Privacy notice

ChatKNP is an independent WhatsApp companion for Kruger National Park, coming soon. We're not affiliated with SANParks.

Under POPIA, the people who run ChatKNP are the responsible party for your waitlist details. That means we decide what's collected and why, and we answer for it.

This notice covers joining the waitlist on this website, through our Facebook and Instagram sign-up forms, or by sending us a WhatsApp message.

We don't have a public email address yet. To reach us about your details, use the form at the bottom of this page.

When you join

• your first name
• your WhatsApp number
• a record that you agreed to WhatsApp messages about the launch (the exact wording, and when you agreed)

These three are needed to join. Without them, we can't tell you when ChatKNP opens.

If you answer the optional questions after joining

• your vote to name the scout, the ChatKNP wild dog
• when your next Kruger trip is
• which part of ChatKNP you'd use most
• your email address

Noted automatically when you join

• which ad, link or page brought you here
• the country you visited from, worked out from your connection. We don't keep your IP address with your sign-up.
• when you joined, and how many times you've signed up with this number

On Facebook, Instagram or WhatsApp

Our Facebook and Instagram sign-up forms ask for your first name, number and email, when your next Kruger trip is and what you'd use most. Meta may fill in your name, number and email from your profile. If you message us on WhatsApp, we see your number, your WhatsApp profile name and photo (if you share them) and what you write.

If you send us a privacy request

We keep your number, what you asked for and anything you add in the form.

To join the waitlist, we don't ask for your ID number, your location or any payment details. We'll never ask for banking details, passwords or one-time PINs. If someone claiming to be ChatKNP does, it isn't us.

• To message you on WhatsApp about the launch, and by email only if you added your email on this site for launch news.
• To decide what to build first, and who to tell first, from your optional answers.
• To count the votes for the scout's name, one per number.
• To see which ads and links work, so we spend less on the ones that don't.
• To answer your privacy requests.

We only message you because you said yes: you ticked the box on this site or on our Facebook or Instagram form, you messaged us first on WhatsApp, or you added your email for launch news. You can take that back at any time by replying STOP, using the unsubscribe link in any email, or using the form below. That stops future messages. It doesn't change anything that happened before you asked.

We'll only message you about ChatKNP.

Only the people who run ChatKNP, and two services that help us:

• Vercel, a US company, which hosts this website. It handles your sign-up and any privacy request on servers in the United States and stores the waitlist privately on servers in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Meta, which runs WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram. It carries the WhatsApp messages between us and holds what you type into its sign-up forms. Meta's own privacy policy covers this information, and Meta may process it outside South Africa.

If we start using an email service to send launch news, we'll name it here before we send the first email.

We don't share your details with SANParks, or with anyone for their own marketing.

The waitlist is stored privately: there's no public link to it, and only the people who run ChatKNP hold the key to open it. Connections to this site are encrypted.

Vercel, which hosts this site, logs technical details such as IP addresses to keep it running and secure. Vercel's own privacy policy covers those logs. We use your IP address for a moment to stop repeated sign-ups, but we don't store it.

If anyone ever gets at your details without permission, we'll tell you and the Information Regulator, as POPIA requires.

We keep your waitlist details until ChatKNP opens and for up to 12 months after that, then delete them. If we decide not to launch ChatKNP, we'll tell the waitlist and delete them. If you ask us to delete them sooner, we will.

If you start using ChatKNP when it opens, the updated version of this notice will cover what happens from then on.

We keep privacy requests for 12 months after we've dealt with them, as a record that we did.

You can ask us to:

• tell you whether we hold your details, and send you a copy
• correct them
• delete them
• stop messaging you

You can also object to how we use your details, or take back your consent, at any time. These rights apply wherever you live. Use the form below.

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your details, you can complain to South Africa's Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za.

The waitlist is for adults. If you're under 18, please ask a parent or guardian to join instead. If we find we've been given a child's details, we'll delete them.

This site doesn't use cookies.

Your browser keeps a few small settings on your device: whether you've already joined (a yes or no, never your name or number) and whether you used "Pause motion" in the footer. Until you close the tab, it also remembers the ad or link that brought you here and the scout you picked. Those two are sent to us only if you join. Clearing your browser data removes them all.

The Kruger withdrawal check (the quiz on the home page) runs in your browser only. Your answers aren't saved or sent to us. If you tap Share my result, only your score goes into the WhatsApp message you choose to send.

If we ever add advertising tracking, we'll say so here first.

If we change how we use your details, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If the change is significant, we'll tell the waitlist on WhatsApp first.

When ChatKNP opens, we'll update this notice to cover the chat itself, including your location, sightings and photos, if you choose to share them. We'll only ever use your photos with your permission.