Privacy Policy

01About This Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Asili Trails Africa (“Asili”, “we”, “us”) handles personal information when you visit asilitrailsafrica.com, send us an inquiry through the website, or contact us using the details shown on it.

It describes how this website actually works today. We aim to handle personal information in line with Tanzania’s Personal Data Protection Act, 2022 (Cap. 44), the Personal Data Protection (Personal Data Collection and Processing) Regulations, 2023, and any other law that applies.

Please read it together with our Terms & Conditions.

02Who We Are

Asili Trails Africa is a Tanzania travel company based in Arusha. For this website and the inquiries sent through it, we decide why and how personal information is used. You can reach us at:

03Information You Give Us

The inquiry forms on our homepage, Contact page and Tailor-Made Safaris page all ask for the same information:

• your full name (required)
• your email address (required)
• your WhatsApp or phone number (required)
• your country (optional)
• your travel interest, chosen from a short list (optional)
• your preferred travel month (optional)
• the number of travellers (optional)
• your message (required), including anything you choose to write in it.

If you email, call or message us on WhatsApp instead, we receive the information you choose to share, together with your email address or phone number.

Please do not send sensitive information through the forms

The forms do not ask for passport details, payment card numbers or health information, and we ask you not to include them in a general inquiry. If information of this kind is ever needed to arrange a confirmed trip, we will explain what is needed and why.

04Technical Information and Website Security

To keep the forms working and protect them from spam and abuse, the website processes a small amount of technical information:

• Spam checks. Each form contains a hidden field that people never see, and the website notes how long the form took to complete. Submissions that look automated are discarded. These values are used only for that check and are not included in the inquiry email we receive.
• Request checks. When a form is sent, the server checks basic request information, such as which website the request came from, to reject submissions that do not come from our own pages.
• Rate limiting. To stop repeated or automated submissions, the server creates a one-way hashed value derived from your IP address and keeps it, with the times of recent submissions, in a small temporary file on the web server. Your IP address itself is not written to that file. Only submissions from the past hour are taken into account; older times are discarded the next time a submission from the same address is checked. The website does not otherwise delete this file automatically, so it may remain in the server’s temporary storage until it is replaced or cleared by the hosting system.

Server logs

Like most websites, the servers that host this website may automatically record standard technical information when a page is requested, such as your IP address, the date and time, the page requested, the referring page and your browser or device type. These logs are part of the hosting service. We do not use them to build profiles of visitors or for advertising. If the website cannot send an inquiry email, the server records a short error message that does not include the contents of your inquiry.

05How We Use Your Information

We use the information described above to:

• reply to your inquiry by email, phone or WhatsApp
• discuss, plan and prepare a proposed Tanzania journey or quotation for you
• arrange the travel services you ask for if you decide to go ahead, and communicate with you about them
• answer your questions before, during and after your journey
• keep the website and its forms secure, and prevent spam and misuse
• keep reasonable business records, meet our legal obligations, and establish, exercise or defend legal claims where necessary.

We do not use your information for automated decision-making or profiling. Sending an inquiry does not add you to a newsletter or marketing list. If we ever wish to send you marketing messages, we will ask for your consent first where the law requires it.

06Our Reasons for Using Your Information

Data-protection law requires a lawful reason for each use of personal information. Depending on the situation, we rely on one or more of the following:

• Your consent, for example when you choose to send us an inquiry. You can withdraw your consent at any time; this does not affect anything done before you withdrew it.
• Steps you ask us to take before entering into a contract, such as preparing a quotation, and performing a contract once a booking is confirmed.
• Legal obligations that apply to us, such as record-keeping requirements.
• Legitimate interests, such as keeping the website secure, preventing spam and keeping proper records, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights.

07Who We May Share Information With

We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with others for their own advertising.

We may share personal information only where it is needed, with:

• the providers that host this website and deliver our email, so that your inquiry can reach us
• travel service providers, if you go ahead with travel arrangements (see the next section)
• professional advisers, or public authorities where we are required to by law or need to protect our legal rights.

08Travel Suppliers and Trip Arrangements

If you decide to go ahead with a journey, we may need to share relevant information, such as travellers’ names, travel dates, the number of travellers and any requirements you have told us about, with the independent providers needed to arrange it. These may include accommodation, transport or other travel service providers.

