Haven't carried this service for a while, but have a couple trips coming up (Columbia, Zim) and will likely get a membership again. Previously had one through Global Rescue, but Ripcord has entered the space now as well. Any thoughts on one vs the other? Ripcord expressly names some excluded countries, including Venezuela. Didn't dig deep, but didn't see those exclusions on Global Rescue (they focused more on the extreme northern and southern latitudes and elevation).

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Interesting topic - we had medical / rescue cover a few years ago hunting in the Tian Shan Mountains. One day we there was a very bad snow storm and we got trapped out for a day. Sat phone did not work due to heavy low cloud cover so no coms. Even with coms in an event I doubt Ripcord or Global Rescue could have got to us in under 24 hours.....

Hunting Zim a number of the outfitters charge you and register you on their medical emergency cover. Gut feel in Zim has always been that an experienced PH / outfitter will likely be able to get you to primary medical cover within 5 - 6 hours. I doubt any of the internationals can better that.

What happens after the initial rescue / hospital etc is a whole different thing.

Last couple of Zam and Zim trips we passed on Ripcord and Global Rescue.

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I've told this story on AR several times and will briefly do so again. Rip-Off, I mean RipCord stuck it to us back in 2019. My son and I were booked on Emirates from Houston to Harare. My son had had some stomach issues about 18 months prior and we purchased Rip-Off just in case the issue reappeared. We specifically inquired about his condition being pre-existing and were told he would be covered. Well, the issue appeared about a month prior to departure, requiring medical treatment. In the end, he wasn't able to go and Rip-Off denied the claim for reimbursement on his plane ticket.

We're booked again for the same trip in October. We WON'T be using Rip-Off again. Looking to Global Rescue this time.

One problem with GR is that if you’re over 75, you must get a certified letter from your doctor stating you are in good health. And a lot of us have but that age in the rear view mirror….

As a matter of curiosity what sort of rescue service operates in some of the African countries and how are they activated?

Here in NZ we carry Personal Locator Beacons (PLB's) and once activated a helicopter will be onsite within an hour depending on where it is scrambled from.
The chopper rescue service, any following medical care and payment for loss of income while off work due to injury are all free cover. Illness is also covered in so far as free rescue and healthcare, while loss of income is covered by Government benefits.

On our last tahr hunt in the alps a father and son in another hunting block from us got themselves thoroughly bluffed when climbing to retrieve a tahr they had shot. Rather than risk certain death in a fall they activated one of their PLB's and were winched out by chopper and returned to their base.
Often in these non-injury/medical cases the recipients of the service will make a donation but it is not compulsory. Provided you can get a view of the sky, cloud cover not an issue, the PLB signal will be picked up and relayed by the satellites quite quickly.

Certainly gives us peace of mind when hunting or for that matter any outdoor pursuit.

Throughout the years, this has been discussed here many times.

Not a single company has a perfect record.

I have seen complaints about all of them.

We have Global Rescue, but have never been in a position when we need it.

I hope we never do.

I've always packed a G.R. card, thankfully I've never needed their services.

I picked up global rescue with having multiple international trips this year and a number of domestic for hunting and classes. My son has been on a number of them and it gave me a great sense of relief when he went on a Mexican cruise with his grandparents.

They have answered every dumb question I have messaged them quickly and patiently.

I threw a kidney stone in Taiwan years ago and to this day my old boss still won’t tell me what that cost. Happy to have a policy to cover those problems now that work won’t pick it up.

Son and I are going to Namibia in a couple weeks. We booked our flights thru Shawn at Gracy Travel. We both purchased 'RoamRight' insurance that Gracy Travel recommends.

Anybody have any experience with this outfit?