Privacy Policy

Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd Tanzania take its data protection and privacy responsibilities seriously.

Please read the following privacy policy (Privacy Policy) to understand how we use and protect the personal information you provide to us, or we receive and collect when you use our services, including how we collect it, and what we do with it, as well as some of the steps we take to safeguard your personal information.  We hope that this will help you make an informed decision about sharing personal information with us.  

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time to keep it up to date with legal requirements and the way we operate our business. You are responsible for reviewing this Privacy Policy periodically and informing yourself of any changes to this Privacy Policy. We suggest that you check back regularly to review any changes. If we make significant changes to this Privacy Policy, we will seek to inform you by notice on our website or email.

Who is Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd?

We are Astro Safari and Tours Ltd, a Tanzania Safari corporation that provides travel services which is personally designed and professionally guided by Tanzania’s finest and highly trained professional safari guides who provide you with interpretive safari to enlighten your wilderness experience. We are safari outfitters specializing in excellent custom safaris in Tanzania.

For the purposes of relevant data protection laws (including each of the Tanzania General Data Protection Regulation, the Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd entity with whom you contract will be the primary controller of your personal data (for example, if you are a visitor to our website and sign up to purchase one of our safaris, the Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd entity operating the relevant website or safari.

This is Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd principal external facing privacy notice, and applies to all persons whose personal information is processed by Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd (save for Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd employees).  As well as applying to our interactions with all of our customers, this Privacy Policy also applies to all information collected over this website www.astrosafaris.com.

What Information do we collect about you?

Making an Enquiry or Booking a Safari, We will collect certain information from you when you make an enquiry or book a holiday safari with us. Depending on your interaction with us and what products and services you use, typically we collect the following personal information:

your full name, date of birth, gender (i.e. male/female/other), title, postal address, phone number, email address, next of kin, dietary requirements, height and weight, travel insurance details, passport details (including nationality and city of birth), passport scan, visa application, visa page scan;

we may also ask for medical / health information, such as pre-existing medical conditions, vaccination status, if you have a disability, medication that requires refrigeration, food allergies etc., some of which is considered sensitive information or special category data under relevant data protection laws; and any additional information you provide during the booking process to check if a safari is right for you, which may include personal information. We also process and store records of the products and services you have enquired about or purchased from us, as well as collect and process information relevant to your booking

If Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd is offering visa support or assisting you with applying for a visa in Tanzania, you may be asked to provide additional information, including for example, your occupation, your father’s personal information, marital status, your spouse’s personal information, your children’s personal information, employment and education history and social media tags. If you are providing us with the personal information of another person, you must ensure that you inform these persons of the information that you intend to provide to us, and that those you represent are aware of the content of our Privacy Policy and consent to your acting on their behalf.

We also collect your technical identity data (including IP addresses, browser type and versions, other technology on the device that you use to access our websites, some of which is collected automatically), as well as information about your usage of our websites as you and others browse our websites (see our separate “Cookies” policy for more information).

Travel providers (e.g. accommodation, hotel, transport and may also share personal information about you with Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd, for example, to ensure fulfillment of your travel reservation, if you have support questions about a tour or trip booked, or if any complaints or disputes arising about your reservation.

Financial Information

We also integrate with third party service providers (such as  Worldrimit) and payment gateways (such as Stripe) to facilitate payments between you and Us. These service providers share payment information so we can administer and handle your travel services reservation or tour. All of our third-party payments providers are required to be PCI DSS compliant and process all payments on our behalf.

In the majority of cases, to make a payment via credit card for your tour / travel services, you will use the secure online booking engine on our website or platform that you are using or you will call you’re Astro Safaris and Tour booking officer directly. We ask that you do not email or send in writing your payment card details to us.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third party vendors and providers, including payment providers, so you should review any privacy policy of third party vendor or providers to satisfy yourself as to how they protect and handle your personal information.

With your consent also, any calls with us, if any, may be recorded, and/or monitored for quality control, coaching and/or training and customer service purposes that assist in addressing your inquiries.  As part of the recording, we may collect information such as the identity of the caller, the date and time of the call and the subject and resolution of the issue. For clarity, any financial information that may be provided during a telephone call is not recorded or logged by Astro safaris and Tour Ltd.

