Privacy policy

What we collect, why, how long we keep it, and how you stay in control.

This policy explains what personal information Savvy Wanderer Travels collects, why, who sees it, how long we keep it and how you stay in control. It follows South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). Last updated 17 Oct 2026.

Who we are: Savvy Wanderer Travels is a sole proprietorship run by Kim, who is our Information Officer and is registered with the Information Regulator. Email savvywanderertravels@gmail.com. Our business details are under who runs this site.

The short version

We collect as little as possible. To get visa alerts you only give us your email address.
We never sell your information, and we don’t use advertising trackers.
Every email has an unsubscribe link that works straight away. How to unsubscribe.
You can ask us what we hold about you, or ask us to delete it, at any time.

What we collect, why, and how long we keep it

When	What we collect	Why	How long we keep it
You sign up for visa alerts	Your email address, the date and time you agreed, and your confirmation that you’re 18 or older	To send the emails you asked for	Until you unsubscribe. After that we keep only your email address on a do-not-email list, so you’re never added again by mistake
You join a kit waitlist	Your email address, the kit you chose and your consent	To email you when that kit launches	Deleted within 30 days after the kit launches, or sooner if you ask
You buy a kit	Your name, email address, what you bought, the amount and the payment reference. The payment provider handles your card details; we never see them	To deliver your kit, give refunds and keep tax records	5 years after the sale, because South African tax law requires it
You ask us to plan a trip	Your first name, email address, the trip details you give us (where, when, who’s travelling, your budget, your hotel preferences and what you enjoy) and your consent. If you pay, the payment provider handles your card details; we never see them	To plan your trip, send you the plan and answer your questions about it	Trip details are deleted 3 months after your travel date, or sooner if you ask. If you paid, the sale record (name, email, amount, date) is kept 5 years, because South African tax law requires it
You contact us or send a brand brief	Your email address, your message, and your name if you give it	To reply to you	Deleted 12 months after our last message, unless it becomes a paid agreement (then 5 years, for tax)
You report a change on a guide	Your report, the page it’s about, and your email address only if you choose to give it	To check and correct the guide	Deleted 12 months after we’ve dealt with it
You make a privacy or access request	Your email address and the details of your request	To handle it, and to show we handled it properly	2 years after we close the request
You allow analytics	Pages you visit, your device and browser type, and your approximate area (Google Analytics, with IP addresses anonymised)	To see which guides help most	Up to 14 months in Google Analytics
You use the site	Your passport choice, checklist ticks and cookie choice, saved only in your own browser	So the site remembers them on your device	Until you clear your browser data. We can’t see these

We don’t ask for your passport number, ID number, date of birth, phone number or address on any form. Please don’t send them to us.

Who else handles it

We use a few service providers (“operators” under POPIA). Each one may only use your information to provide its service to us.

Netlify (United States) hosts the website and receives form submissions.
Email service: no email service is in use yet. We’ll name it here before the first visa alert is sent. It stores the mailing list and sends the emails.
Shop and payments: nothing is on sale yet. We’ll name our shop and payment providers here before anything goes on sale.
Google Fonts serves the website’s typefaces. Your browser fetches them from Google, which sees your IP address. No cookies are set.
Google Analytics counts visits, only if you allow it.

Information sent outside South Africa: some of these providers store information in other countries, such as the United States and the European Union. POPIA (section 72) allows this when the provider is bound by laws or a contract that protect your information in a similar way to POPIA. We only use providers that meet that standard.

We don’t embed videos, maps or social media feeds from other companies. The world map on this site is drawn by our own code.

Emails from us

We only send marketing emails to people who ticked the box to ask for them (POPIA section 69). We never buy or borrow email lists.
We may send you one email asking you to confirm your sign-up. Nothing else is sent until you do.
Every email says it’s from Savvy Wanderer Travels, gives our email address, and has an unsubscribe link.
Visa alerts: at most one email a week, plus urgent rule changes. The kit waitlist: one email when your kit launches.

How fast we act

You ask us to…	We’ll do it…
Unsubscribe, using the link in any email	Straight away
Unsubscribe, by email or with our form	Within 5 working days
Tell you what we hold, correct it or delete it	Within 30 days
Give you access to a record (a PAIA request)	A decision within 30 days. If we need longer, we’ll tell you why, and we can extend once by up to 30 days, as PAIA allows
Fix or refund a faulty kit	We reply within 2 working days, and pay any refund within 10 working days of agreeing it
Reply to a trip planning request	Within 2 working days. Your plan arrives within 10 working days of payment

If a security breach ever affects your information, we’ll tell you and the Information Regulator as soon as reasonably possible, as POPIA requires.

Children

This site is for adults. Our forms ask you to confirm you’re 18 or older. If you think a child has sent us personal information, contact us and we’ll delete it.

Keeping it safe

The site uses HTTPS encryption, forms are filtered for spam, and only the owner can see submissions. Our accounts with service providers are protected by strong passwords and two-step sign-in.

Your rights

You can ask us to:

tell you what personal information we hold about you
correct it
delete it
stop using it for marketing
withdraw a consent you gave

Email savvywanderertravels@gmail.com or use the form below. If you’re not happy with how we handle your information, you can complain to the Information Regulator (email enquiries@inforegulator.org.za).

Make a request

Our PAIA manual

Our PAIA manual explains which records we keep and how to ask for them under the Promotion of Access to Information Act.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top, and we’ll email subscribers about any important change.

Hear it first

Visa rules change every few months. Get the changes by email: one a week at most, plus urgent ones. Unsubscribe with one click.