Short answer: yes — and not only for the reasons travellers expect. Cancellation cover matters, but on safari and on the mountain it is medical evacuation that does the heavy lifting.
Medical and evacuation cover
Safari camps and mountain routes sit hours from a hospital. Look for a policy that covers emergency evacuation by road or air and treatment costs abroad, and check that it does not exclude high-altitude trekking — many standard policies stop below Kilimanjaro’s summit altitude, so the plan needs to state your maximum altitude explicitly.
Cancellation, delays and baggage
Internal flights, park fees and camp deposits are booked ahead, so cover for cancellation and curtailment protects real money. Delayed baggage cover is worth having too: it is the most common small mishap we see, usually on connections into Kilimanjaro International.
Zanzibar
Zanzibar introduced a mandatory inbound travel insurance requirement for visitors, purchased through the official island scheme, separate from your own policy. Requirements and exemptions have changed more than once, so confirm the current rule shortly before you travel — we send the latest position to every traveller with a Zanzibar extension.
A short checklist
- Emergency medical treatment and repatriation
- Air and road evacuation from remote parks
- Trekking altitude stated to at least 6,000m for Kilimanjaro
- Cancellation, curtailment and missed connections
- Baggage delay and personal effects, including camera gear
Send us your itinerary and we will flag which activities your policy needs to name — climbs, walking safaris, diving or balloon flights are the usual exclusions.
