Travel Insurance For A Safari Vacation
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Among your bucket-list trips may be taking a safari. These adventures generally involve several flights, remote destinations and planning for unexpected situations. It’s a vacation that has travel insurance written all over it.
“When you’re on a safari, there’s always an element of danger. Being among wildlife can be awe-inspiring, but also unpredictable,” says Lisa Cheng, spokesperson with World Nomads, a travel insurer.
For safari travel, Cheng observes that trip cancellation is the most common travel insurance claim, followed by trip delay and emergency medical expenses due to sickness.
Trip Cancellation Insurance Considerations
When you plan a large-scale trip like a safari, it’s generally part of a tour or vacation package that requires prepayments and deposits. This is why it’s important to have trip cancellation insurance.
“This benefit can help you recoup your pre-paid, non-refundable trip expenses such as flights, accommodations and tours, if you need to cancel for a covered reason,” says Cheng.
It’s smart to read your policy closely to understand exactly what the “covered events” are that will qualify for a trip cancellation claim. For example, if you or a travel companion comes down with an unexpected sickness like strep throat, this is a commonly covered problem.
But note that not all travel insurance plans cover Covid, if that’s a concern. See the best Covid travel insurance plans.
“When shopping around for policies, you’ll also want to check the maximum benefit amount to see if it matches or exceeds your pre-paid trip costs,” Cheng continues.
Medical Insurance for Safaris
While on a safari, you could get heat stroke, become injured by wildlife or be exposed to things you don’t have to worry about at home such as yellow fever, says Cheng. Many travel insurance claims from safari trips have to do with medical issues.
The travel medical insurance in a travel insurance policy can pay for medical bills when these types of emergencies happen. You will be covered for hospital stays, doctor’s visits, medication and surgical procedures.
Emergency medical evacuation coverage is also important for safaris. This coverage pays to transport you to the nearest adequate medical facility, or even back home to the U.S. if necessary.
“If you’re going on a safari, emergency evacuation coverage is essential because you want to make sure that you get the care you need at a facility that’s equipped to treat your case, which can be tricky when you’re out in remote nature,” says Cheng with World Nomads. Emergency evacuation benefits can cover transfers from one hospital to another, or benefits can repatriate you to a facility in your home country upon recommendation by a doctor.
If you need to use medical evacuation benefits while on safari you should call the travel insurance company’s 24/7 emergency assistance service, which can help make the arrangements with vetted providers and grant pre-authorization for an evacuation provider, says Cheng.
“For example, you’re out in the bush and you’re bitten by a spider or other insect, and if it’s a bite that generates an allergic response, you’ll require transfer to a medical facility. This could mean a flight—and the attention of a doctor who can treat you,” says Peggy Goldman, president of Friendly Planet Travel, a tour operator in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, which offers safari travel tours. “Or, you’re walking along an unpaved path, and you twist or even break your ankle. Many safari-related claims result from Injuries like this.”
The recommended coverage amount for travel medical and emergency evacuation coverage will depend on individual circumstances. Talk with your travel insurance agent or insurer about the right amount of coverage to get for your particular trip.
In general, you can find travel insurance policies with generous levels of coverage such as $500,000 per person for medical expenses and $1 million per person for emergency medical evacuation.
Don’t Forget Travel Delay and Trip Interruption Insurance
Other good benefits to have within a comprehensive travel insurance policy for a safari are travel delay and trip interruption coverage:
Travel delay insurance covers expenses that you’ve had to incur because of a delay that’s covered by your policy. Tapping into this benefit requires a delay for a certain period of time, which will be outlined in the policy. For example, your travel insurance plan might require a six-hour delay before you can use travel delay coverage. Reimbursable expenses could include hotels or other accommodations, meals, toiletries or clothing—anything to hold you as you catch up to your itinerary.
Trip interruption coverage reimburses you for unused parts of the trip if you have to return home early for a reason covered by the policy, such as an injury. For example, if you make it to Africa but injure yourself at the lodge, you could make a claim for the money you lost by not being able to go on the safari.
What About Baggage?
Something else to consider is coverage for your baggage. Arriving at your destination sans luggage can really put a damper on a vacation. Baggage loss and delay coverage can be included in a travel insurance policy.
According to Goldman with Friendly Planet Travel, common baggage claims are for replacement of needed clothing and personal items because of bags that never show up or are routed incorrectly.
“If your bag doesn’t make it to your safari lodge, you’ll need to visit the gift shop—every lodge has one—and pick up what you need to get through the trip until your luggage shows up,” Goldman says.
You could be traveling with binoculars, a camera and sunglasses. Travel insurance baggage protection can cover any lost, stolen or damaged items during transit or at any other point of your journey.
“Policies will typically have per-item and total maximum limit and may exclude things such as jewelry, glass, antiques and equipment you use for professional purposes,” notes Cheng.
If you do have to make a baggage insurance claim, Cheng says it’s important you know that depreciation is taken into account, which means that you’ll get a replacement, repair or reimbursement of the current value of your item—not necessarily the price of the original cost of the item at the time of purchase.
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