Privacy Notice

Last updated: 11 June 2026

1. Who we are

The data controller is Siwa Oasis Retreats L.L.C., an independent retreat planning service registered in Egypt (Tax ID — ETA: 762-340-895; Commercial Registry: 393864). Our registered address is 4 Souq Street, Shali, Siwa, Marsa Matrouh 51512, Egypt. You can reach us by email at [email protected] or by telephone at +20 46 4601 273 (Saturday–Thursday, 09:00–18:00 Siwa time, UTC+2).

We are a small planning desk. We do not operate lodges, camps or spa facilities. We help people plan wellness retreats to Siwa Oasis and Egypt's Western Desert. All personal data we hold relates directly to that activity.

2. The information we collect

We collect only the information you actively provide to us. When you complete the enquiry form on the Contact page, we receive:

• Your full name
• Your email address
• The travel dates and number of guests you specify (if you choose to include them)
• The retreat type you select from the plan menu
• The free-text message you write to us
• A timestamp recording when the form was submitted

We do not collect your IP address for profiling purposes, nor do we gather device fingerprints, location data or behavioural analytics from your visit to this site. There are no third-party tracking scripts embedded here. The only data that reaches us is what you deliberately type and send.

3. How we use your information

We use the information you provide for one purpose: to plan and discuss a wellness retreat with you. In practice, this means:

• Reading your enquiry and drafting a personalised reply with lodge suggestions, a retreat outline and practical travel information
• Following up by email if we have clarifying questions about your dates, group size or wellness goals
• Sending you the finished retreat plan once it is agreed
• Corresponding with you about the logistics of your trip until you depart

We do not use your details to send newsletters, seasonal promotions, partner offers or any communication unrelated to the retreat you enquired about. We will not add your address to any mailing list without your explicit, separate request.

4. Our lawful basis for processing

We process your personal data on two grounds recognised under Egyptian Data Protection Law No. 151 of 2020 and, where applicable to visitors from the European Economic Area, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR):

• Performance of a pre-contractual arrangement — when you submit an enquiry, you are asking us to take steps toward planning a service for you. Processing your contact details and retreat requirements is necessary to do that.
• Consent — the form requires you to tick a box confirming that you have read this notice and agree to us holding your information for the purpose described. You may withdraw that consent at any time by writing to us at the address above.

We do not rely on legitimate interests as a basis for any processing that is not strictly necessary to answer your enquiry.

5. How long we keep your data

We retain your enquiry records and any correspondence for 23 months from the date of your initial contact. This period covers the planning cycle, any trip that follows, and a reasonable window during which you might have a follow-up question after returning. After 23 months, your records are deleted from our systems unless you have made a further enquiry that extends the period, or unless we are required by Egyptian law to retain certain records for longer (for example, records of completed commercial transactions, which Egyptian commercial law requires us to hold for five years).

If your enquiry does not lead to a retreat, we retain your message and our reply for the same 23-month period before deletion. We do not retain information indefinitely on the basis that you might return someday.

6. Who has access to your information

Your information is accessed only by the members of the Siwa Oasis Retreats planning desk who are responsible for answering your enquiry. We do not share your personal details with the lodges, camps or service providers we recommend unless you have explicitly asked us to make a direct introduction on your behalf — and in that case, we will tell you what information we are passing on and to whom, before we do so.

We do not sell, rent or transfer your personal data to third parties for their own commercial purposes under any circumstances.

Our email and data infrastructure is hosted on servers operated by reputable providers subject to appropriate data-processing agreements. These providers act as processors under our instruction and are not permitted to use your data for any purpose other than operating the service we have contracted with them.

7. International transfers

Siwa Oasis Retreats L.L.C. is based in Egypt. If you are writing to us from within the European Economic Area, your personal data will be transferred to and processed in Egypt. Egypt is not currently the subject of an EU adequacy decision, so we rely on your freely given consent (ticked in the form) and the necessity of the pre-contractual steps you have requested as the basis for that transfer. If you have concerns about cross-border data movement, you are welcome to raise them with us directly before submitting the form.

