Abbreviated Terms and Conditions
1. BOOKING - In all of our dealings with you, we will do our utmost to be as fair, as honest, and as practical as possible. For simplicity, the terms ‘we’, us, and ‘our’ refer to The Heart of Brazil Ltd. All prices are in US dollars
2. We request a fully completed Booking Form (available from your travel agent) for each participant in the tour, regardless of age; plus a deposit for each, to reserve their place on the tour. Receipt of both will initiate a contract between us, your travel agent, and yourself
3. Once you have paid your deposit; the cost of your tour, as agreed with your travel agent, will be fixed, provided that you do not change your tour dates (see 24, below). Otherwise, any price increases that occur in the meantime will be borne by us
4. We will require the balance, for each participant, no later than 10 weeks before your tour starts. This is to allow sufficient time for flights, hotels, etc to be confirmed for you
5. TRAVEL AGENT – For the purposes of this tour, your travel agent, as an ATOL licence holder, will be responsible for all your flights (international and internal). Your travel agent will synchronise and book your flights, in accordance with the itinerary that we have provided. We will be responsible for you, in all other events, while you are in Brazil
6. Your travel agent will be responsible for collecting deposits and balances; and to forward them to us, along with your Booking Forms and documents (see 11, below). They will also pass on to you details of your final itinerary, contact arrangements, hotels, and any other relevant information from us
7. Although your travel agent is your personal connection to us, and able to offer advice and experience; we are always available as a backup, or to answer more unusual questions, by phone or email (See Contact us)
8. PAYMENT SECURITY – Any money paid to your travel agent, and subsequently paid to us, is held in an industry-recognised TTA trust account, until you return from your holiday (See Insurance)
9. INSURANCE – It is a legal requirement of the tour that you have adequate travel insurance; and proof of this will be required when booking. Please ask your travel agent for advice (See Insurance)
10. DOCUMENTS –The name on your airline tickets and Internal Air Pass, as confirmed at booking, must show the same name as on your passport. Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months from your date of arrival in Brazil, or you will be refused admission into the country (See Documents). Please allow at least six weeks for a new passport to be issued
11. We will need to receive photocopied or scanned proof of your passports and travel insurance. Although we, and your travel agent, will check your travel documents for validity, you are ultimately responsible for them. We will do our best to help, but we cannot take responsibility for you or your party if you are refused admission to any country, including your own, if you are not in possession of valid documents
12. For practical reasons, it is advisable to bring copies of your passports and travel insurance; and to also leave a copy of your passports with a contact back home. At each stage of the tour, please keep your passports in the safe of your hotel room, unless your coordinator asks you to bring them (you’ll need them to cross the border into Argentina, at Iguacu). When travelling between stages, please keep your passports on your person, in a waterproof enclosure
13. On your international flight to Brazil, you will be requested to fill out a passport control form. Where it asks for an address at which you will be staying for the duration of your visit, the word ‘HOTEL’ will suffice
14. You will also be requested to fill out an Entrance/Exit Pass’. It is essential to keep this with your passport at all times, as you will need them to enter and leave Brazil, if stopped while driving; and at borders. This is especially important in Iguaçu, as you will need both of them to enter Argentina
15. VISAS – Visas are not required of UK citizens. For more information, see Frequently Asked Questions, or ask your travel agent
16. HEALTH - We will be responsible for your safety, but you are responsible for your health. Please ensure that you are reasonably fit before embarking on this tour; which can be undertaken by anyone who can comfortably complete an afternoon’s walk in the countryside. The tour is NOT suitable for wheelchair access, babies, or toddlers under the age of five (See also Health and safety)
17. DISABILITIES – If any member of your group has a disability that you think might affect their full participation in the tour, please inform us or your travel agent, and make it clear on your Booking Form, so that we may advise accordingly
18. COSTS - With the sole exception of flights (which should be organised and paid for separately through your travel agent), and some meals (see 19, below), the cost of your tour includes everything except personal expenses; like souvenirs, drinks, impromptu meals and snacks, hotel courtesy facilities i.e. telephone calls, laundry, your room’s mini-bar, and other optional services; or any damage caused. You will need to settle these bills with your hotel at the end of each stage
19. MEALS - For most of the tour, excellent restaurants in each area will have been organised for you. They will always include a large choice of different foods (See Cuisine), and are all included in your booking fee. Up to a quarter of your meals will be in places where you’ll be free to explore and experiment, and are NOT included in your booking fee. These are indicated on your Itinerary, as ‘own preference’
20. TAXES – All local taxes are included in your booking fee
21. CANCELLATION - The tour is designed for 2-10 participants, and a minimum of two people is needed on each tour to make it financially viable. If you are the only person booked on a particular tour date 10 weeks before departure, we will give you the option to cancel with a full refund, or to stay booked on a standby basis. If we have to finally cancel a standby booking because we do not have a minimum of two participants, you will receive a full refund of everything you have paid. If you are travelling with a partner, this problem will not exist
22. In the unlikely event that we have to cancel your tour for any other reason, then you will receive all of your deposit back in full. If you have paid your full balance, then you will receive all of your money back, plus compensation in accordance with the industry’s code of conduct. This will depend upon how late we have left it to cancel:
Under 2 weeks $80 pp (per person)
2-4 weeks $60 pp
4-6 weeks $40 pp
7-8 weeks $30 pp
Over 8 weeks $20 pp
23. In the extremely unlikely event of ‘force majeur’, where a tour must be cancelled due to circumstances beyond our control, like natural disaster, war, terrorism, etc; we will do our utmost to get you to safety, and to complete as much of the tour as practical. In this case, you must rely upon your own travel insurance for compensation
24. If you have to cancel your tour after paying a deposit, we will do our best to reschedule you on another date. However, there may be a charge to cover renegotiations with facilities in Brazil that will have already been booked for you; or if we have had to turn down another passenger. This will depend upon how early you cancel
25. If you have to cancel your tour after paying a deposit, and do NOT wish to re-schedule, then you will lose your deposit
26. If you cancel your tour within 10 weeks of your tour’s start date, and do not wish to nominate someone else to travel in your place (see 27, below); then you will lose your minimum deposit (See Booking). Any balance will be returned to you as quickly as possible, bearing in mind that all funds are held in a trust account until your planned return. Subsequent cancellation of flights (international and internal) must be taken up with your travel agent, and will probably result in considerable loss
27. If you wish to transfer your place on the tour to another person, there will be no extra charge for this, as far as the tour itself. However, you must let your travel agent know as quickly as possible, in order to change flight details; for which charges will almost always apply. You will need to confirm the change in writing, and the nominee will need to complete a new Booking Form, and produce their passport and travel insurance details
28. If, for any reason, you have to cancel during the tour itself, there will be no refund of any unused part of the overland journey, since most of the costs involved are shared with the rest of the tour group. We would endeavour to get you to your required destination without extra charge for our work; although you may have to pay for additional transport
29. PHOTOS - While on the tour, your coordinator will take photos of your group; and some may be displayed on our website afterwards. If you do not wish your photo to be used in this way, please inform your coordinator at the start of the tour
30. FEEDBACK - Near the end of the tour, your coordinator will ask you for your honest opinion, and your thoughts as to how anything could be improved. We will also send you a non-compulsory questionnaire after your return, to find out if the whole experience, including your coordinator, was as good as you’d expected. In gratitude, we will send you a CD/DVD of all your group’s photos taken by your coordinator over the course of the tour
31. ITINERARY - Although we will try to keep as close as possible to our published Itinerary, it may need to change according to the weather, or other local conditions (See Itinerary)
32. ACCOMODATION – All accommodation will be as described, and among the best that each area has to offer. It will be only in the event of a serious immediate problem with an hotel that we will we need to change it. If we do so, then it will be to one of similar standards, facilities and atmosphere (See Accommodation)
33. EXPULSION – Our tour coordinators in Brazil have the right to refuse continuation of the tour to any person or party that they consider harmful, reckless, disruptive, or offensive to the rest of the tour group, the Brazilian environment and its people, or themselves. In this situation, and after consultation with the rest of the tour group, they will do their very best to make alternative arrangements for the offensive party, and to document the reasons for their decision (See Coordinator)
34. Brazilians are very warm-hearted and fun-loving people. Even so, if, as a result of very unruly or unreasonable behaviour, one or more of your party is arrested by the police, or refused permission to travel by an airline; they shall be deemed to have ‘cancelled during the tour’, and will need to make their own arrangements from there on (see 27, above)
35. ACCURACY – Our website contains all information pertaining to the tour, and much more besides. It is constantly being updated, and is accurate to the best of our abilities and knowledge. However, we cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracy within; unless it is vital to the tour, and reasonable to expect that we, as a tour operator to Brazil, should have got it right. Your travel agent will be kept informed of any relevant alterations, but if there is any point in particular that you are relying upon, please ask specifically, and check our website for any updates before you leave
36. COMPLAINT – Our Brazilian coordinators have a lot of experience in looking after people, working within the Brazilian environment, and dealing with Brazilian bureaucracy. If you have any complaint whatsoever, please bring it to their attention as soon as possible, so that it can be resolved before it gets worse
37. If you have a complaint that cannot be handled locally, or you need something organised for you back home, you may call us on our 24 hour emergency number (00 44 7050 220999). Otherwise, please inform us within 28 days of your return, while memories are still fresh. The sooner you contact us, the faster we can resolve your problem
38. Any complaint regarding your flights (international or internal) must be taken up with your travel agent. Please ask your travel agent, beforehand, what steps you should take, in the event of a possible claim
39. Any complaint regarding your baggage on flights, or on overland journeys, should be directed to your tour coordinator who, if unable to resolve the problem locally, will obtain the relevant documentation necessary for a claim on your travel insurance. It is your responsibility to find out what specific documentation will be required by your insurance company, before your departure
40. ADDENDA – This list of terms and conditions is not complete since, in order to make them easy to read and understand, we have kept to common sense; and deliberately omitted those terms which would only apply in extreme circumstances, and not to the unbroken record of our successful tours and satisfied clients. Please ask us, or your travel agent, about anything not already mentioned
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