Photo and Video

When you are making safari with us on a tour or branded trip, as part of your experience a photo or video may be taken either by the Astro safaris leader, an employee of Astro Safaris and Tour Ltd. We care about your privacy so if you do not wish for your photograph to be taken at any time, or to be included in any video, please let your tour guide or the photographer know. Any photos taken by Astro Safaris staff will not be used for marketing purposes without your prior knowledge. Whilst we take every precaution to protect your privacy, we are not responsible for passengers who may take your photograph or video you without our knowledge.

On some occasions, we may engage professional photographers to take and obtain photos to use in our marketing materials. We ensure that all of our customers are notified prior to travelling on our safari if a professional photographer is being engaged and you have the right to say no or opt-out of being included in any photos being taken for these purposes, including any subsequent content or images use.

Marketing and Other Interactions

We collect the following personal information from you for marketing purposes (as more fully described below):

• when you subscribe to the newsletter, we will collect your full name, country and email address
• via our preference centre, we will collect your phone number, date of birth, postcode/zip code, residential state and your travel preferences
• if you request a brochure, we will collect your full name and postal address
• if you enter a competition directly with Astro Safaris, or click through on an Astro Safaris advertisement, we may collect your full name, country, zip code, email address and phone number, as well as your travel preferences.
• when you click on an Intrepid advertisement via a third party, some of this information may pre-populate from an account you may have with that third party.

Research

We may contact you to seek your interest in taking part in research projects, surveys feedbacks and interviews. This may include contacting you with a post-booking or post-trip feedback survey and asking to provide a score and comment on your experience.

As part of this contact, we may collect your full name, email address, booking number and departure code. You will be asked to provide a score and comment on your safari experience.  This information will be linked to any comments you make about your Safari.

Where you have provided the relevant details, we may also contact you in response to your feedback to discuss your comments.

Job Applicants

If you apply for a job with us, we will collect your CV details and supporting documents which include personal information. We will also request you fill in a form and will ask for your personal information, where necessary, such as your full name, contact details, home address, date of birth, sex, ethnicity (optional), accessibility requirements and details in relation to your passport and immigration information.

Making an Enquiry or Booking a Safari

We use your personal information to arrange and provide you with the products and services you have requested and booked. This includes booking any flights, transportation, accommodation and activities. The following will provide more insight into these purposes:

Your personal information will be used by our group leaders to identify you and ensure your safety during the safari.

 Your contact details will be collected in order to manage our relationship with you, including updates about your booking, providing relevant information and any applicable tickets, handling feedback and complaints, and to contact you in the event of an emergency.

Providing relevant information, which may include sensitive information, to insurance providers, their agents and medical staff in circumstances where we/they need to act on your behalf or in the interest of passengers or in an emergency.

Where permitted by law, where it is in your vital interest or you provide your consent to do so, your medical/health information may be shared to ensure that we understand any specific needs you may have, before and during your trip. Any pre-existing medical conditions could impact your enjoyment of the trip, and by informing us of any conditions, issues or limitations, we can ensure that Astro Safaris and Tours Ltd is better prepared to assist if required.

Other than where it is in your vital interests or required by relevant laws, medical/health information can only be used by Astro Safaris and Tours with your consent. This is because medical/health information is considered sensitive and by consenting, you are showing us that you understand and agree to us processing this information. Providing medical/health information and consenting to its use by Astro Safaris and Tours is optional, however, it is highly recommended that information be provided (including if requested) for your safety and wellbeing.

Photo and Video

Taking a photo or video is something many people love to do, especially as a way to capture special moments. This is likely to be the reason why you may be included in visual media taken on your trip. On occasion, visual media captured by Astro Safaris leaders and employees are so good our Studio team may wish to use them in our brochures or on our website for promotional purposes. There may also be a professional photographer scheduled on your trip for the purpose of taking promotional images. In these cases, a consent and waiver form will be provided to you do not have to sign this consent or waiver form and providing such information is entirely voluntary. We will respect your privacy and your preferences when processing any personal information collected using visual media.

