Community Guidelines

What belongs here

Share useful tourism-related discoveries: nature and wildlife, scenery, photographic spots, accommodation, food, activities, events, fishing and picnic places, local culture, travel conditions and responsible local tips. Focus on experiences that visitors may lawfully and responsibly access. Include useful warnings about permits, opening hours, road conditions, weather, wildlife, water, accessibility or local rules where relevant.

Visitor safety

Do not encourage trespassing, dangerous driving, approaching wildlife, entering restricted areas or ignoring property and conservation rules. Never present an uncertain or changing situation as guaranteed safe. TravelChannel monitors and moderates community reports, but conditions can change after publication and no community post replaces current advice from local authorities, park management, a property or an experienced guide.

Bird sightings

Use the bird’s species name as the title when known and add useful details such as number seen, habitat, behaviour, season and identification confidence. Mark nests, chicks, breeding sites, rare birds and sensitive species as protected so the exact location is not shown publicly. Do not disturb birds, approach nests too closely or repeatedly play recordings to attract them. Bird Scores count approved sightings and distinctly named species; uncertain identifications may be corrected during moderation.

Travel alerts and visitor warnings

You may report a current hazard or serious visitor concern, including road damage, a fallen tree, unsafe access, border delays or irregularities, suspected pressure to pay a bribe, theft concerns, dangerous conditions or a significant accommodation problem. State only what you personally observed, when and where it happened, and include a photo, video, map location, receipt or other supporting information where it is safe and lawful to do so.

Do not publish rumours, insults, private personal information or identify someone as a thief or criminal. Do not use the service to threaten a business, settle a personal dispute or evade lawful speed enforcement. Accommodation reports should distinguish a factual difference—such as an advertised pool being unavailable—from opinion. Alerts are held for careful moderation and may be edited, delayed, rejected, removed or referred to the relevant authority or business for verification and response.

An approved alert is a time-stamped community report, not a permanent finding that a place or business is unsafe. Travellers must check current official advice because conditions may have changed.

Personal family and friend posts

Please do not upload ordinary family albums, casual friend photos, selfies or private social updates. Facebook, Instagram and other personal social services are better suited to that content. People may appear when they are genuinely part of the tourism experience or story and the contributor has the required permission to publish them.

No spam or irresponsible use

• Do not repeatedly upload the same or nearly identical content.
• Do not post misleading promotions, unrelated advertising, scams or fake locations.
• Do not harass people, expose private information or reveal sensitive wildlife locations.
• Do not try to evade upload limits, warnings, moderation or account restrictions.
• Do not use another person’s identity, media or business name without authority.

Checks, warnings and account action

Automated safety checks and TravelChannel moderators may hold, reject, hide or remove submissions. Where appropriate, an account may receive a warning or temporary cooling-off restriction. Repeated violations may result in longer restrictions or account closure. Serious conduct—including fraud, dangerous disclosures, harassment or deliberate copyright abuse—may lead to immediate suspension without waiting for three warnings.

As a general fairness guide, three confirmed warnings may result in account suspension or closure. TravelChannel may use a different response where the seriousness, timing or context requires it. A contributor may ask for a review by emailing travelchannel.co.za@gmail.com.