The Mediterranean Pearl & Palaces

• No formal minimum — These touring itineraries carry no fixed minimum age. Hotels and riads across Morocco and Egypt welcome children, and several of our properties have connecting family rooms.
• Hot-air balloon flights — Balloon operators over the Valley of the Kings and Marrakech generally require children to be at least seven, and tall enough to brace unaided in the basket on landing.
• Inside the tombs and kasbahs — Some tomb chambers and kasbah towers are reached by steep ladders and low, unlit passages, and are unsuitable for very young children or anyone unsteady on their feet. Your guide will always offer an alternative.
• Desert nights — Camel treks and desert camps are usually set at six years and above, largely because of the cold and the distance from a clinic.
• Talk to us first — Limits vary from property to property and from activity to activity. Speak to our experts before you book, and we will pre-arrange the details with each hotel and riad around the ages of the children travelling with you.

• Your duffel — A soft-sided Finders & Keepers Safaris duffel, sized for the 15 kg limit on the light aircraft that move you between camps. Rigid suitcases cannot be carried on those flights at all.
• What is inside it — A branded Finders & Keepers Safaris safari hat, a safari vest, and a hooded jumper for cold dawn starts and balloon mornings.
• Yours to keep — The bag and everything in it is a gift, not a loan. Nothing is returned at the end of your journey.
• Packing around it — Soft luggage, neutral colours, and layers. Laundry is included at nearly every camp, which is why 15 kg goes further than it sounds.

River cruise itineraries between Luxor and Aswan run to fixed weekly schedules set by the cruise operator, so touring days are set in advance rather than fully flexible. Modest dress is appreciated at religious and cultural sites.

• Early starts — Touring days begin very early in the morning. Your guide will confirm what time you will be collected from your hotel.
• Tailoring this journey — If you would like this package with more or fewer days, arranged for a group, a family or a solo traveller, or with add-ons, reach out and we will tailor it for you.
• Route changes — Your guide or driver may alter the route in certain circumstances, but every destination set out in the itinerary will be covered.

• Passport — Valid for at least six months beyond your arrival date, with at least one blank page.
• Visa — Most visitors, including UK, EU, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders, take either the US$25 single-entry eVisa online (about three working days) or a visa on arrival at Cairo and the other main airports. Both allow a 30-day stay.
• Handled for you on group arrivals — Where we meet your group through our licensed ground agent, entry formalities are completed on your behalf while you clear the terminal.
• Camera permits — Several tombs and museums charge separately for photography, and a few interiors prohibit it outright. Your guide carries the permits your itinerary needs.
• Dress at religious sites — Shoulders and knees covered at mosques, churches and monasteries, and a scarf for women entering a mosque.
• We file it for you — Whether you are flying in from overseas or travelling from elsewhere on the continent, we complete and submit your visa application on your behalf. You hand us your documents once. We do the filing, chase the approval, and carry the confirmations in your travel pack so nothing rests on you remembering a reference number at a counter.
• Most of Africa is open to you — The great majority of our African destinations are now either visa-free or issue a visa on arrival, so an embassy queue is rarely in your future at all. Where a visa on arrival does apply, we prepare and lodge the paperwork ahead of you — you reach the desk with a finished file rather than a blank form and a biro.
• Before you travel — Entry rules change frequently and without much notice. Your specialist confirms the current requirements for every passport in your party at the time of booking, and checks them again before you fly.

• Once confirmed, you travel — When your departure date is confirmed, it is guaranteed. We do not cancel, merge or reschedule a confirmed departure for commercial reasons, however the final numbers fall.
• What confirms a departure — A departure becomes confirmed once the agreed number of travellers has been reached and paid for in line with the agreed payment schedule. Places held without payment do not count towards it.
• If the minimum is not reached — Where a group departure has not reached its agreed numbers, we tell you early rather than late, and you choose: move to the next available date, continue at a revised small-group rate, or take a full refund of everything you have paid.
• Solo journeys — Solo and tailor-made itineraries carry no group minimum at all. Your dates are confirmed the moment your deposit is received.