UK Bank Account holders - how to pay for your Kilimanjaro climb or safari

 

Although we are no longer able to publish Sterling prices (please see here), we do of course gratefully accept payments in Sterling into our one of our Sterling accounts, but with the GBP amount to be remitted not able to be known until payment is due to be made. Increased volatility in foreign exchange rates requires that we now use the following invoicing and payment method:

 

1. Once we have received your booking details we will advise you of your climb (and safari / Zanzibar) costs in US Dollars, and will at the same time request from you a non-refundable booking deposit equivalent (see paragraph 3 below) to USD 150 per person, plus the value of any upgraded or additional accommodation that you have requested. We are able to ensure that these costs quoted in US Dollars will not change, regardless of what happens to exchange rates in the interim, as most of our own operating and local costs are also payable in US Dollars, or else are closely linked to the  Dollar’s value.

 

2. The final balance of payment is payable at least 30 days prior to your climb or safari start date, whichever is the sooner. Climbers are of course at liberty to monitor the Sterling:Dollar exchange rate and to request to make an earlier payment should they judge that Sterling is temporarily performing well against the Dollar.

 

3. Once a climber advises us that they are ready to initiate their final payment, or around 33 days prior to the climb start date in the absence of our being so advised, we will issue a costs advice in Sterling that will be calculated by dividing the amount payable in US Dollars by the day’s commercial purchasing rate for the US Dollar. Climbers can anticipate approximately this conversion themselves by simply calling NatWest Bank (one of the more competitive UK-based banks, in our experience) and requesting the day’s NatWest-selling (ie. ‘Buying’) rate. For the dollar.***

 

The amount requested in Sterling will however only be valid for payments remitted within three working days of the date of this costs advice. Should a climber be unable to effect payment within three days we may re-advise a different rate using an updated exchange rate. In this event, the prior costs advice will be rendered void.

 

 

Available payment methods for climbers booking more than 30 days prior to their climb dates, are as follows:

 

By cheque from UK Sterling accounts

 

By bank transfer from UK Sterling accounts

 

By credit or debit card via PayPal (3.4% surcharge applies to UK-registered credit cards). PayPal payments are billed in Sterling and are converted from US Dollars using the day’s commercial purchasing rate for the US Dollar. Please note that the differential between buying and selling rates, added to the 3.4% handling surcharge means that PayPal payments effectively incur very considerable fees and are are not to be considered a cost-effective payment method.

 

 

Notes:

 

- 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.

 

- All climbers are welcome to request to pay their final balances in cash in US Dollars. In this event 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 or debit cards and travellers’ cheques on arrival.

 

*** This said, however, we have noticed recently that NatWest have begun charging much wider spreads on currency conversions than those to which we have access. At the date of publication, NatWest are currently making 3.9% on Dollars and 4.5% on Euro to Sterling (and vice versa) conversions. Conversely, since we primarily bank (and are incorporated) offshore - as well as not being required to factor VAT into the price of our climbs - we have access to much tighter spreads than standard UK commercial rates, with our usual spread costs being around 2.7% (ie. the difference between buying and  selling rates). We therefore calculate Dollar to Sterling conversion rates as competitively as possibly, ie. by simply multiplying the live mid-market rate as given on www.xe.com by 0.9865 (ie. half of 2.7% from the mid-market rate).

 

 

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