itinerary.

Limitation of Liability

These paragraphs (together with the Release of Liability section of the Application Form) define our responsibility with respect to all our trips. PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.

Payment of your deposit represents your acceptance of the following terms and conditions:
Wilderness Travel, Inc. gives notice that services provided in connection with its itineraries, including transportation, hotel accommodations, restaurants, and other services, are purchased from various independent suppliers who are not affiliated with Wilderness Travel, Inc. in any way. Although we endeavor to choose the best suppliers available, Wilderness Travel, Inc. has no right to control their operations and therefore makes these travel arrangements upon the express condition that Wilderness Travel, Inc., and its own agents and employees, shall not be liable for any delay, mishap, inconvenience, expense, irregularity, bodily injury or death to person, or damage to property occasioned through the conduct or default of any company or individual engaged in providing these services. Each of these passenger conveyance companies, tour companies, hotels, restaurants, etc., is subject to the laws of the state or country where the service is provided.

Wilderness Travel, Inc. shall not be liable for (a) expenses such as additional hotel nights and meals not specified in the individual trip itineraries, but which may be required to get to or from a trip start or end; (b) expenses due to the delay of a trip for any reason (e.g. bad weather, trail conditions, land slides, flooding, sickness, or other contingency for which Wilderness Travel, Inc. cannot make provision; (c) expenses incurred in recovering luggage lost by airlines, belongings left behind on a trip, or in shipping purchases or other goods home from abroad; (d) bodily injury or property damage for any reason, including but not limited to acts of God, weather, quarantines, strikes, civil disturbance, theft, default, changes in government regulations, terrorism, war, or failure of conveyance to arrive or depart as scheduled, etc., over which Wilderness Travel, Inc. has no control. The right is reserved to substitute both trip leaders and hotels from those listed in the catalog, as well as reverse the order of places to be visited and make reasonable changes in the itinerary where deemed advisable for the comfort and well being of the passengers.

Wilderness Travel reserves the right to take photographic or film records of any of our trips, and may use any such records for promotional and/or commercial purposes.

Wilderness Travel reserves the right to decline to accept—or to restrain from further participation—any person it judges to be incapable of meeting the rigors and requirements of participating in the tour activities, or any person whose actions or deportment it judges unsuitable for group travel. A refund based on the cost of any unused land services already paid for is the limit of Wilderness Travel, Inc.’s responsibility in such a case.

California Law requires sellers of travel to maintain a trust account or bond. This business has a trust account. Registration as a seller of travel does not constitute approval by the State of California. CST 1007696-40.

Trip Member's Responsibility

Trip members have the responsibility to select a trip appropriate to their abilities and interests. In order to assist you, we grade each trip with a Trip Rating. We are also happy to discuss the trip with you, as well as provide you with names of past participants who can discuss their experience with you. Trip members are held responsible for being in sufficient good health to undertake the trip. Trip members are responsible for preparing for the trip by studying the itinerary and pre-departure information packets sent by Wilderness Travel, Inc. and for bringing the appropriate clothing and equipment as advised therein.

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