Marketing and Other Interactions

Astro Safaris and Tours Ltd may use your information for marketing purposes including:

• to identify and tell you about Astro Safaris products and services we think you may be interested in
• to offer you deals on partner products and services
• to tell you about trip deals, discounts and promotions
• to administer promotions, feedback surveys and the like;
• to enrol you for Insiders, our email communication for customers who have travelled with us at least once, which will tell you about discounts, competitions and new trips
• These products and services may be offered by us our associated companies, or our brand partners.  
• We will only engage in direct marketing in accordance with the laws of the relevant country or jurisdiction you are located in.

To protect privacy rights and to ensure you have control over how we manage marketing with you we will take steps to limit direct marketing to a reasonable and proportionate level and only send you communications which we believe may be of interest or relevance to you based on the products and services which you have purchased or have registered your interest in purchasing to date. Where you receive electronic marketing communications from us, you may opt out of receiving further marketing communications by following the opt-out instructions provided in the communication. For example, if you are subscribed to any promotional marketing newsletters, you have the choice to unsubscribe from these communications by scrolling to the bottom of the e-mail enclosing the newsletter and clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ link at any time. You can also change and manage your marketing preferences at any time on your preference centre. Alternatively, or in case of any issue, you can contact us at info@astrosafaris.com.

You can change the way your browser manages cookies, which may be used to deliver online advertising, by following the settings on your browser. We recommend you routinely review the privacy notices and preference settings that are available to you on any social media platforms as well as your preferences within your account with us.

Research

We conduct research and analyze your information, including feedback and comments, to help us improve our products and services and to enhance your customer experience, including customizing online content, and to improve your booking and website experience.  We also look for trends and future destinations and itinerary opportunities.

We may use your de-identified data for internal reporting (i.e. if a partnership was successful), creating new marketing strategies and to identify trends.

We may contact you to seek your interest in taking part in research projects, surveys and interviews. These interactions are designed to help us gain insight and understand certain things such as how to improve the services we provide, help us to understand our customers’ needs and expectations, what media they consume, what their concerns are, why do they travel, etc. Your information and details from our research activities may be stored or kept on file for future reference if relevant and will be de-identified where possible.

The Astro Safaris and Tours Ltd

Astro Safaris and Tours may use your information to promote the activities of the Astro Safaris and Tours including to:

Introduce you to and keep you updated about the Astro Safaris and Tour’s activities and projects

Manage any donations made by you to the Astro Safaris and Tours

Send updates on a specific project you have supported

Seek support for fundraising projects, i.e. if you book a “challenge trip” we may ask if you wish to host a fundraising initiative

Job Applicants

Information collected from job applicants will be used to process your application, decide if you are right for the role you are applying for and for us to communicate with you. We will also use your de-identified information to analyze and understand who is applying for our jobs, understand where barriers might exist and to improve our job offerings and recruitment processes in future.

If you are successful in your application, the details you have provided to us will be transferred through to our Human Resources system to begin building your employee profile.

Support Services

We share your personal information with third parties that help us operate, provide, improve, integrate, customize, support and market our products and services.  This includes the following:

IT Service Providers: We work with third-party service providers to provide website and application development, hosting, maintenance, backup, storage, virtual infrastructure, support and troubleshooting for quality assurance purposes, payment processing, analysis and other services for us, which may require them to access or use information about you.

Marketers: 

We work with a global network of partners who help us market and promote our products (for example, by providing consulting and sales services), who send marketing material for us, generate leads and resell our services.

Research: We use third parties to assist us with research and analytics, including surveys, interviews and other data gathering, including in respect of the Astro Safaris and Tours activities. We may share your information with these partners in connection with their services.

We seek to ensure that your information is protected at all times including that these third parties have agreed confidentiality restrictions and only use any personal information we share with them or which they collect on our behalf solely for the purpose of providing the contracted service to us.

Sharing within the Astro Safaris and Tours Ltd

Other sharing

We may share or transfer information in connection with any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company. You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on the services if a transaction takes place, as well as any choices you may have regarding your information.

We may share your information with relevant regulators, which may include privacy regulators and supervisory authorities in other jurisdictions and with courts and law enforcement to comply with all applicable laws, regulations and rules, and requests of law enforcement (e.g. police), regulatory and other governmental agencies

We also share personal information with insurance providers and/or medical personnel, which may be for identification of fraud or error, for regulatory reporting and compliance, or if we believe the disclosure is necessary to lessen or prevent a threat to life, health or safety.

