Privacy Policy | Rupping Bush Retreats

Who We Are

Rupping Bush Retreats is a private, owner-hosted bush lodge located in the Shona Langa Nature Estate, Limpopo, South Africa. This website is operated by Mariska Rupping.

Under the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Mariska Rupping is the appointed Information Officer for Rupping Bush Retreats and is responsible for ensuring compliance with this Act.

For any privacy-related questions, requests, or complaints, you can email us or contact us on WhatsApp at 083 794 3437.

Information We Collect

We only collect information that you voluntarily provide to us. This happens when you:

Submit an enquiry or booking form on this website
Send us a WhatsApp message or email
Contact us by phone

The information we may collect includes:

Your name and surname
Your email address
Your phone number
Your preferred travel dates
Number of guests in your party
Any additional information you choose to share in your message

We also collect information automatically when you visit this website — including your IP address, device and browser type, the pages you view, how you arrived at our site, and your general geographic location (typically city or country level). This information is collected through Google Tag Manager and the third-party tools described in the Cookies & Tracking Technologies section below.

How We Use Your Information

We use your personal information only for the following purposes:

To respond to your booking enquiry
To confirm and manage your reservation
To send you arrival information and house guide after booking
To contact you about your stay if necessary
To improve our website and guest experience

We will never use your information for unsolicited marketing, and we will never pass your details to third parties for marketing purposes.

Sharing Your Information

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal information to anyone.

However, in order to operate this website and respond to your enquiries, we use the following third-party service providers (known as "operators" under POPIA) who process limited data on our behalf:

Web3Forms — our contact form provider. When you submit an enquiry, your details are sent through Web3Forms to our email inbox. Web3Forms privacy policy.
Google (Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4, Google Ads) — for website analytics and advertising measurement. Google privacy policy.
Meta Platforms (Facebook Pixel and Conversions API) — for advertising measurement and audience matching on Facebook and Instagram. Meta privacy policy.
Hostinger — our website hosting provider. Hostinger privacy policy.

The specific data shared with each of these providers and the purpose is described in the Cookies & Tracking Technologies section below.

If you book through a third-party platform such as LekkeSlaap, Airbnb, or Booking.com, those platforms have their own privacy policies which govern how they handle your data. We encourage you to review them directly.

Cookies & Tracking Technologies

This website uses cookies and similar tracking technologies for two purposes: to make the site work properly, and to measure how our advertising performs. We are honest that some of these technologies do track you across other websites — and we explain exactly what each one does below.

Essential cookies — These are required for the site to function (for example, remembering your cookie preferences). They cannot be switched off.

Analytics & advertising cookies — These are loaded only after you give your consent on the cookie banner. They include:

Google Tag Manager (container GTM-MWJP5VDX) — a tag management system that loads our other tracking tools. It does not itself collect data, but it is the mechanism that loads the tools below.
Google Analytics 4 (property G-KC1SN218FB) — collects information about how visitors use the site (pages viewed, time on site, device, approximate location, traffic source). This data helps us improve the website.
Google Ads conversion tracking — records when a visitor clicks a Google ad and then submits an enquiry or clicks the WhatsApp button. This helps us understand which ads work and avoid wasting money on ads that don't.
Meta Pixel (ID 1199580192086433) — a tracking pixel from Meta (Facebook and Instagram) that records pages viewed and actions taken on this site. Meta uses this data to measure our ad performance and to show our ads to people similar to our existing enquirers. This technology does track you across other websites that use Meta Pixel.
Meta Conversions API — sends the same conversion events to Meta from our server. Personal identifiers (email, phone, name) are hashed before being sent and are used by Meta only for matching purposes.

Specific cookies and identifiers we set — When you grant consent, the following cookies may be placed on your device:

_ga, _ga_KC1SN218FB — Google Analytics 4. Identifies your browser session for analytics. Expires after 13 months.
_gcl_au — Google Ads conversion linker. Links ad clicks to enquiries. Expires after 90 days.
_fbp — Meta Pixel browser identifier. Used to attribute conversions to ad clicks. Expires after 90 days.
fr — Meta cross-site advertising cookie (read from facebook.com when the Pixel loads). Used for ad targeting. Expires after 90 days.
rbr_consent — our own cookie. Stores your consent choice so we don't show the banner again. Expires after 365 days. Essential — always set, regardless of consent choice.

What we share with Meta and Google — When you submit an enquiry form, hashed versions of your email address and phone number may be sent to Meta and Google so that they can match the conversion to an ad click. Meta and Google use this data to measure ad performance and to build similar audiences. The data is not used to contact you, and your raw email address and phone number are never shared in plain text.

Your choice — When you first visit this website, you will see a cookie banner asking whether you accept analytics and advertising cookies. You can choose to accept all, reject all, or adjust your preferences. You can change your choice at any time using the "Cookie Preferences" link in our footer. If you reject analytics and advertising cookies, the site will still work normally — we just won't be able to measure how our ads perform.

You can also disable cookies in your browser settings, or opt out of advertising profiling directly with Google (Google Ad Settings) and Meta (Meta Ad Preferences).

Your Rights

Under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), you have the right to:

Know what personal information we hold about you
Request a copy of your personal information
Request that we correct inaccurate information
Request that we delete your personal information
Object to the processing of your personal information

To exercise any of these rights, please email us. We will respond within a reasonable time.

Data Security

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, loss, or misuse. Your enquiry data is transmitted over an encrypted connection (HTTPS) via Web3Forms and received in our private email inbox.

We retain your booking information for as long as is necessary to manage your stay and for any follow-up communication. We do not keep your data indefinitely.

Third-Party Links

This website contains links to third-party websites including LekkeSlaap, Airbnb, Booking.com, Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these platforms. We encourage you to read their privacy policies before submitting any personal information to them.

Children

This website is not directed at children under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated date at the top. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

Continued use of this website after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or how we handle your personal information, please get in touch:

Information Officer: Mariska Rupping
Email: Email Us
WhatsApp: 083 794 3437
Property: Rupping Bush Retreats, Shona Langa Nature Estate, Limpopo, South Africa

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa: inforegulator.org.za.