General Conditions
1. Booking
Your registration results in the existence of a contract upon written confirmation from Good Hope Volunteers.
2. Alteration and Cancellation
An alteration fee will be charged for alteration of bookings made before a cancellation fee applies. For alternations received thereafter, the cancellation fee applies. Notice of cancellation before arrival must be given in writing to Good Hope Volunteers.
The cancellation fee is:
- the nonrefundable deposit for cancellations received more than 4 weeks prior to arrival.
- 50% of the total programme fee, for cancellations received 15 days to 4 weeks prior to arrival.
- 100% of the total programme fee for cancellations received 14 days or less prior to arrival.
Cancellation fees for Medical Project and Wildlife Conservation: 27 days or less: 100% of the programme fees.
Cancellation fees for African Cat Sanctuary and Shark Project: 41 days or less: 50%, 14 days or less: 100% of the programme fees.
Cancellation fees for the Surfing Smiles and Rhino Conservation Project: 60 days or more: € 500, 31 to 59 days: 50%, 30 days or less: 100% of the programme fees.
These cancellation fees also apply in the event that a visa is not granted. To avoid cancellation fees, if a visa is required, we strongly recommend that you apply for the visa well in advance. You should apply far enough in advance that the visa is received more than 4 weeks before arrival.
It is your sole responsibility to ensure that all passports and visas are current, valid, obtained on time, have sufficient blank pages, will be valid for six months after return to their home country and that any vaccinations, inoculations, prophylactic (e.g. for malaria) and the like, where required, have been obtained.
Should any services be cancelled that are not on our price list (hotels, flight-tickets, etc.), the cancellation charges of the third party provider will apply.
Good Hope Volunteers accepts no liability whatsoever should you, or any member of your party, travel without a valid passport, visas or necessary vaccinations.
3. Withdrawal
No refund is possible in the event of cancellation after arrival, or of no-show of the participant. No refund is given if the student is asked to leave due to failure to obey the rules, unsatisfactory attendance or performance.
4. Disruption of Services
In the event that it is impossible to continue providing services due to force majeure for a maximum period of 18 months (i.e. natural disasters, pandemics, strikes, wars, riots, or nuclear accidents), volunteers will be offered a voucher for the remaining weeks (valid for 18 months from the end of the period of disruption). In cases of services offered by third party providers, the rules and regulations of the third party provider apply.
5. Insurance
Volunteers are not insured by Good Hope Volunteers against illness, accident, theft or any loss of personal effects. Good Hope Volunteers or its representatives cannot accept responsibility for any accident occurring during, on or off the programme. Medical insurance cover is compulsory and proof must be provided to Good Hope Volunteers before arrival. Travel insurance against loss of personal belongings is strongly recommended as well as against loss of programme fees should the whole or part of the programme, paid in advance, not be attended.
6. Health and Fitness
You are responsible for considering your health prior to the programme and warrant that you are fit and able to participate. It is absolutely essential to inform us of any relevant medical conditions (i.e. diabetes, epilepsy).
Good Hope Volunteers shall in no way except liability for any damages suffered by you, directly or in directly, as a result of one or more medical conditions or shortcomings in respect of your fitness to participate in a particular volunteer program if you failed to disclose information to Good Hope Volunteers pertaining to your fitness or health or misrepresented the states of your fitness or health.
7. Complaints procedure
In case of any problems, no matter how serious or small they are, you are asked to inform the organisation you are volunteering for immediately, in order to give them a chance to rectify the problem. In the event that the problem cannot be solved to your satisfaction, we ask you to inform us about the problem immediately.
8. Confidentiality
Subject to statutory constraints or compliance with an order of court, Good Hope Volunteers shall deal with all Client information of a personal nature on a strictly confidential basis.
Good Hope Volunteers has implemented robust security measures to protect the confidentiality integrity and security of sensitive payment information.
Good Hope Volunteers does not guarantee the absolute security of any information you transmit to us or that is transmitted to you or any other person.
Important notice: the Good Hope Volunteers payment portal provides secure payment information. Under no circumstances will Good Hope Volunteers send you an e-mail notifying you of a change of bank details or other questionable information. It is essential that if you receive suspicious e-mails requesting alternative payment methods, inform Good Hope Volunteers staff immediately and do not act on the instructions of any of these e-mails.
