Travel Insurance for Kenya safari
 

Hello. My husband and I will be going to Kenya in early October for a 10-day safari. I've read that travel and medical insurance is strongly recommended and am looking into what companies are best for this.

Can anyone give me the names of some companies that I should look into for travel insurance? Also, is Flying Doctors the way to go or should I get additional medical coverage? Thanks in advance.

Try the following site:

www.insuremytrip.com

most of the major travel insurers are listed here - Travel Guard, Access America, CSA, others - prices seem to be comparable. But I am surprised your tour operator hasn't provided information re Trip Cancel/Interrupt Insurance.

Be prepared to read all the "exclusions" and info re "pre-existing" conditions, as well as info re "terrorism" - they all seem to be different. If you have any medical conditions do your homework.

For various trips we've used CSA, Travel Guard and Access America, and thankfully never needed to put in a claim.

As far as Flying Doctors, we've been to East Africa twice and both times the fee for Flying Doctors (about $25/person) was included in the price of the trip, so you should check this with your tour operator; if it's not included find out how to contact them and do it yourself.

Also, do know what "blood-type" each of you have - "just in case".

There have been various posts on all the Fodors.com boards re people's opinion on the major insurers and problems or not if claims had to be filed. You can do a search and see what others might have experienced.

When we traveled to Africa we bought insurance through the tour company. They also provided us with a temporary membership in Flying Doctors. Flying Doctors isn't really insurance. They are just an organization that will assist in an emergency. Take a look at their web site for details on what they offer.

When we were preparing for our China trip I did a lot of research on trip insurance. The one most highly recommended was Unicard. They have very extensive coverage at many different levels. The main reason I chose them was that the amount they offer for airlifting out injured persons is almost double anyone else's coverage. I had read that the amount allowed for this item was almost always grossly under insured by most companies. Hope this helps in your search.

Having just smashed up a car in Cape Town, I highly recommend CSA for your insurance. It had an "override" on the rental company's policy which saved us $1000 bucks.

Butters-
I would guess that you already have purchased some insurance for your trip. Since Sandi posted 'insuremytrip', I didn't see any need to post further. The insurance we always use, whether within the US, or to Africa, is TravelGuard and they are one of the companies on that site.
We have had excellent support from them, to include when we cancelled our Spring trip to South Africa, Wilderness Safaris held on tight to our deposit, but the insurance company refunded our insurance premium. Tells you a lot about a company from that experience. Both Wilderness and TravelGuard. We bought the economy package and added the extra medical evacuation portion they offer at the end as you are tallying up your premium. Liz

Also check "other" topics on fodors here and thorn tree (Lonely Planet) for personal experiences with various insurance cos.