Privacy notice

West Africa Wander runs group and private trips across Ghana and West Africa. This notice explains what personal data we collect when you use this website or travel with us, and what we do with it.

West Africa Wander Ltd, a company registered in Ghana (number CS158520725), is the data controller for this data under Ghana's Data Protection Act, 2012 (Act 843).

• Your name, email address and phone number, when you create an account or book a trip.
• The name of each traveller on a booking, and any other details a trip needs, which we ask for when you book and only for that trip.
• Messages you send us by email, WhatsApp or the contact form.
• Payment records: the amount, date and Paystack reference of each payment. Your card or Mobile Money details go to Paystack, not to us.
• Basic technical information our hosting needs to run and protect the site, such as your IP address and browser type.

• To take and manage your booking, take your payments and send your receipts.
• To send trip details and payment reminders by email, SMS or WhatsApp.
• To answer your questions and help you before, during and after your trip.
• To keep the site secure and prevent fraud.
• To send news and offers, only if you said yes. You can stop them at any time.

We use your data to carry out your booking (our contract with you), to meet our legal duties such as tax records, to keep the site safe (our legitimate interest), and for marketing only with your consent.

We share only what each service needs to do its job:

• Appwrite, which hosts this website, your account and your bookings (servers in Frankfurt, Germany).
• Paystack, which takes card and Mobile Money payments.
• Resend, which sends our emails, and Meta's WhatsApp service and an SMS provider, which send our messages.
• Cloudflare, which delivers the site and protects it from attacks, and whose Turnstile check confirms that a form is sent by a person.
• Upstash, which counts how often a form is sent from the same connection or email address, to stop abuse. These counts delete themselves within an hour.
• Google, only if you choose to sign in with Google (see section 5).
• The guides, hotels and transport companies on your trip, who get only the names and details they need to run it.

Some of these services store data outside Ghana. We use only services that are bound by contract to keep your data secure and to use it only to provide their service to us.

We never sell your personal data.

If you choose Continue with Google, Google shares your name, email address and profile picture with us, and confirms that your email address is verified. We never receive your Google password, and we cannot see anything else in your Google account.

We use your name and email address only to create your West Africa Wander account and to sign you in. They are stored with your account on Appwrite (see section 4). We never sell this data, never use it for advertising and never share it with anyone else.

You can stop us receiving it at any time in your Google Account, under Security, then Third-party apps and services. To delete your account and the details Google shared, email info@westafricawander.com; section 8 explains what happens next.

Payments are handled by Paystack. When you pay by card or by MTN, Telecel or AT Mobile Money, you enter your details in Paystack's secure window, so we never see or store your card number, PIN or wallet details.

Paystack tells us whether the payment worked, the amount and a reference, which we keep with your booking. Paystack's own privacy policy covers the details you give them.

• Booking and payment records: 6 years, for tax and accounting.
• Your account: until you ask us to close it, then deleted within 30 days, apart from the records above.
• Messages and enquiries: 2 years.

Under Ghana's Data Protection Act, you can:

• ask what personal data we hold about you, and for a copy;
• ask us to correct anything that is wrong;
• ask us to delete your data, where we do not need to keep it by law;
• tell us to stop sending you marketing at any time;
• complain to Ghana's Data Protection Commission.

To use any of these rights, email info@westafricawander.com. We reply within 30 days.

We use a few cookies and similar browser storage to keep the site working, such as remembering your currency and your light or dark setting. We do not use analytics or advertising cookies at the moment. Our Cookies page lists them all and lets you change your settings.

You must be 18 or over to book. Children can travel on our trips, but a parent or guardian books for them and gives their details, and we use those details only to run the trip.

We update this notice when our services or the law change. The date at the top shows the current version. If a change affects how we use your data, we email account holders before it applies.

Questions about this notice or your data? Email info@westafricawander.com, or call or WhatsApp +233 54 354 7786.

Data protection contact: our data protection lead, at info@westafricawander.com. You can also contact Ghana's Data Protection Commission.