1. About these terms
These terms govern your booking of, and participation in, a Reclaim.Africa programme (the “Programme”). They form a binding agreement between you (the “participant”, “you”) and Reclaim.Africa, operated by Mediate Now (registration number 2022/525377/07) (“we”, “us”, “Our”). Please read them carefully. By paying a deposit or the Programme fee, you confirm that you have read, understood and accepted these terms on behalf of yourself and anyone you book for.
2. Definitions
A few terms used throughout:
- “Programme” — the multi-day guided experience described in your booking confirmation, including accommodation, facilitated sessions, meals and experiences as set out there.
- “Facilitator” — the Reclaim.Africa practitioner who leads the Programme.
- “Supplier” — any third party providing part of the experience (for example accommodation, restaurants, transport, the island ferry, the cable car, wine estates, activity operators).
- “Booking confirmation” — the written confirmation we send you setting out your dates, fee, and what is included.
3. The Programme — and what it is not
A guided group experience. The Programme is a small-group experience for adults moving through a significant life transition. It draws on the Facilitator’s background in coaching, mediation and psychology, and uses guided sessions, reflection and shared experiences in and around Cape Town.
It is not medical, psychiatric or psychological treatment. The Programme is not therapy, counselling, medical or psychiatric care, crisis support, mediation of your legal matter, legal advice or financial advice, and it is not a substitute for any of these. It does not create a doctor–patient, therapist–client or similar professional treatment relationship. If you are unwell or in crisis, or you need ongoing care, please seek appropriate professional help; the Programme is not designed to provide it.
Group setting. Sessions take place in a group. While the Facilitator holds the space, the Programme is not confidential clinical treatment, and we cannot guarantee any particular outcome, result or emotional experience.
Independent support. Where a session is supported by an independent practitioner (for example a grief counsellor), that practitioner provides their input in their own professional capacity.
4. Bookings
- A booking is requested through our enquiry process and is only confirmed once we issue a written booking confirmation and have received your deposit.
- To take part you must be at least 18 years old (or the age of majority in your home country, whichever is higher) at the start of the Programme.
- You are responsible for ensuring the information you give us (including your name as it appears on your passport, contact details and any health or dietary information we request) is complete and accurate.
- Places are limited and allocated on a first-confirmed basis.
5. Fees and payment
The fee. The Programme fee is the amount set out in your booking confirmation, in the currency stated there. Any bank, card, transfer or currency-conversion charges applied by your own bank or payment provider are your responsibility, and the amount we receive must equal the amount due.
Payment schedule. Unless your booking confirmation says otherwise, the fee is payable in three instalments:
- Deposit — 30% of the fee, due 60 days before the Programme start date. The deposit is non-refundable from the date it is paid.
- Second instalment — 35% of the fee, due 45 days before the start date.
- Final instalment — the remaining 35% of the fee, due 30 days before the start date.
The exact amounts and due dates for your cohort are set out in your booking confirmation.
Booking close to the start date. If we confirm your place 60 days or fewer before the start date, the instalments that have already fallen due are payable on booking, and any remaining instalments follow the schedule above. If we confirm your place 30 days or fewer before the start date, the full fee is payable on booking.
Late or non-payment. If we do not receive an instalment by its due date, we may treat your booking as cancelled by you and apply the cancellation charges in clause 9.
6. What is included and excluded
Included. Your booking confirmation lists what is included. As a guide, this is the accommodation stated there with breakfast, transport during the Programme, the facilitated sessions, and the meals and experiences marked as included in your itinerary.
Not included. Unless your confirmation says otherwise, the fee does not include: international and domestic flights; travel insurance; visas, passports and travel documents; transfers to and from the Programme other than those stated; meals and drinks marked as own cost or taken on free evenings; optional activities marked as own cost (for example the optional flight on the final morning); gratuities; and anything of a personal nature.
7. Minimum numbers
The Programme runs with a minimum of 3 participants. If that minimum is not reached, we may reschedule the dates or cancel the Programme. If we cancel for this reason and cannot agree alternative dates with you, we will refund the amounts you have paid to us (see clause 10). This is the limit of our responsibility for not reaching minimum numbers, and we are not responsible for other costs you may have incurred, such as flights — which is why travel insurance is essential (see clause 13).
