Medical cover with a high limit, evacuation from the bush, cancellation, and the activity clauses. What a safari policy has to include, and where ordinary policies fall short.
Travel insurance for a safari is not optional. The nearest good hospital can be hours from a camp, evacuation by air is expensive, and a trip booked months ahead can be undone by an illness the week before you fly. A good policy covers all of that. Many ordinary policies cover some of it and are silent on the rest.
This page sets out what to look for. For Kilimanjaro, which has its own altitude clause, see the Kilimanjaro insurance page. Read your own policy, and ask the insurer to confirm anything that is not clear.
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The core of any policy is emergency medical treatment abroad. Look for a high limit, in the millions, not the thousands, because serious treatment and a medical flight home can cost that.
Check that the policy covers the whole trip, from the day you leave home to the day you return. Check whether existing medical conditions must be declared, and declare them. An undeclared condition can void a claim.
And check the policy covers Tanzania specifically. Most do. A few regional or annual policies exclude parts of Africa in the small print.
A safari camp can be many hours by road from a hospital. If you are seriously ill or injured, the practical route out is often a light aircraft from the nearest airstrip to Arusha, Nairobi or Dar es Salaam, and that costs a great deal.
Evacuation cover pays for that flight and for the ambulance at the other end. Repatriation cover pays to get you home afterwards if you cannot travel normally, which can mean a stretcher and a medical escort on a long-haul flight.
Some policies cap evacuation at a low figure or exclude air evacuation. Look for the limit and look for the word air. A flying doctor membership for East Africa is a common extra that covers the bush-to-hospital leg specifically, and some operators arrange it. Ask.
A safari is paid months ahead and the deposits are large, so cancellation cover matters more than on most holidays. It pays back what you have paid if you cannot travel for a covered reason: illness, injury, a bereavement, a home emergency. Check the reasons covered and the limit, which should match the trip cost.
Curtailment cover pays if you have to cut the trip short, for the unused part and for the cost of getting home.
Buy the policy when you pay the deposit, not the week before you fly. Cancellation cover only starts when the policy does, and the months in between are when things go wrong.
Game drives in a vehicle are covered as standard by every travel policy. Other things you might do on a safari are not always.
Walking safaris and canoeing are usually covered but sometimes named as excluded. Balloon flights are sometimes excluded as an aerial activity. Scuba diving on Zanzibar often needs specific cover. Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru need trekking cover to the altitude of the route, and many ordinary policies stop well below it.
List what you plan to do and check each one against the policy. If it is not clear, ask the insurer to confirm in writing.
Zanzibar requires every visitor to hold medical travel insurance bought through a designated provider, on arrival or in advance. It is enforced at the airport and it is on top of your own policy, not instead of it. The scheme has changed more than once, so check the current position before you fly.
Elsewhere in the small print, look for the excess on each type of claim, for any exclusion of countries or regions, for the age limits, and for the claims process from abroad. Carry the policy number and the emergency phone number on paper, in your daypack, not only on a phone that may have no signal.
Buy the policy when you pay the deposit, so cancellation cover starts early.
Read the whole document once. Check the medical limit, the evacuation cover, the activities, and the countries.
Declare any existing condition.
Give your operator the insurer's name and emergency number, and put a copy in your bag.
And for Zanzibar, sort the arrival insurance before you land.
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Planning
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