Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris
Travel Insurance
Embarking on an adventure with Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris is an exciting endeavor, and ensuring that your journey is safeguarded against unforeseen circumstances is paramount. Travel insurance serves as a vital component in protecting your investment and well-being during your travels. Understanding the various facets of travel insurance can help you make informed decisions tailored to your specific needs.
What is Travel Insurance?
Travel insurance provides financial protection for unexpected events that may affect your trip. Benefits may include coverage for trip cancellation, trip interruption, medical expenses and emergencies, travel delays, and luggage. Compare benefits and exclusions carefully so you will purchase the policy that you desire and need.
Types of Travel Insurance Coverage?
Travel insurance encompasses several key areas of protection:
This coverage reimburses you for non-refundable expenses if you need to cancel or interrupt your trip due to covered reasons such as illness, natural disasters, or other emergencies. It’s essential to review the policy details to understand the specific conditions covered.
In the event of a serious medical condition requiring transportation to a medical facility or repatriation to your home country, emergency evacuation coverage ensures these substantial costs are covered. This is particularly important when traveling to remote areas with limited medical facilities
Whatever insurance you purchase, be sure to carefully check the up-to-date terms and limitations of your coverage, especially those for:
- Pre-existing conditions. Important note: Before you purchase a policy, carefully read about pre-existing condition coverage. Some policies require you to buy insurance close to making your reservation deposit to cover pre-existing conditions, so you may want to purchase insurance when you pay your deposit to maximize your coverage.
- Trip cancellation reimbursement rules.
- Valuables such as cameras, cash, jewelry, and computers.
- Exclusion of coverage in the event that a disease outbreak, such as a flu, is classified as pandemic.
- COVID-19 Coverage. Travelex has a great summary of what coverages you may be eligible for based on the policies they offer. If you book through them, please use our special link here.
What are your travel insurance requirements?
Refer to your trip itinerary to find out what insurance is optional, included (AMREF Flying Doctors for some of our East Africa safaris), or not included but required for you to purchase.
We do not include insurance for most of our trips. Many providers offer travel insurance, so it is best to research and determine which company is most suitable for your needs. In the event of your medical evacuation while on safari, you are personally responsible for any costs associated with your evacuation, whether you are insured or not.
Selecting the Right Travel Insurance Policy
Choosing a policy that aligns with your travel plans involves considering several factors:
- Assess Your Needs: Evaluate the nature of your trip, activities planned, and destinations to determine the level of coverage required. For instance, adventurous activities may necessitate additional coverage.
- Compare Providers: Utilize resources like InsureMyTrip to compare policies from various insurers, ensuring you find a plan that offers comprehensive coverage at a competitive price.
- Understand Exclusions: Carefully read the policy exclusions to be aware of situations not covered, such as pre-existing medical conditions or specific high-risk activities. This understanding prevents unexpected surprises during claim situations.
- Consider Policy Limits: Ensure that the coverage limits for medical expenses, evacuation, and personal belongings are sufficient to meet potential needs, especially when traveling to destinations with high medical costs.
🏥 OPTIONAL EMERGENCY EVACUATION INSURANCE
For our tours where insurance is not required, we still encourage you to purchase a policy because we travel to remote destinations. Emergency evacuation can be very costly and difficult to coordinate in international locations.
🚁REQUIRED EMERGENCY EVACUATION INSURANCE
For some of our most remote expeditions, we require you to purchase emergency evacuation insurance coverage of about $50,000 for most tours and about $250,000 for our Antarctic and Arctic expeditions. Sometimes this insurance is required by the country you will travel in or the regional outfitter that we use.
❌TRIP PROTECTION & CANCELLATION INSURANCE
We do not require trip cancellation insurance for any of our tours, but we strongly advise purchasing this coverage if you believe there's a possibility of canceling your trip close to the departure date. Please be aware that we cannot offer refunds after the date specified in your itinerary, whether you purchase insurance or not. Given the unpredictability of travel circumstances, we recommend careful consideration before deciding to travel without insurance.
What are good questions to ask about a travel insurance policy?
- What is the maximum trip cost limit? Is it enough for my trip?
- Is emergency medical/dental and evacuation covered with no deductible?
- Is the amount of emergency medical/dental and evacuation coverage enough for my trip?
- Is trip cancellation and interruption included? What are the covered reasons to cancel or interrupt my trip?
- Does my credit card insurance extend to my traveling companions? For instance, can children be included at no additional cost when traveling with an insured adult?
- If I become injured or ill while traveling, can I be transported to the nearest hospital of my choice?
- Are pre-existing medical conditions covered?
- If my trip is delayed, can extra expenses like hotel stays, meals and taxi fares be reimbursed?
- If my luggage is lost or stolen, can I be reimbursed?
- What if my luggage doesn’t arrive when I do? Can I be reimbursed for essential personal items to help me enjoy my trip?
What are good questions to ask about a travel insurance policy?
- What is the maximum trip cost limit? Is it enough for my trip?
- Is emergency medical/dental and evacuation covered with no deductible?
- Is the amount of emergency medical/dental and evacuation coverage enough for my trip?
- Is trip cancellation and interruption included? What are the covered reasons to cancel or interrupt my trip?
- Does my credit card insurance extend to my traveling companions? For instance, can children be included at no additional cost when traveling with an insured adult?
