Let me start in by saying that this post is not intended to scare or in any way be inflammatory. My company TheSafariConnection offers free travel services and this post is informational only. On January 31st the CDC classified Corona or Covid-19 the illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus as a "PHE" public health emergency. The travel impact of this edict is that virtually ALL travel insurance companies including RIPCORD for whom we sell as agents have in their policy statement a clause that specifically excludes coverage for all faucets of travel that could be affected by Corona when a CDC warning is in affect. CBS reported yesterday that the purchase of travel insurance is up 60% but it is a waste of money if you are trying to cover anything to do with Corona. This information comes from a RIPCORD employee.

Since my first post yesterday a 57th country has been added to the outbreak, Nigeria, so the disease is spreading south in Africa. A traveler from Milan Italy entered Nigeria and several days later was diagnosed so hundreds were exposed on the flight and those other individuals have spread across the area since the flight. Nigeria claims they have the situation under control. Given that the first warning of this disease was made on January 31st in Wuhan China rapid spread is of concern to travelers.

Some facts that anyone traveling to Africa in the next few months should consider.

While NOT currently on the list of affected countries the dense populations in major hunting countries represents an elevated concern. It is the start of fall/winter in the southern hemisphere and any veteran of Africa has seen how locals and staff react to a 50 degree day, coveralls and stocking caps when most of us from North America are comfortable in shorts and tee. The local population will sleep compacted in small quarters for warmth and gather closely around fires to stay warm all good ways to rapidly spread this virus.

I'm not going to cover all the affects of being infected but 85000 have been infected with 2800 deaths around 4% ACCORDING to the Chinese Government. Out of that number around 35% become seriously ill and 25% become carriers with no symptoms.

The chance that this will end up in the shanty towns of major populations centers in south Africa is virtually certain.

The only travel insurance that will be available to hunters will be in the form of refundable fare tickets or a low or no cost changeable ticket. We recommend that you spend the extra $$ for these safer fares for 2020.

You should consider opening a dialog with your professional hunter about how safari deposits lost as a result of a travel ban or major restrictions will be handled.

You should also consider how a 14 to 21 day quarantine could affect you if an outbreak occurs in your hunting area.

I sincerely hope NONE of these scenarios come to pass the effect on a population with little or no medical care options would be horrible and the last thing my many friend in Africa need.

I will again mention we do a completely free travel service for our customers and any member of SCI,DSC, ect, no FREE luggage tags in our service but pretty much everything else offered by the FEE BASED services seen at DSC or SCI, if you would like to discuss any aspects of travel please call TheSafariConnection.com or see our travel services page on the site for more information.

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Originally posted by SafariSean:
...The only travel insurance that will be available to hunters will be in the form of refundable fare tickets or a low or no cost changeable ticket. We recommend that you spend the extra $$ for these safer fares for 2020...

If travel is prohibited or canceled the airlines as a rule issue refunds, so no need to get additional travel insurance for tickets.

The Safari fees on the other hand will have to depend on the outfitter.

I don't see a sample policy for ripcord. Do they post those on their site? I purchased insurance through American Express travel insurance well before any news of Coronavirus as being a problem and I see nothing about any type of public health issue as being a reason for denial of a claim. Maybe I am missing it in my policy document. This is actually the first time I've ever bought any type of travel insurance. I'm a little worried but not overly worried. The only way I'm not going on my trip is if the airlines stop service due to a severe outbreak of it at my destination.

I dont know what the AMEX policy looks like and was just repeating what the guy from Ripcord told me over the phone about most travel insurance. Until 2 days ago we thought ripcord would cover this so its been a learning curve for us here. Call and ask direct questions which is how we got disclosure from ripcord, they cant lie and must disclose any affects to the policy.

Generally a epidemic is considered “an act of god” and not covered.

Strictly talking about the Amex policy here but it doesn't talk about acts of God being denied. It will cover weather related delays including named storms and cancellations along with earthquake and other natural disasters. My disclaimer here is that I could be reading this wrong on the policy It can even pay if you are hijacked or quarantined before or during travel. Now that won't work if you buy today because of the exclusion that you would possibly know of a trip cancellation due to the virus outbreak at the time of the coverage being bought but if your coverage was bought and in place before this would still be covered. I don't know if you could argue that when you bought the coverage, there were no reported cases in the country you were going to and maybe that would work but that's a big gamble I think.

You do not have to have an American Express card to buy this either. We didn't buy this for the medical side of things, although the benefits there aren't bad from what I can tell. Ultimately I have no idea how they stack up against some of the companies that provide medical evac plans like rip cord and global rescue as I am sure they are two very different plans. We bought it strictly for the trip cancellation due to the amount of money we have to put out for the sight seeing portion of our trip. Our hunt deposit was actually quite small so it wasn't much of a concern. Like all insurance, I am sure they will fight pretty hard if a claim is put in to not have to pay anything.

Has anyone gotten a written policy statement from Global Rescue or SOS?

I'm not looking for the "the-guy-who-trims-my-grandmother's-poodle's-eyelashes-said-that-he-has-it-from-a-reliable-source-who-wears-a-tinfoil-hat-that..." but rather official policy statements from the big players.

I have sent off some queries, and I will post anything I get back of relevance.

This Global Rescue response seems like the one I initially received from Ripcord. Hopefully an AR member that is also a Global Rescue member can call them and get specific coverage I information. If they will cover anything it's a step above Ripcord.