8. Cookies and site analytics

This website does not use advertising cookies, third-party analytics cookies or any persistent tracking technology that follows you across other websites. We set a single, short-lived session cookie for the purpose of maintaining basic site functionality — for example, to remember that you have scrolled past a consent prompt within a single browsing session. This cookie expires when you close your browser tab and contains no personal data.

We do not use any web analytics platform. We do not know how many people visit this site, where they came from, or which pages they viewed. We collect no behavioural data about your visit.

9. Your rights

Under Egyptian Data Protection Law No. 151/2020 and, for EEA visitors, the GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to any personal data we hold about you:

• Access. You may ask us to confirm whether we hold any data about you and to provide a copy of it.
• Correction. You may ask us to correct any inaccurate information we hold.
• Deletion. You may ask us to delete your records ahead of the standard 23-month retention period, subject to any legal retention obligations we are bound by.
• Restriction. You may ask us to stop actively processing your data while a dispute about accuracy or lawfulness is resolved.
• Portability. You may ask for your data in a structured, machine-readable format.
• Objection. You may object to any processing you believe is not adequately justified.
• Withdrawal of consent. Where consent is the basis for processing, you may withdraw it at any time. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before that point.

To exercise any of these rights, write to [email protected]. We will respond within 30 days. We will not charge a fee for reasonable requests.

10. Data security

We take the security of your information seriously. Your enquiries are transmitted over an encrypted connection (HTTPS) and stored in access-controlled systems. The planning desk members with access to enquiry records are aware of their data-handling obligations. We keep the number of people with access to personal data as small as the operational needs of the desk allow.

No internet-connected system is entirely without risk. If we were to become aware of a breach that was likely to affect your rights, we would notify you and the relevant supervisory authority in accordance with our legal obligations.

11. Children

This site and the planning service it describes are directed at adults making decisions about travel. We do not knowingly collect personal data from individuals under the age of 18. If a family retreat enquiry includes a minor as a guest rather than an enquirer, the information provided relates to the travel arrangements only and is handled with the same care as all other enquiry data. If you believe a minor has submitted an enquiry without appropriate parental oversight, please contact us and we will delete the record promptly.

12. Third-party links

This site may contain links to external resources — for example, references to the lodges, national park services or travel information websites relevant to a Siwa trip. Once you leave this site, this privacy notice no longer applies. We encourage you to review the privacy practices of any third-party site you visit. We have no control over the data practices of external sites and accept no responsibility for them.

13. Changes to this notice

We may revise this privacy notice from time to time — for example, to reflect changes in the law, our data practices, or the services we offer. When we do, we update the "last updated" date at the top of this page. If the changes are material — meaning they significantly affect how we handle your data — we will take reasonable steps to bring them to the attention of people who have active enquiries with us at that time. We recommend revisiting this page periodically if you interact with the desk regularly.

14. Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, we would ask you to contact us first so we have the opportunity to put things right. Write to [email protected] with the subject line "Privacy complaint" and we will respond within 14 days.

If you are based in Egypt and remain unsatisfied after raising the matter with us, you have the right to bring a complaint to the Egyptian Personal Data Protection Centre (PDPC), the supervisory authority established under Law No. 151/2020. If you are based in an EEA country, you also have the right to complain to the data protection authority in your country of residence.

15. Contact details for data matters

All data-related requests and questions should be directed to the planning desk, which also acts as our point of contact for privacy matters:

Siwa Oasis Retreats L.L.C.
4 Souq Street, Shali, Siwa
Marsa Matrouh 51512, Egypt
Tax ID (ETA): 762-340-895
Commercial Registry: 393864
[email protected]
+20 46 4601 273 (Sat–Thu, 09:00–18:00 Siwa time)

Ready to plan a retreat? Visit the Contact page or read about our planning options first.