This policy explains when and why we collect personal data, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure. We may change this policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you're happy with any changes. By using our websites, you're agreeing to be bound by this policy. Any questions regarding this policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to enquiries@tribes.co.uk, or by writing to Tribes Travel Ltd, 11 Haviland House, 17 Cobham Road, Ferndown, Wimborne BH21 7PE.
Tribes Travel is an independent tour operating company founded in 1998. Our main website is www.tribes.co.uk, and we also run specialist websites: www.botswanaspecialists.co.uk, www.costaricaspecialists.co.uk, www.galapagosspecialists.co.uk, www.peruspecialists.co.uk and www.tanzaniaspecialists.co.uk.
If you book a holiday with us, we collect information from you to fulfil the booking for you. We also collect information from you if you ask us for a quote, request a newsletter, or ask us to answer queries about any travels you're considering with us. The information is most often collected via email forms on our websites, but also through phone calls too if that is how you contact us. We might also get your information if you've requested any of the above via a travel agent or used third-party websites such as Facebook.
We only collect the information we need to fulfil your initial request, or details that you've offered us. This will always include your first and surname, then some way of contacting you, such as your email, telephone number and/or postal address. Once you book a holiday with us we require additional information in order to arrange services for you. This will include details such as: dates of birth, passport details, age, any health or dietary issues, names of those you're travelling with, and so on. All of this information is required for us to properly fulfil your holiday booking and keep in touch with you.
If you've booked a trip with us, the information given to us is used to organise your services, and for us to keep in touch with you before, during and after the holiday. We also then keep in touch with you after your trip, for example through a brochure mailing, and possibly through emails if you give us that permission. In addition, or if you've not yet booked a holiday with us, your details may be used for marketing purposes, ie to send you our brochures, magazines, e-newsletters, adverts (eg on Facebook). You are welcome to have your details removed at any time from the marketing address book. We keep your information for as long as we need it, and no longer, as set out in How long we keep your information below. We do not sell or offer our client list to others.
Staff working directly for Tribes Travel have access to your information. In addition, if you've booked a trip with us, we need to send some of your details to the relevant services (such as your name, passport details and dietary requirements to your chosen hotels). Also, staff of the company who provide our reservation system have access, as does the company we use to manage our physical mailing lists (for example to check whether anyone has moved or died) prior to a postal mailing, plus the company providing our email newsletter system. If we use your details for Facebook adverts, your details will be hashed to protect your email privacy.
Arranging a holiday in Botswana means sending some of your details to the people who will look after you there. Camps, lodges, ground handlers and airlines in Botswana and neighbouring countries will receive what they need, typically your name, the dates you are travelling, and where relevant your passport details, dietary requirements or a health matter you have asked us to pass on.
Some of these countries do not have data protection laws that the UK recognises as equivalent to our own. Where that is the case, we transfer your information because it is necessary to perform the contract we have with you. Put plainly, we cannot book you into a camp without telling the camp who is coming. We send only the minimum each supplier needs, and we do not use overseas suppliers for marketing.
We do not keep personal information for longer than we need it.
You can ask us to delete your information at any time, and we will do so unless we are legally required to keep it.
You have the right to ask for the information we are holding about you, which we will provide to you in an electronic format. You are free to advise us of any changes or corrections needed to that information. After we have taken your details in order to fulfil your request to us, you may ask to be removed from our database, unless you booked a holiday with us. If you booked a holiday with us, we are not able to delete all your details for 7 years in order to comply with regulations. We will however delete passport detail information held. If you wish to unsubscribe from the e-newsletter, you simply need to press 'Unsubscribe' on the email at any time. Your details will be removed from this specific list, which is separate to the address book held by Tribes for other contact purposes. You have the right to request not to be profiled. You have the right to complain to the ICO (Information Commissioner's Office).
The client information held in our reservation system is encrypted. This means that if someone outside of the company somehow got access to a copy of the database it would be unintelligible to them. The 's' at the end of http on our domains stands for secure (eg https://www.tribes.co.uk). This means that all communications between your browser and our websites are encrypted, and therefore any information you pass to us via the forms is secure.
When you visit our websites, we use cookies and similar technologies to: ensure the website functions correctly; analyse how our website is used (analytics); and show you relevant advertising on other platforms. These cookies may collect data about your device (browser, operating system), how you navigate our website, whether you've visited before, and how you found our site. We work with trusted partners (Google, Meta) for analytics and advertising services. Some cookies may share anonymised data for these purposes.
When you first visit our website you are asked to choose. You can Accept all, choose Essential only, or open Manage choices and switch analytics and marketing on or off separately. Nothing optional is switched on before you choose, and choosing Essential only is exactly as easy as accepting. Until you tell us otherwise, analytics and advertising cookies stay off.
We use Google Consent Mode v2, so Google services such as Analytics and Ads are told what you have allowed and behave accordingly. If you do not allow analytics, Google Analytics does not store or read any cookies on your device. If you do not allow marketing, our advertising tags do not store or read cookies and cannot be used to show you our adverts elsewhere.
We remember your choice in a single essential cookie named bsp_consent, set by this website and kept for 182 days, after which we will ask you again. You can change or withdraw your consent at any time using the Cookie choices link at the bottom of every page, or by clearing cookies in your browser.
If you allow marketing cookies and you send us an enquiry, the contact details you give us on the form may also be sent to Google in a scrambled form that cannot be read as your name, email address or phone number. This is called enhanced conversions, and we use it only to understand which of our adverts led to enquiries. It does not happen if you decline marketing cookies.
If you allow marketing cookies, this website uses the Google Ads remarketing service to advertise on third party websites (including Google) to previous visitors to our site. If you do not allow them, this does not happen. It could mean that we advertise to previous visitors who haven't completed a task on our site, for example using the contact form to make an enquiry. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, or a site in the Google Display Network. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on someone's past visits to the Tribes websites. Of course, any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy policy and Google's privacy policy. You can withdraw your consent at any time using the Cookie choices link at the bottom of this page. You can also set preferences for how Google advertises to you on the Google Ads settings page (myadcenter.google.com), or opt out of interest-based advertising entirely through your browser settings or a browser plugin.
This website does not run a Facebook Pixel. Tribes Travel may use Facebook Advertising, Facebook Pixel Re-Marketing, and communications. Your data remains anonymous and Tribes Travel cannot see the personal data of any individual user. However, the collected data is saved and processed by Facebook. Facebook may be able to connect the data with your Facebook account and use the data for their own advertising purposes (in accordance with Facebook's Data Use Policy). Facebook has ultimate control of the information gathered through Facebook Advertising, Facebook Pixel Re-Marketing, and communications. You can opt-out of Facebook's use of cookies and Facebook Pixel Re-Marketing through settings on your Facebook Account.
Our websites may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our websites, so we encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit. We cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of other sites even if you access them using links from our websites. In addition, if you linked to our websites from a third party site, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of the owners and operators of that third party site and recommend that you check the policy of that third party site.
We keep this policy under regular review. This policy was last updated on 15th January 2020.
Email enquiries@tribes.co.uk or call us on 01473 599083 and we will help.
Plan my trip →We use essential cookies to make the site work. We would also like to set analytics cookies, so we can see which pages help people plan a safari, and marketing cookies, so we can measure our advertising. Nothing optional is switched on until you say so. Read our privacy policy.