Muhiga Safaris (“we,” “us,” “our”) is a Kisoro-based Uganda safari operator. This policy explains what information we collect when you enquire about or book a safari with us, how we use it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. It applies to this website and to the WhatsApp, phone and email channels we use to plan your trip.
Information We Collect
Enquiry and booking information. When you contact us through the website form, WhatsApp, phone or email, we collect what you provide directly: your name, email address, phone number, preferred travel dates, party size, and budget range. Once you move from enquiry to booking, we additionally collect passport details (full name as it appears on your passport, passport number, nationality and expiry date), date of birth, and any medical or dietary information relevant to trekking or your stay, because Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) gorilla and chimpanzee permits are issued to a named individual and cannot be transferred or anonymised.
Payment information. Deposits and balance payments are processed through our payment provider or by bank transfer. We do not store full card numbers on our own systems; card details entered through a payment processor’s checkout are handled directly by that processor under its own security standards. We do retain a record of payment amounts, dates, and the last four digits of a card where a processor’s receipt includes them, for accounting and dispute-resolution purposes.
Technical information. Like most websites, ours may automatically log standard technical data — browser type, device, approximate location from IP address, and pages visited — typically through analytics tools, to understand how the site is used and to fix problems.
How We Use Your Information
We use enquiry information to respond to your questions and build an itemised itinerary proposal. Once you book, we use your passport and personal details specifically to apply for gorilla or chimpanzee trekking permits with the Uganda Wildlife Authority, to make lodge and vehicle reservations in your name, and to arrange any domestic flights. Permit applications typically need to be lodged three to six months ahead of your trek date, since UWA issues a fixed number of permits per gorilla family per day, so your passport details are usually the first personal data we submit externally after a booking is confirmed.
Medical or dietary information is passed only to the guide and lodges directly responsible for your safety and meals during the trip. This matters more in Uganda than on a typical holiday: treks at Bwindi and Mgahinga can involve several hours of steep walking at altitude, and the Rwenzori and Mount Elgon routes go considerably higher, so conditions like heart or respiratory issues, mobility limitations, or significant allergies are relevant to the guide planning your specific route and pace. This information is never used for marketing and never sold or shared beyond the people actually running your trip.
If your travelling party includes anyone under 18, we collect the same booking details (name, date of birth, passport information) as for adult travellers, since Uganda immigration and, where applicable, UWA require this for entry and permit issuance — gorilla permits themselves are only issued from age 15 upward, so we will flag before booking if a family itinerary needs adjusting around that age limit.
We may use your email or WhatsApp number to send trip-related updates before and during travel — permit confirmation, a pre-departure checklist, or a change to a pickup time. Marketing communications, such as occasional newsletters about new itineraries or seasonal offers, are sent only if you separately opt in, and every marketing message includes a way to unsubscribe at any time without affecting any trip you already have booked with us.
Who We Share Your Data With
Delivering a Uganda safari genuinely requires sharing a defined set of your information with third parties, and we limit this to what each party needs to do their part of the trip:
- Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) — full name, passport number, nationality and date of birth, to issue your named gorilla or chimpanzee trekking permit. UWA sets its own permit records-retention rules independently of us.
- Lodges and camps — your name, nationality, arrival/departure dates, and any dietary or accessibility needs, to hold and prepare your booking.
- Ground transport and driver-guides — your name, flight or border-crossing details, and itinerary, so they can meet and transport you.
- Payment processors — payment details necessary to process a deposit or balance payment, handled under that processor’s own privacy and security policy.
- Uganda immigration and border authorities — only where required by law for cross-border movement, such as a Bwindi–Rwanda or Uganda–Kenya crossing you’ve booked with us.
We do not sell your personal information to data brokers or advertisers, and we do not share passport or medical details with any party beyond those listed above without your explicit consent. Where your itinerary crosses into Rwanda or Kenya — for example, combining Bwindi gorilla trekking with a Kigali departure, or a Kidepo Valley route connecting toward Kenya — the same passport details already collected for your booking may also be provided to that country’s park authority or immigration service for the equivalent cross-border permit or entry requirement, following the same principle of sharing only what each authority needs.
International Data Transfer
Muhiga Safaris operates from Kisoro, Uganda, and most of our clients enquire from outside Uganda. This means your personal information is inevitably transferred to and processed in Uganda in order for us to plan and deliver your trip, and onward to the Uganda Wildlife Authority and other Uganda-based or regional partners listed above. By booking with us, you understand that your information will be handled under Ugandan data protection standards for the operational parts of your trip, alongside whatever additional protections apply where you personally are located.
Data Retention
We retain booking records, including passport details submitted for permit applications, for as long as needed to support your trip and to meet Uganda’s tax and accounting record-keeping requirements, after which they are deleted or anonymised. Enquiry details from people who never book are retained for up to 24 months so we can follow up on a delayed decision, then deleted if there has been no further contact. You can ask us to delete your enquiry or booking data sooner, subject to the legal retention obligations described above.
Cookies
Our website may use cookies for basic functionality (such as remembering a form you started) and for analytics that help us understand which pages are useful. You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings; doing so may affect features like a saved contact form. We do not use cookies to build advertising profiles of visitors.
Your Rights
Depending on your location, you may have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, correct inaccuracies, request a copy of it, or ask us to delete it, subject to the permit and tax record-keeping obligations described above. If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, this includes the rights set out under the GDPR, such as the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority if you believe we have mishandled your information. If you are a California resident, similar rights apply under the CCPA. In practice, most requests we receive are simply “please delete my enquiry” after a trip doesn’t go ahead, or “send me a copy of what you have,” and we handle both the same way regardless of where you’re writing from: contact us using the details below and we will respond within a reasonable time, generally within 30 days.
Third-Party Links
Our website and trip communications may link to third-party services we don’t control — a lodge’s own booking page, a payment processor’s checkout, Uganda Wildlife Authority’s permit portal, or a WhatsApp conversation thread. Once you follow one of those links or open WhatsApp, that service’s own privacy policy applies to what happens there, not this one. We link to these services because they’re genuinely necessary to complete a booking, not for advertising purposes.
Reviews and Testimonials
If you agree to leave a review after your trip — on our site, TripAdvisor, or Google — we may quote it in future marketing, using your first name and, where relevant, the trip you took (for example, “a 7-day Bwindi and Queen Elizabeth safari”). We will not publish your surname, contact details, or trip dates without asking first, and we will remove a published review at your request.
Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational steps to protect the information you share with us, including limiting access to passport and payment-related records to the staff directly handling your booking. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we do not store full payment card numbers on our own systems.
Changes To This Policy
We may update this policy as our booking process or legal obligations change. The date at the top of this page reflects the most recent update, and continued use of our services after a change means you accept the revised policy.
Contact Us
Questions about this policy, or requests regarding your personal data, can be sent to info@muhigasafaris.com, by WhatsApp to +256 703 971 247, or by post to Kabale Road, Kisoro, Uganda.