9. Good Hope Volunteers Scope of Mandate, Liability and Indemnity
Good Hope Volunteers provides you (the volunteer) with volunteer services acting as independent intermediaries for volunteer organisations and associated third parties.
Good Hope Volunteers does everything within its capacity to ensure that the volunteer organisations at the travel destination and associated third parties are correctly accredited and that their accommodation and facilities are safe and of an adequate standard.
It is essential to note and acknowledge that the volunteer organisations use their best endeavours within their means to ensure the safety of all volunteers and the structural integrity of their buildings and infrastructure and electronic equipment, however due to their limited budget, the safety standards vary from organisation to organisation and in most cases fall short of the benchmarks set by the first world countries such as USA and Europe.
Good Hope Volunteers is a wholly independent intermediary servicing you by linking you to the appropriate volunteer organisations and associated third parties.
Good Hope Volunteers has no control over these organisations and third parties’ day-to-day management. Good Hope Volunteers accepts no liability for any loss, damage, injury, illness, harm or death which you may suffer as a result of any act or omission on the part of or the failure of any of the volunteer organisations and associated third parties to fulfil their obligations, whether in relation to travel arrangements, accommodation or otherwise unless, in the case of injury or death, it is due to the negligent act or omission of the Good Hope Volunteers.
10. Strict Compliance with Host Organisation Rules
By completing our application form you agree that that you will strictly comply with all the house rules, regulations and ad hoc instructions from the relevant hosts in relation to volunteer work performed, safety precautions, stipulated by Good Hope Volunteers and the relevant volunteer organization.
These rules are there for your protection and to ensure that you are safe and that local inhabitants are not of- fended or injured value conduct.
Failure to comply with any of these rules shall constitute a material breach of this agreement.
By completing the application form you acknowledge that you have carefully read the safety advice in relation to malaria and related tropical diseases; swimming in rivers and oceans; protecting your belongings; crime and dangers associated with structural integrity of buildings and related infrastructure as pointed out in the project description.
Good Hope Volunteers cannot, under any circumstances, be held liable for any loss or damage or injury suffered by you (the volunteer) caused by your recklessness, disobedience of rules prescribed by Good Hope Volunteers or any volunteer organisation whether they be ad hoc or stipulated in writing or by any action which constitutes failure to observe the safety advice provided.
Good Hope Volunteers cannot be responsible for your independent activities which do not fall directly within the volunteer program or by circumstances not linked to the provision of the services provided for in this agreement, by fortuitous events, by force majeure, or by circumstances that Good Hope Volunteers could not, in accordance with professional diligence, reasonably foresee or resolve.
11. Renovations
Please be aware that the various volunteer organisations are required to undertake building projects and renovations from time to time.
Good Hope Volunteers does everything possible to ensure that it is updated with respect to such projects and to notify you in advance, however some repairs or renovations are conducted without any notice due to inadequate planning or necessity on the part of the organisation and making it impossible for Good Hope Volunteers to notify you.
Good Hope Volunteers will not entertain complaints or requests for refunds submitted purporting to be as a result of renovations.
12. Place of Jurisdiction
Graserkrat Studies CC, a South African Close Corporation with address at 11 Mariendahl Close Newlands, Western Cape, trading as Good Hope Volunteers is the company facilitating the volunteer services.
The contract between you and Good Hope Volunteers shall be concluded in the Republic of South Africa. The bulk of commercial interaction between Good Hope Volunteers and you (the volunteer) shall take place within the Republic of South Africa.
The laws of the Republic of South Africa are exclusively applicable to all transactions between Good Hope Volunteers and you (the volunteer).
Please note: it is an essential and material term of this agreement that by completing the enrolment you (the volunteer) unequivocally agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Western Cape division of the High Court of the Republic of South Africa for the purpose of adjudicating any dispute between you and Good Hope Volunteers and consent to the law of the Republic of South Africa being exclusively applicable.
13. Social Media Indemnity
I acknowledge that Good Hope Volunteers is allowed to use for free and at its sole discretion any images and or videos taken during my stay, visit and activities for promotional purposes, such as, but not limited to, use on the website, agents’ websites, in press releases and on social media sites.
14. Legal Fees
If that Good Hope Volunteers succeeds in any litigation against you, you will be liable to reimburse Good Hope Volunteers for all legal fees on the scale as between attorney and client.
