FAQ

In many cases this depends on the situation and on where you are travelling.

Some places have only 4 or 5 tents or rooms, so a group of more than 8 people may need to stay in different larger establishments.
If you are organising a large family trip, the benefits of being together and experiencing the journey as a group outweighs being in small places or otherwise restricting your trip. In this case we will design your journey specially, and select suitable accommodation.

If you are a group of friends or can tailor your group size to the journey, the ideal size may be determined either by the groups interests (for instance hikers on a hiking trip in the Pyrenees should be content to hike the same distance and levels), or by logistical factors such as the amount of available seats in a safari vehicle (usually 4 or 6) or a light aircraft (a Cessna Caravan seats 10 passengers). If your group fills the transport units the cost per person is likely to be less.
We design journeys for many varied groups, but generally groups sizes of 6-12 people are ideal.

We specialise in custom journeys. We design each journey according to the needs of each group. As a result we do not mix groups.

This varies depending on your budget, your choice of accommodation, whether or not you have a private guide and other factors. You may get an idea looking at sample itineraries on our Resources page.

This can vary depending of the conditions of the local operators in the country where you are travelling, and will be written up clearly in your Trip Contract.
In general there is a non-refundable deposit to be paid. For our African safaris and our Kilimanjaro climbs we require a 20% deposit to be paid upon booking. Some or all of the deposit is non-refundable. All of our booking fee/initial deposits for our European journeys are also non-refundable, although the amount to be paid is a lot less that our safaris. This is because the camps and lodges we use in the African bush are often very small, sometimes with only 4 or 5 tents, and these ground operators rarely have enough time to fill space once a booking has cancelled. As a result they demand high deposits. The actual conditions depend on the accommodation booked, the country you will be travelling, and other details that will be included in your Trip Contract.

No. We are based in Spain, in the Euro zone, but most of our receipts and our payments (to countries in Africa) are in US dollars. Our research has revealed if we were paid by credit card not only would a commission fee be incurred, but any payment would be credited in euros (even if we had a US dollar Paypal account!).
As a result we only accept payment by wire (bank) transfer. This has always been efficient, very economical and simple to do. We have two different accounts that you can wire money to. One is our bank accounts in Spain. Another is using our Transferwise account. This system is even more efficient and economical for the payee, as the transfer is a domestic one paid into an account in your country of residence.

Yes. However there will be costs if you cancel. These will depend on how long before the trip start date you cancel. The details of the cancellation costs will be clearly described in your Trip Contract.
Generally the terms for our African safaris are more stringent than our European trips. This is because many of the small lodges / camps and the guides are unlikely to refill the time allotted to your booking easily. Due to demand they often have to decline trips as soon as your booking is confirmed, so a later cancellation results in missed opportunities and business. They usually also have limited short seasons. If you think there is a possibility you may have to cancel your trip, it is advisable to contract a “Cancel for any reason” insurance within 2 weeks of paying the deposit for a trip, and to carefully read the conditions beforehand.

No you are not covered by any insurance.
We oblige you to be covered by Emergency medical insurance for the full period of any trip booked by us. We will not be liable for any emergency evacuation or your health treatment costs if you require any of these services while travelling with us.
Be aware that many normal health insurance policies in your home country do not cover you if you become ill or have an accident abroad. In some cases (often in the USA) they do, but they may not cover the costs of evacuation and repatriation while travelling.
Furthermore many insurance policies will not cover Covid-19 cases, or any epidemic. Recently more policies are including cover for Covid-19. It is also advisable to thoroughly check cover for your health and evacuation for the period and locations that you will be travelling, and to buy additional travel insurance to cover that and other costs if necessary.
Before you buy your travel insurance, it is also essential that you know what is included or not in your travel insurance package. There are often exclusion clauses in the fine print. Here are some items that may or may not be covered:

• Flight cancellation or delay (if the airline that you book your international air ticket cancels or delays your flight). Costs of these delays can be particularly expensive in the case of a safari, as in many instances there are limited schedule flights to the camps (such as only twice weekly) and in order to catch up with your itinerary, it may be necessary to charter a private aircraft.
• Delays or cancellations due to labour issues, strikes, terrorism, or other threats.
• Baggage loss or delay while en route.
• Trip cancellation in the event that you have to cancel your trip due to an unforeseen circumstance. This could be a death in the family or of a friend, an illness, jury duty, bankruptcy of a supplier or airline, or other issues prior to your departure.
• Trip interruption due to similar reasons such as health issues to you or people close to you at home while you are travelling.
• Costs incurred when flying or travelling from one place to another, such as theft, and loss of baggage, delay requiring hotel overnight stays if stranded en route to your travel destination.
• Cancel for any reason. This is nearly always an extra insurance, and it is usually only possible to contract this insurance within a limited period (often 2 weeks) of paying the initial deposit and signing the Trip Contract.

Several websites explain the various types of insurance including Travel Insurance Review.

