Cancellation and Refund Policy

A trip to Tanzania, whether it is Kilimanjaro or a safari through the parks, takes months to plan and significant investment to make. We understand that life sometimes intervenes: an illness, a family emergency, a flight cancelled by something outside anyone's control. When that happens, our first instinct is not to reach for a policy. It is to pick up the phone and find out what we can do for you.

This page explains how cancellations and refunds work at Altezza, what we can almost always make right, and where we have to work alongside partners who set their own rules.

What we believe

Empathy is not a marketing slogan for us. It is how we run the company. When you reach out about a change in plans, you are talking to people, not to a refund department. Most situations have more than one possible answer, and we look for the one that protects you best.

That said, no one is alone in delivering your trip. Park authorities, hotel partners, airlines, food suppliers, the team that has already been working on your itinerary, all of them have already been paid, in many cases weeks before your arrival. We are honest about what we can recover and what we cannot.

Kilimanjaro climbs

Kilimanjaro is where we have the most control over your trip, and where we can be most flexible.

Most of what you pay for a Kilimanjaro climb stays inside our operation: our guides, our porters, our equipment, our hotels in Moshi (Aishi Machame and Brubru Lodge), our food sourcing. If you need to cancel or postpone, we will almost always find a way to work with you.

A few specifics:

• Your initial deposit (USD 100) is non-refundable, but never expires. It can be moved to any future expedition you choose, with no time limit.
• Park fees are refundable up to one day before your expedition starts. Altezza pays these to the Tanzania National Parks Authority on your behalf, and we coordinate the refund directly.
• Aishi Machame and Brubru Lodge cancellations are flexible. Even with notice as short as the day before, we refund accommodation costs in full at our own properties. These are our hotels, and we set our own rules.
• Postponing rather than cancelling is almost always the better option. Your money does not expire with us. If you need to reschedule, we will hold your full payment as credit toward any future trip, with no time limit.

For changes outside these standard terms, we look at the situation case by case. Family emergency, illness, unforeseen circumstances, talk to us. We have refunded climbers in full in genuine emergencies, and we will do so again when the situation calls for it.

Safaris

Safaris are different, and we want to be honest about why.

A safari is built around the lodges and camps where you stay. Accommodation is one of the largest parts of the total cost, and almost all of it goes to partner properties that we do not own. Each one has its own cancellation policy, and they range widely:

• Some partners allow free postponement to future dates with no penalty. We will always check this for you first, because it is the most common way to recover the cost of an interrupted trip.
• Most properties have tiered cancellation schedules that become stricter as your arrival date approaches. The general pattern across the industry: around 10% more than 90 days out, around 30% between 60 and 90 days, around 60% between 30 and 60 days, around 80% between 8 and 30 days, and full charge in the final week. We do our best to negotiate with partners on your behalf, and our long-standing relationships often help.
• Higher-category and 5-star properties are typically the strictest. This is the trade-off for the quality and exclusivity of those camps. The more sought-after the lodge, the harder it is to release a confirmed booking.
• Internal flights are often non-refundable. Light aircraft service to remote parks operates on tight margins, and most carriers do not refund cancelled tickets, even with significant notice.
• Park fees, again, are refundable up to one day before the safari starts.

When you cancel, we go through every line of your booking with the partners involved and work out the maximum we can recover. Whatever comes back, we pass on to you, minus any bank fees.

Postponing instead of cancelling

If something goes wrong with your dates rather than your plans, postpone. It almost always works out better than cancelling.

For Kilimanjaro, postponements are essentially free on our end. Your full payment stays as credit toward future expeditions, and you choose the new dates whenever you are ready. (One note: park fees and other costs can rise over time, so if Tanzania National Parks Authority raises fees before your new dates, we will pass on that difference.)

For safaris, we contact every partner the moment we hear from you. Many lodges allow no-penalty deferral, especially outside peak season. We have very high success in getting bookings moved without fees when we ask early.

Travel insurance

We strongly recommend it. Tanzania travel involves several things that are genuinely unpredictable: international flight cancellations, illness or injury before departure, evacuation needs once you arrive. A good policy covers all of these and can recover costs that even Altezza cannot refund, like non-refundable accommodation or internal flights.

We provide all the documentation you need to file a claim. If you are choosing a policy, look for trip cancellation, medical evacuation, and high-altitude coverage if you are climbing.

How to reach us about a change

The fastest way is WhatsApp or email to your travel consultant. We aim to respond within 24 hours, often much faster. Some answers depend on lodges and airlines getting back to us, and their timing varies with weekends, public holidays, and time zones, so the most complex requests sometimes take a little longer. Whatever the case, your travel consultant will stay with you through every step until the situation is resolved.

There is no automated form to fill out, and there are no scripts. You will be talking to the same team that helped you plan the trip.

May the odds never bring you back to this page. We hope the only thing you take home from Altezza is the feeling that you saw something rare, and that someone good was looking after you while you did.