Privacy Policy

Last updated: 25 September 2026

In short: we use your booking details only to run your hike and keep our records, and we never sell them. Card details go straight to Stripe or PayPal and never reach us. Our booking statistics use no cookies and don’t identify you. You can ask us to see, correct or delete your information at any time.

1. Who is responsible for your information

Hike Lion’s Head, Cape Town, South Africa, is the responsible party (under POPIA) and data controller (under the GDPR) for personal information collected through www.hikelionshead.co.za and our booking channels. Contact our Information Officer at bookings@hikelionshead.co.za or on WhatsApp +27 81 762 5551.

2. What we collect

• Booking details you give us: name, email address, phone number, pickup location, hike date and time, group size, and the booking chat or form you completed.
• Payment information: whether and how you paid, the amount, and payment references from Stripe or PayPal. Card numbers are entered directly with Stripe or PayPal. We never receive or store them.
• Messages: emails and WhatsApp messages you send us.
• Booking statistics: anonymous information about how the booking pages are used, such as which booking step was reached, the type of device and the website that referred you. It uses a random code that only lasts for your browser session, with no cookies, no IP address and nothing that identifies you.

3. How we use it

• To take and manage your booking, arrange your pickup and contact you about your hike, including weather changes.
• To take payments, give refunds and prevent fraud.
• To keep the financial and tax records the law requires.
• To improve our booking process, using anonymous statistics only.

We process your information because it’s needed for our contract with you, to meet legal obligations, and for our legitimate interest in running a safe and efficient business. We don’t use it for marketing without your consent, and we never sell it.

4. Who we share it with

• Your guide: the details needed to collect you and run your hike.
• Stripe (card, Apple Pay and Google Pay payments) and PayPal, to process payments.
• SplitForms, the form service that records bookings for us.
• Our website host and email providers, to run this website and send your confirmation emails.
• Authorities, where the law requires it.

Some of these providers are outside South Africa (for example Stripe and PayPal). We only use providers that protect personal information to a standard comparable to POPIA, as section 72 of POPIA requires.

5. Services your browser connects to

To show live information, this website loads a few services directly in your browser. Like any website you visit, they see your IP address: Stripe (the payment form and fraud prevention), Open-Meteo (weather forecast), ExchangeRate-API (currency estimates) and cdnjs (the screenshot tool on the confirmation screen). PayPal payments happen on PayPal’s own website.

6. Cookies and browser storage

• We don’t use advertising or tracking cookies.
• Stripe sets cookies (__stripe_mid, __stripe_sid) to prevent card fraud during payment.
• Your browser’s storage keeps your booking details while you pay on PayPal (session storage, cleared when you close the tab), the booking-statistics session code, and the booking timer.

7. How long we keep it

• Booking and payment records, including the booking chat: up to 5 years, as required for tax and accounting records.
• Anonymous booking statistics: 13 months.

8. Security

This website uses encrypted connections (HTTPS). Payments are handled by Stripe and PayPal, which are PCI DSS certified, and access to booking records is limited to our team.

9. Your rights

You can ask us:

• for a copy of the personal information we hold about you;
• to correct or update it;
• to delete it, unless we have to keep it by law (for example tax records);
• to stop processing it, or object to how we use it.

Email bookings@hikelionshead.co.za. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa) at inforegulator.org.za. If you live in the EU or UK, you also have your rights under the GDPR, including data portability, and can complain to your local data protection authority.

10. Children

Bookings must be made by an adult. We don’t knowingly collect information about children other than the number of hikers in a group booking.

11. Changes

We’ll update this page if our practices change. The date at the top shows the latest version.