- If I become injured or ill while traveling, can I be transported to the nearest hospital of my choice?
- Are pre-existing medical conditions covered?
- If my trip is delayed, can extra expenses like hotel stays, meals and taxi fares be reimbursed?
- If my luggage is lost or stolen, can I be reimbursed?
- What if my luggage doesn’t arrive when I do? Can I be reimbursed for essential personal items to help me enjoy my trip?
Importance of Timely Purchase
Purchasing travel insurance shortly after booking your trip is advisable. Early purchase can provide coverage for unforeseen events that may occur before departure, such as sudden illnesses or natural disasters affecting your destination. Additionally, some policies offer a waiver for pre-existing medical conditions if purchased within a specific time frame after making the initial trip payment.
Real-World Implications
The significance of travel insurance is underscored by real-life incidents. For example, a traveler experienced a medical emergency abroad, leading to medical expenses exceeding $600,000, which were fortunately covered by travel insurance. Such cases highlight the potential financial risks of traveling without adequate coverage.
Do you recommend any travel insurance providers?
TRAVELEX
For your convenience, we offer a Travelex Insurance Services protection plan to help protect you and your travel investment against the unexpected. For more information on the available plans contact Travelex Insurance (800-228-9792) using reference location number 05-1997. Please click here to get a quote or to enroll.
Why is travel insurance so important?
In today’s changing travel environment, it’s important to protect your travel investment so you can relax and enjoy your trip. Unforeseen events such as flight delays, baggage loss or even a sudden sickness or injury could impact your travel plans. For your convenience, we offer Travelex Insurance protection plans to help protect you and your travel investment against the unexpected.
Travelex Insurance Services, Inc CA Agency License #0D10209. Insurance coverages underwritten by individual member companies of Zurich in North America, including Zurich American Insurance Company (NAIC #16535, state of domicile: New York), 1299 Zurich Way, Schaumburg, IL 60196. Certain coverages not available in all states
WANDERWELL
We partner with Wanderwell, a Certified B Corp travel offering coverage and advising for both - Trip Cancellation and Post-Departure-only (travel medical) trip protection plans. Wanderwell has modern, comprehensive trip protection plans designed to cover the most common travel perils, and an attentive customer care team. Click here to create quotes and purchase a travel insurance plan online directly through the quoting pathway, or to contact the Wanderwell Care Team.
Wanderwell plans:
- Wanderwell GO is designed to protect the investment of your trip (trip cancellation & trip interruption) as well as you while you are on the trip!
- Wanderwell TripMed+ is a post-departure only (travel medical) style plan designed to give you peace of mind while on your trip away from home.
The sooner you purchase a trip protection plan, the more it can cover, as there are time-sensitive benefits that can be applied (ie coverage for pre-existing conditions, optional Cancellation for Any Reason (CFAR) upgrade *if eligible). To have access to the maximum coverage available, it is generally recommended to purchase a trip protection plan within 21 days of making your initial trip payment of any kind for this trip (ie flights, packages, tours...whichever is made first).
If you choose to purchase through Wanderwell, you can buy the trip from our Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris partner page by clicking here, and at least 1% of your purchase premium price will be donated to the Planet Impact Fund through 1% for the Planet network.
FLYING DOCTORS
Part of the African Medical and Research Foundation, AMREF Flying Doctors provides air evacuation services in medical emergencies across East Africa, as well as air ambulance transfers between medical facilities. This insurance will only cover extreme emergencies and does NOT cover the cost of hospitalization or medical care. The Maisha Tourist Plan for an individual tourist costs about $20 to $130 depending on countries covered. If you do not use your subscription for an evacuation, your contribution goes to evacuate somebody who urgently needs medical attention who cannot afford it.
SQUAREMOUTH
Compare different travel insurance at Squaremouth, which sells insurance for travelers from the United Kingdom and other countries around the world. Their website also has lots of information on travel insurance.
What about dive insurance?
Some of our safaris that involve snorkeling or diving require you to purchase dive insurance. While in underwater submersible and surface cages, you usually use a hookah breathing system; most insurance companies consider this a diving activity, which is not usually covered by regular emergency evacuation insurance policies. Dive insurance can help cover you for possible injuries that may occur in the water.
Consult your regular travel insurance company to see if they have policies that cover in-water activities, but here are a few insurers:
DIVEASSURE
DiveAssure - offers annual and short-term dive and travel insurance to residents worldwide, but does not cover anyone over the age of 75.
DIVER'S ALERT NETWORK (DAN)
DAN offers annual dive insurance, plus annual and short-term travel insurance to US and Canada residents, and covers anyone over the age of 75.
TRAVELEX
Travelex offers an optional Adventure Sports Coverage upgrade that can be added to their Travel Select Insurance plan. The upgrade will help to cover diving activities, but only for US residents.
Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris’ Commitment
At Cheesemans’ Ecology Safaris, we prioritize your safety and peace of mind. Our team is available to answer any questions and guide you through the process, ensuring that you are well-prepared for your adventure.
In conclusion, investing in comprehensive travel insurance is a prudent step in safeguarding your travel experience. By understanding the various coverage options and selecting a policy that aligns with your needs, you can embark on your journey with confidence, knowing that you are protected against unforeseen events.