We share only the information reasonably necessary for each arrangement. These providers handle the information under their own privacy practices and legal obligations.

09Google Maps, WhatsApp and Other Services

Google Maps

Our Contact page shows an embedded Google map of Arusha. In most browsers the map loads only when you scroll close to it (some older browsers load it with the page). When it loads, your browser connects to Google, which may receive technical information such as your IP address and browser or device details and may use cookies or similar technologies, under Google’s own privacy policy. The map is set not to tell Google which page of our website you are viewing. The “Open in Maps” link takes you to Google Maps itself.

WhatsApp

Our WhatsApp links open WhatsApp, a service operated by Meta, with a short pre-written message that you can edit or delete before sending. Once you leave our website, WhatsApp’s own terms and privacy policy apply. Any message you send reaches us through WhatsApp.

Phone and email links

Phone and email links open the phone or email app on your device. We receive whatever you then choose to send us.

Fonts

The fonts on this website are hosted on our own server, so no external font service receives information about your visit.

10Cookies and Tracking Technologies

As this website is currently built, it:

• does not set its own cookies
• does not use analytics tools, advertising cookies, tracking pixels or social-media plugins
• does not store information in your browser’s local storage or session storage.

Third-party content can work differently. When the Google map on our Contact page loads, Google may set or read cookies or use similar technologies. If we add analytics or other tools in future, we will update this policy first and ask for your consent where the law requires it.

11International Processing

Some of the services involved in running this website and handling inquiries, such as web hosting, email, Google Maps and WhatsApp, and in future some travel suppliers, may use systems located outside Tanzania.

Where personal information is transferred outside Tanzania, we intend to handle it consistently with applicable data-protection requirements, including the rules on cross-border transfers under Tanzanian law.

12How Long We Keep Information

The website does not keep a database of inquiries. When you submit a form, your details are sent as an email to info@asilitrailsafrica.com and are not saved by the website itself. Copies remain in our email account, and the email and hosting systems involved may keep their own copies or logs according to their settings.

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, for example to respond to your inquiry, plan and manage your journey, keep business records, meet legal obligations, resolve disputes and keep the website secure. When information is no longer needed, we aim to delete it or make it anonymous where reasonably practical.

The short-lived rate-limiting record is described in section 4, “Technical Information and Website Security”.

13How We Protect Information

We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect personal information. For example, the website:

• is designed to be served over a secure HTTPS connection
• checks and cleans every form field on the server, and limits field lengths
• uses spam checks, rate limiting and request checks to reduce misuse
• blocks public access to internal files and sets standard browser security headers.

No website or email system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Email in particular is convenient but not a fully secure channel, which is one more reason not to send sensitive information through a general inquiry.

14Your Privacy Rights

Subject to the conditions and exceptions set out in applicable law, you may have the right to:

• be informed about how your personal information is used
• ask for access to the personal information we hold about you
• ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete
• ask us to delete your information
• ask us to restrict how we use your information
• object to our use of your information, including for direct marketing
• withdraw your consent where we rely on consent
• receive your information in a portable form, where this applies
• make a complaint to the Personal Data Protection Commission (see section 19).

To make a request, email info@asilitrailsafrica.com. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request, and we will respond within the time required by law. Some rights may not apply in every situation, for example where we must keep information to meet a legal obligation; if so, we will explain why.

15Children’s Privacy

Our inquiry forms are intended to be completed by adults, or by people authorised to make a travel inquiry, such as a parent or guardian planning a family trip. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children through this website.

If a child’s details are needed to arrange a family journey, a parent or guardian should provide them. If you believe a child has sent us personal information, please contact us and we will deal with it.

16External Links

This website links to other websites and services, such as WhatsApp, Google Maps and the Personal Data Protection Commission. We are not responsible for their content or privacy practices, so please read their own policies when you visit them.

17Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy when the website, our services or the law change. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised. If we make a significant change, we will make it clear on this page.

18Contact Us

For any question about this policy or your personal information, please contact:

19Complaints and the PDPC

If you have a concern about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first so that we can try to put it right.

You also have the right to complain to Tanzania’s Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC), the authority responsible for data protection in Tanzania: pdpc.go.tz (opens in a new tab).