Tipping Protocol

All gratuities are at guests' discretion, and guests are encouraged to tip according to the level of service rendered. For a detailed, day-by-day breakdown of gratuity guidelines, please see the Cash and Gratuity Guidelines document on the Downloads page of your website.

You will have the same guide for the duration of your stay in Cape Town, and will tip your guide after your last tour.

You will have the same private guide for the duration of your stay in Rwanda (separate from the guides who accompany you on your gorilla treks). You tip your private guide when you return to Kigali, at the end of your time together.

Transfer drivers are tipped at the end of the transfer. Pilots do not get tips.

If you use porters in the airports we suggest tipping $1 per bag.

At restaurants in towns and cities it is customary to tip 10%.

Tipping at properties is always done at the end of your stay, not per individual service.

Safari Camps - you will have the same guide throughout your stay, and will tip him or her as you say goodbye at the airstrip. If you have a tracker he or she will be tipped at this time as well. A collective tip for the general staff is left in a communal tip box as you depart camp for the airstrip. If you have a butler they will be tipped individually at the end of your stay. .

Gorilla treks - at the end of your hour spent with the gorillas, as you say goodbye to the trackers, you give the total tip to one tracker and instruct him to share it with his colleagues. Your two gorilla guides and one porter will accompany you back down the mountain to the trailhead, where you say goodbye: tip your porter individually, and give the guides' tip to one guide, instructing him to share it with his colleague.

Again, these figures are only guidelines, and guests are at liberty to tip or not tip according to their own judgement. All staff prefer “hard” currencies – particularly US Dollars. Please note that traveler’s checks cannot be used for tipping because the recipient will be unable to cash them. In a pinch, if you run low on cash, safari camps and lodges can charge a tip to a guest’s credit card, and the tip is then added to the recipient's paycheck at the end of the month (i.e. it gets taxed as income).