To answer the question about major changes of circumstance between the time the deposit is taken, and the time the hunt takes place: any reputable safari co should not take a deposit on a hunt they know, or reasonably expect that they cannot deliver. For example, if you know you are losing your concession at the end of this year, it's borderline criminal (it's called fraud) to take a deposit for a hunt in that concession for next year.

Putting aside these flagrant cases, what happens if something does happen that's totally unpredictable and out of the players' control? Well there are two options. Either the deposit is refunded, or the operator offers a substitute hunt that the client can choose to decline.

Regarding fee increases, I have covered this elsewhere. The operator should honor the fees he quoted at the time he took the deposit, or if he can't (like some of the Tanz. guys last year), the deposit should be refunded in full.

The next question is what to do to avoid the situation where the safari co refuses to refund the deposit? The only way to preclude this is to have someone hold the money in escrow. On more than one occasion when the future seemed murky, I as the agent have held the deposits until the hunt began, by agreement of the parties. The safari cos don't like this, as they need some money coming in during the off season. However, if the choice is getting the booking or not, most will agree to this arrangement. But what if the agent absconds or goes belly up? I guess the answer is you can't ever totally eliminate the risk associated with paid hunting. Even governments go belly up! Staying at home has risks too...

Of course there's the gray area. This year, there were unusually good rains in the lowveld of Zim/SA. This means the bush is very thick and the game is widely dispersed. Is this reason to call off a hunt? No, this is within the normal "tolerances" of the vagaries of hunting. The PH needs to "make a plan" in such cases. Our PAC hunting area in Zim was erratic this year for this reason. Elephants don't need to risk their lives in the farming areas when there is plenty of browse in the bush. We arranged and offered our clients "cull tags" in the concessions instead. These hunts were accepted and successful, even though they were $1K more expensive than PAC.