I put a deposit down in November 2006 for the following trip in October 2007.
3 nights at Selinda
3 nights at Little Virumba sp?
2 nights at Little Mombo
I am due to pay another installment soon. Will the price for this trip be a firm price as of when I put my deposit down or will I be responsible for the increase in rates which has since gone into effect? I have yet to speak to my travel agent at Eyes on Africa about this. I wanted to have some info prior to that discussion.

Zin,

I can't directly answer your question about Eyes on Africa, I used a different agent. But when I made my deposit in July of 2006 for June 2007 trip, the agent confirmed in writing that this was the firm price for 2007. Most likely in Nov. of 2006, Wilderness had their prices set for Oct of 2007, so you hopefully should have a firm price. In any case, I think that Eyes on Africa would have clarified that for you at the time of your deposit. Maybe check your written confirmation from them, and see if it says "firm price" or something similar to that. Has Eyes suggested to you recently that your trip price may have changed, or is this just conjecture on your part?

Can you check your initial documentation and see if it says based on 2006 prices? If not, then it should be for Oct 2007. I believe the Wilderness camps get the next year's pricing out about Sept. In that case by booking in Nov, you'd have those rates.

I looked at my original Eyes on Africa quote that was about 16 months before my departure.

There was this comment regarding currency fluctuation, but I think Wilderness just books in dollars if you are in the US.
"Please note that a portion of these costs have been converted from South African Rand to US$ and are therefore subject to currency fluctuations. The final rate of exchange that will apply is the one on day of final payment."

The intra-Africa flights were also just estimates.

Anyway the final cost was less than the original estimate.

You have a nice itinerary!

I think Wilderness might set "next year's prices" earlier than September, though I don't know for sure. I recently booked through Eyes on Africa and, while discussing the merits of October 2007 vs sometime in 2008, they quoted me a couple of 2008 Wilderness prices that "had just come out." This was in mid or late June.

Brandywine, Thanks for the info.There is nothing about a firm price in the confirmation. I did look at the website as atravelynn suggested and it just mentions currency fluctuations.It is just conjecture on my part and I wanted to be "ready" in case they tried to raise the quoted price.

We just returned from our trip booked through Nicky at Eyes on Africa. Like everyone we booked about a year in advance, and we had no change in pricing for the lodges. She had the prices at that time.

We were very happy with Nicky and Eyes on Africa and you should feel very confortable.

how much is the increase expected to be?

And, not to hijack this post, but I have been talking to Vanessa at Eyes on Africa. I am assuming that she is just as knowledgeable as Nicki, who seems to be very much appreciated on this board. Has anyone dealt with Vanessa?

Momliz -- I am a newbie and have just booked my first trip to Africa (going on a WS camping safari + a few days at Mala Mala). I've been dealing with Vanessa at EoA and have been very happy. She has been very helpful, knowledgable, informative, and very accommodating of my many questions and several iterations of varying itineraries. So far, the planning and booking experience with her has been quite good.

Momliz,

I have dealt with Vanessa at Eyes and I can confirm that she is reliable and very professional. She is not terribly creative however in tweaking itineraries to achieve cost savings.

The emails from EoA usually say when prices are fixed and when they aren't. mine are fixed for the camp rates in Oct 2007, but we didn't get air rates until Jan, the emails confirming everything stated all that clearly. So your camp rates will not be going up.