8. Changes to the Programme
The experience may flex. The Programme involves the outdoors, the ocean, weather and independent Suppliers. Some activities are weather- or tide-dependent (for example the island ferry, the cable car, hikes, the cold-water elements and any flight). We may change, reorder, substitute or omit activities, venues, meals or sessions where we reasonably consider it necessary or sensible — for safety, weather, Supplier availability, group wellbeing or the quality of the experience.
Equivalent value. Where we substitute an element, we will aim to offer something of comparable character or value. Minor changes do not entitle you to a refund. The flow and emphasis of sessions is a matter of professional judgement and forms part of the experience.
9. If you need to cancel or transfer
Cancellations must be sent to us in writing and take effect on the day we receive them. Because we commit to Suppliers and hold a place for you, the following applies:
- The deposit is non-refundable from the date it is paid.
- If you cancel more than 30 days before the start date, you forfeit the deposit and we refund any further amounts you have paid.
- If you cancel 30 days or fewer before the start date, or you do not arrive, no refund is due on any amount you have paid.
If you cancel before your deposit falls due and nothing has been paid, no charge applies and your place is released.
Transfers. You may ask to transfer your place to a future Programme or to another person; we will consider this in good faith but cannot guarantee it, and it may be subject to a transfer fee and any difference in price. Leaving the Programme early, or not using parts of it, does not entitle you to a refund.
Please insure. These charges are why we require comprehensive travel insurance that covers cancellation (see clause 13).
10. If we cancel or reschedule
If we cancel the Programme before it starts for a reason within our control, you may choose a full refund of the amounts you have paid to us, or a transfer to an alternative date. If we cancel or cut short the Programme for reasons outside our control (see clause 19), we will refund what we can reasonably recover from Suppliers after deducting unavoidable costs already incurred. In either case, except where the law says otherwise, we are not liable for other costs you incur, such as flights, transfers or insurance.
11. Health, wellbeing and fitness to take part
What to expect. The Programme includes facilitated sessions that explore grief, loss and significant life change. Sessions can be demanding, and you are never required to speak or take part. By booking, you confirm you have considered whether this is right for you at this time.
Disclosure. You agree to tell us, before the Programme, about any physical or mental health condition, medication, allergy, dietary need, injury, pregnancy or other circumstance that may affect your participation or safety, or that of the group. You can do this in confidence. We may ask you to confirm you are medically and psychologically fit to take part, and in some cases to provide confirmation from your doctor or treating professional.
Ongoing care is your responsibility. If you are receiving medical or psychological care, please consult your treating professional about taking part, and continue any treatment and medication during the Programme. The Programme does not replace that care.
Our discretion. In the interests of your wellbeing or the group’s, we may decline a booking, or ask a participant not to take part in a particular activity or session. If, acting reasonably, we consider it unsafe or inappropriate for you to continue, we may end your participation; clause 14 explains how refunds are treated.
In an emergency. You authorise us to arrange or seek medical or emergency assistance on your behalf if we reasonably believe it is needed and you cannot consent at the time. You are responsible for the cost of any medical treatment, evacuation or related expense — again, a matter for your insurance.
12. Optional and physically demanding activities
Your choice. Several elements are active or take place in natural settings — for example walking and hiking, entering cold water, time at the coast and on the ocean, and any optional flight. Every activity is optional. You are never required to take part, and you may stop at any time.
Assumption of risk. Activities of this kind carry inherent risks that cannot be wholly removed, including risks of injury or, in rare cases, worse. By choosing to take part you accept those inherent risks. You agree to follow all safety instructions from the Facilitator and from Suppliers, to use equipment provided as directed, and not to take part while impaired by alcohol or any substance.
Operator terms. Some activities (for example any flight or water-based activity) are run by independent Suppliers and may require you to sign that Supplier’s own waiver or indemnity and to meet their health and weight requirements. Those terms are between you and the Supplier.
Honest about yourself. You are responsible for assessing, honestly, whether you are fit and well enough for an activity, and for declining anything you are unsure about.
13. Travel, passports, visas and insurance
Insurance is mandatory. You must hold comprehensive travel insurance valid for the full Programme that covers, at minimum, cancellation and curtailment, medical expenses and emergency repatriation, and the activities you intend to take part in (including any flight and water-based activities). We may ask to see evidence of cover. Travelling without adequate insurance is at your own risk.