We can offer you various insurances at additional cost if you are a resident of Spain. Unfortunately many countries require that you purchase travel insurance from locally based travel agents or providers, in which case we cannot sell you travel insurance. However these days most travel insurance is bought on-line. Here are links to some insurance providers –

Allianz

Insure My Trip.com

Travel Insurance.com

AXA insurance for those living in the Schengen Area of Europe.

No, you are not covered unless it specifically says so in the trip inclusion details (mainly some East African safaris). However these do not allow you a choice of evacuation provider, only take you as far as the nearest private hospital, and do not include any costs incurred once you are there (such as costs for doctors, operations, medicines, accommodation et cetera. All those costs would be borne by you. You should cover yourself for any emergency while on your trip with us.

No, A Step Ahead S.L. does not automatically cover you for any health problem. You should find out if your own health insurance covers you for international travel, and if not purchase a travel insurance that does so.

Currently, we can only sell travel insurance to residents of Spain. Advice on travel insurance is supplied above under the heading – Am I insured when I book a trip with A Step Ahead?

Please visit our post on Safari in the Coronavirus era for information on the frequent changes to travel requirements due to Covid-19.

We began designing journeys in Africa in the mid 1990s. A wildlife safari is a phenomenal experience. An excellent safari requires some flexibility. Wildlife moves, conditions change, and events on safari are unpredictable, as they are not orchestrated, but depend mainly on positioning ourselves well for an opportunity to arise and so experience something amazing.
Many luxury camps and lodges provide wonderful accommodations, and their clients leave delighted with what they have seen.
However, unless they have travelled on many different safaris with many different operators, they are unlikely to know the difference between one service and another.
We assure you that there is a huge difference in the details of any safari. Unfortunately this is hard to describe to anyone who has not experienced it before.
We design and orchestrate independent safaris, where the guests stay in camps with other guests and share a vehicle and camp guide with other guests. Often this happens with small groups or couples, because the cost of a private guide and private vehicle is high in these cases. This style of safari is also the most common type available, even with many of the most exclusive travel designers and outfitters. However our speciality is designing safari with your own private A Step Ahead guide, who will make a huge difference to your experience.
Most people understand that all cars have wheels, brakes and headlights. Some have electronic window winders and some have manual ones. Some have leather seats and some have plastic ones. Some have heated seats or air conditioning, and some do not. On safari the accommodation you choose could be correlated with the type of vehicle you buy. And the best safari would be akin to you hiring a car you want with a chauffeur who really knows the area. Your guide is the driver, and no matter how smart or not your vehicle is, the experience you have at the end will depend more on the skill of your driver and where he takes you, than the vehicle itself.
Of course, it may be important to have the right car, especially if you would not be happy with a 4×4 Land-Rover when what you were hoping for was a Rolls Royce! Our custom safaris cater to all kinds of accommodation needs.
More information on the difference between a private guided journey and other journeys are described here.

Generally a private guided safari is more flexible as many of the trip details are left up to the A Step Ahead guide while on your journey. He would customise your journey as it happens. You would also have more continuity between one place and another, as the guide would know your preferences, and what you have or have not seen, and customise accordingly, allowing for different experiences in the next location. Our independent safaris (with no A Step Ahead guide) are also very popular, even though you would follow more of the program of each camp or lodge, so the day to day activities would be less customised.
More information on the difference between a private guided journey and other journeys are described here

In Africa, yes, it is. Of course this is discretionary, and should depend on the service you receive. Usually this is done once during your stay at each place, just before you leave, and often there is a communal tip box for this purpose. Once you have booked your trip, you will be sent lots of information and details on your trip, including gratuity guidelines. To give you a rough idea the total cost of gratuities on an African safari may be about 5% of the total trip cost.

In Spain and France a tip is not common, although tipping loose change for meals and taxis is appreciated. However if you are with a guide for more than a day, your guide will appreciate a tip if you have been very pleased with the service you have received. Suggestions will be given to you in the information that you receive once you have booked your trip.

Some of our journeys and safaris have fitness requirements, and others do not require a fitness level. Details on the requirements will be described in the itinerary. Examples of safaris that do require you to be fit include gorilla and chimpanzee tracking, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro or Mount Meru, and to some extent canoeing and walking safaris. Hiking trips in the Pyrenees require that all the group be content to do hikes of the same level if they want a guide. However there are so many opportunities and so much variety in hikes that it is possible to do short easy walks as well. The limiting factor if you want flexibility is how many guides you have on your trip.

We provide a detailed packing list and can answer any questions you have. The list is also useful to ensure that you do not bring too much, as in some cases there are weight limits (such as when flying in light aircraft in Africa).

Yes, the easiest ways to find additional information are –
1. to search by including key words in the Search box at the top right of this page, as the results will not only include our main information pages, but also stories from our blog, and
2. to email us your questions by completing the online Contact form.

The main areas of the website are – 1. the headings along the top (About, Accommodation, Destinations, Planning), 2. the blog (link at the top left) and 3. the Resources section (link at the bottom of the page).