How to pay for your Kilimanjaro climb or safari
Once we have received your booking details we will request a non-refundable booking
deposit of USD 150 per person plus the value of any additional or upgraded accommodation
that you have requested. This deposit is usually paid by credit card via PayPal.
The final balance of payment is payable in US Dollars 30 days prior to the climb,
or else in cash in US Dollars on arrival if you would prefer this.
Full contact and payment instructions for use when initiating transfers to our account
>>>
Last Minute Bookings
- If you have not completed your booking more than 30 days prior to your proposed
climb date please note that you will be required to pay for your climb in cash in
US Dollars on arrival as bank transfers to East Africa can be subject to long delays
and bad routings which can take some time to correct. Where a climber pays his or
her final balance on arrival, we require that payments should be made using notes
printed in the year 2000 or later, and in denominations of USD 100s and USD 50s only.
We are required strictly to observe these provisions due to local banking limitations.
- Please also note that we are unable to accept credit cards and travellers’ cheques
on arrival. Those wishing to pay by credit card are required to do so at least 30
days prior to their climb, via a unique Moneybookers (Skrill) or PayPal link that
we will email to the climber who is corresponding with us on behalf of the booking
group.
Securing Your Place on the Climb | Non-Refundable Booking Deposit
- To facilitate payment of your booking deposit we will email you a link to our secure
payment pages on either Moneybookers (Skrill) or PayPal’s websites which will guide
you through the payment process. Skrill payments can be transacted in US Dollars
and incur a 2.49% plus 31 cents transaction surcharge, and are therefore the recommended
method of deposit payment since these costs approximate to around USD 4 per person
for the USD 150 deposit (where no additional accommodation is being booked), as opposed
to the approximately USD 60 associated with a typical wire transfer. Where Skrill
is unavailable due to the climber’s transacting location, PayPal payments are rather
less competitive with a 3.9% transaction surcharge for credit and debit cards. Additionally,
we are required to invoice PayPal funds requests in Sterling using the day’s commercial
dollar-purchasing rate for the conversion.** These two cost factors mean that while
we are able to accept PayPal credit card payments for final balances also, we do
not recommend this method for larger payments as the climber will effectively pay
surcharges equating to around 6.7% of the value of the transaction, or around USD
130 on a 7 day Machame climb (when 2 people book together). This is obviously significantly
higher than the USD 60 that one typically pays in bank fees when paying by wire transfer
or the USD 54 that one would pay if transacting via Moneybookers (Skrill). Please
note that in order to pay more than USD 1,900 within any 60 day period, it is necessary
both to be within the country in which your credit card was issued, and also to register
and verify your address and identity with Skrill. More information on completing
this admittedly very straightforward process (albeit typically requiring 5-10 days
to complete) is available here.
Paying by Credit Card Only Possible When in Your Home Country
- Please note that both Skrill’s and PayPal’s security settings almost always automatically
disallow use of a credit card that is attempted to be used outside the country where
that card is registered. In both instances, algorithms are able to determine the
country in which you are currently located through the IP address of the computer
that you are using. If you are travelling away from home it will therefore be necessary
to request a relative to pay on your behalf or else for you to effect a wire transfer
if your banking facilities allow international payments over the Internet.
Payment of Outstanding / Main Balances
- If opting to pay your final balance by wire transfer this is payable no later than
30 days prior to your climb start date and will be invoiced in either Pounds Sterling
or US Dollars. Please request an invoice in your preferred currency. (Due to exchange
rate volatility non-US Dollar invoices can only be issued within three working days
of the date on which you wish to pay your final balance).
When arranging the wire transfer please ensure that you instruct your bank to effect
the transfer so as to arrive into our bank account free of bank charges, whether
SWIFT charges, correspondent bank charges, conversion fees, or the remittance fee.
The prices published on this website and reflected on the costs advice that your
coordinator will supply you with, should please be understood to denote the value
of funds that we are required to receive in order to complete your expedition arrangements.
Conversely, unless paying in cash on arrival, it should therefore please be understood
that the published and advised prices are not necessarily the amount that you will
pay, as all methods of funds transfer - whether by wire or credit card - are subject
to the transaction and conversion fees that banks apply in order to receive profit
from facilitating these transactions. Should a climber’s bank be unable to effect
these instructions, any outstanding bank charges incurred will be invoiced for payment
in cash on arrival. Such charges include circumstances in which we are required to
purchase Dollars at the commercial purchasing rate (1.35% over the day’s averaged
mid-market rate as published on www.xe.com), where a climber’s bank are unable to
send funds in the requested currency, or where an alternative currency is specifically
preferred and instructed by the climber to his or her bank.
- If a climber has requested gear hire from Team Kilimanjaro this is to be paid in
cash in US Dollars on arrival, please.
<<< How to Book your Climb
How to pay for your Kilimanjaro climb by credit card >>>
How to Pay for your Climb In Sterling >>>
** Note re PayPal: This is because unlike Moneybookers (Skrill), PayPal do not allow
offshore multiple currency merchant accounts. Were we to invoice in Dollars via PayPal,
in order for TK to gain usable access to these funds (since none of our suppliers
are payable via PayPal) we would be required to withdraw the US Dollar amount into
one of our UK-based Sterling accounts, and in so do doing would be requesting PayPal
to convert the Dollar amount into Sterling. The exchange rate conversion spreads
that PayPal charge for such transactions are amongst the highest we know. To cover
these high costs we would be required to increase our prices in such a way as to
subsidise these inefficient transactions by effectively penalising other climbers
who arranged payment via a more efficient transfer means, which we are of course
reluctant to do. Again, it should please be noted that values requested via supplied
costs advice reflect the amounts that we are required to received, and not necessarily
the final total sum that you will transpire to have paid.