Travel documents. You are responsible for your passport, any visa, and any vaccination or entry requirements for South Africa, and for arriving in time for the Programme. We are not responsible for any consequence of missing, invalid or incorrect documents, or of travel delays.
Flights. Unless your confirmation says otherwise, flights are not included and are booked by you. We recommend not booking non-refundable flights until your place and dates are confirmed in writing.
14. Conduct, and our right to decline or remove
The Programme depends on a respectful, safe space. We may refuse a booking, or ask a participant to leave, if their behaviour is, in our reasonable view, unsafe, abusive, harassing, discriminatory, unlawful, or seriously disruptive to the Facilitator, a Supplier or the group, or if they are repeatedly impaired by alcohol or substances. If we ask someone to leave for these reasons, no refund is due, and any cost of altered or onward travel is the participant’s own. You are responsible for any damage you cause to accommodation, vehicles or Supplier property.
15. Confidentiality
Between participants. Much of the Programme’s value comes from trust within the group. You agree to keep confidential anything shared by another participant during the Programme, and not to record sessions or share others’ personal disclosures, images or identities afterwards without their consent.
Our confidentiality, and its limits. We treat what you share, and the personal information you give us, with care and discretion. However, we are not bound by clinical confidentiality, and we may act on, or disclose, information where we reasonably believe there is a risk of serious harm to you or another person, or where the law requires it.
16. Intellectual property
The Programme’s structure, written materials, session content, journals, scripts, the Reclaim.Africa name and branding, and the methodology behind them, belong to us (or our licensors). They are provided for your personal use during and after the Programme. You may not copy, record, reproduce, publish or use them to deliver your own programmes or services, or for any commercial purpose, without our written permission.
17. Photography and media
We may take photographs or video during the Programme. We will only use images in which you are identifiable for marketing or other public purposes with your separate, written consent, which you may decline or withdraw at any time. You are welcome to take your own photographs for personal use, subject to the confidentiality and consent of others in clause 15.
18. Our responsibility to you
Suppliers. Parts of the Programme are delivered by independent Suppliers. We select them with care, but we do not control them and are not responsible for their acts or omissions; your use of their services may also be subject to their own terms.
What we are responsible for. We are responsible for delivering the Programme with reasonable skill and care. We are not responsible for loss or damage that is not a foreseeable result of our breach, or that arises from your own acts or omissions, from a Supplier, from your failure to disclose relevant health information, or from events outside our control.
Limit. Except for liability that cannot lawfully be limited, our total liability to you in connection with the Programme is limited to the total Programme fee you have paid to us.
What we never exclude. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited or excluded under South African law.
19. Things outside our control (force majeure)
We are not responsible for failing to perform, or delay in performing, the Programme because of events beyond our reasonable control — for example extreme weather, fire, natural events, sea or harbour conditions, epidemic or pandemic, government action or travel restrictions, civil disruption, strikes, utility or transport failure, or Supplier failure. Clause 10 explains what happens to amounts paid if such an event affects the Programme.
20. Your personal information
We collect and use personal information — including the health and dietary information you choose to share — only to run the Programme, keep you safe, and communicate with you. We handle it in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) and, where it applies to participants in the EU or UK, the GDPR / UK GDPR. We do not sell your information. Full detail of how we collect, use, store and protect your information, and your rights, is set out in our Privacy Policy, which forms part of these terms.
21. If something goes wrong
If you are unhappy with any part of the Programme, please tell the Facilitator at the time so we have the chance to put it right while you are with us. If it cannot be resolved there, please write to us within 14 days of the Programme ending and we will respond in good faith.
22. Governing law
These terms, and any dispute arising from them or from the Programme, are governed by the law of the Republic of South Africa, and the South African courts have jurisdiction — except where the law of your home country gives you protections that cannot be excluded. Before either of us begins court proceedings, we agree first to attempt to resolve any dispute through mediation.
23. How to contact us
Reclaim.Africa · Mediate Now (reg. 2022/525377/07)
By paying your deposit or Programme fee, you confirm that you have read, understood and accepted these Terms & Conditions.