We may share in aggregate, statistical form, non-personal information regarding the visitors to our website, traffic patterns, and website usage with our advertisers.

Selling data

We do not and will not sell your personal information under any circumstances.

Cross-Border Transfers

As we have stated earlier, it is necessary for us to share your information with our Group entities, partners and third parties, many of which are located overseas. When we transfer your information overseas, we seek to ensure appropriate privacy, confidentiality and security measures are in place, and that we comply with all applicable data protection and privacy laws.

We want you to feel reassured that you have control of the information you provide to us. Subject to certain exemptions, and depending on relevant data protection laws, including in some cases upon our legal basis for processing your information there are certain rights you have over your personal information. These include:

You can ask us to update any inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date information we hold about you

You can ask us to provide you with a copy of the information we hold on you, or that we transfer that information to another service provider

You may request that we stop processing or using your information

You may request that we delete any / all information we hold about you

You may withdraw consent that you have provided to us

Where possible we will comply with your request, however, there may be instances where we cannot fulfill your request, or there will be consequences if we were to fulfill your request. We will always communicate with you about any consequences before going forward, or give you written reasons for any refusal.

We may ask you for additional information to confirm your identity and for security purposes, before disclosing the personal information requested to you. We reserve the right to charge a fee where permitted by law, for instance if your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

We will only perform the activities outlined above to the extent that such activities will not compromise privacy, security or any other legal interests.

You may also wish to make a complaint about the way we have handled your personal information or other interference with your privacy rights.

You can exercise any of these rights at any time by contacting us (see the Contact Us section) or your relevant privacy or data protection authority.

Contact us

Astro Safaris Data Protection Officer

Astro Safaris has appointed a dedicated Data Protection Officer as well as Regional Privacy Officer. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or are concerned about how we have handled your personal information, we would like to hear from you. We treat privacy matters seriously and will Endeavour to correct the matter.

If you would like to exercise your rights, as listed above, you can also do this by contacting the privacy team via the below form.

One of our Privacy Officers will contact you within a reasonable time frame after receiving your enquiry or request to verify who you are in order to locate any accounts or bookings you may have with us or ask any follow up questions to better understand your enquiry.

For the Astro Safaris, please contact us at the details below:

Calling us on +255753044751 or +255624041279

Emailing us at info@astrosafaris.com

 by post to Privacy Officer, The Astro Safaris and Tours Ltd ,Head office,  Box 35 Bright Street, Ngorongoro Arusha Tanzania

We will inform you whether we will conduct an investigation and the estimated completion date for the investigation process. After we have completed our enquiries, we will contact you, usually in writing, to advise the outcome and invite a response to our conclusions about the complaint. If we receive a response from you, we will assess it and advise if we have changed our view. If you are unsatisfied by our final response, you may escalate your complaint to the relevant regulatory body.

Complaint to the Data Protection Authority

If you have any concerns or complaints about how we are collecting or processing your personal information, you can complain to your local data protection authority. We would ask that you first contact us to seek to resolve the concern or complaint in the first instance.

Retention

We retain and store most information about you in computer systems and databases operated by either us or our external service providers. Some information about you may be recorded in paper files that we store securely.

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for. In some circumstances we may store your personal information for longer periods of time, for instance where we are required to do so in accordance with legal, regulatory, tax or accounting requirements

In specific circumstances we may store your personal information for longer periods of time so that we have an accurate record of your dealings with us in the event of any complaints or challenges, or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation relating to your personal information or dealings.

How we keep your information secure

Astro Safaris and Tours Ltd are dedicated to keeping your personal information secure. We have implemented various physical, electronic and managerial security procedures in order to protect your information and reduce the risk of loss and misuse, and from unauthorized access, modification, disclosure and interference.

We have put in place adequate procedures to deal with any actual or suspected personal information breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of any data breach where we are legally required to do so.

Whilst we take all reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is secure, we would ask you to be aware that the internet is inherently insecure, so please take precautions when disclosing any personal information online to us.

Cookies & Website Usage

Our websites use a standard technology called ‘cookies’ and web server log. To find out more about the cookies we use, please see our Cookies Policy. 

This Privacy Policy was last updated in August 2022