Travel Insurance for Botswana: Compare Your Coverage Options

Botswana travel information & requirements

What to consider when taking a trip to Botswana

Before you pack your bags for a trip to Botswana, consider the following factors.

Trips to Botswana are expensive

Botswana isn’t exactly a hop, a skip and a jump away, so most trips last for at least 20 days. Therefore, traveling to Botswana is much more expensive than traveling to many other destinations. In fact, Squaremouth reports that $18,000 was the average cost for a group to travel to Botswana in 2022. If you don’t want to lose thousands of dollars, we advise you to buy travel insurance for Botswana well in advance of your trip.

Traveling to Botswana

Traveling to Botswana is somewhat difficult, as you may have to make multiple airport connections. Botswana is also known for its hazardous roadways. Due to the high likelihood of delays and other travel issues, we recommend that you purchase comprehensive travel insurance to cover mishaps like trip cancellations, delays and interruptions.

Attractions in Botswana

Botswana has a little something for everyone. If you’re looking to relax, visit Botswana’s 2,000-year-old baobab trees or visit the San bushmen at Kalahari Plains Camp. For adventure activities, consider heading to Chobe National Park Botswana, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park or Makgadikgadi Pans National Park, a popular site for skydiving and parachuting.

If you plan to participate in adventure activities, you’ll need additional coverage. It’s also important to remember that many attractions are in remote areas far from adequate medical facilities.

Do I need travel insurance to visit Botswana?

There’s no legal requirement to purchase Botswana travel insurance, but we highly recommend that you build a comprehensive policy based on your unique needs.

Risk of pickpockets and petty crime

According to the Global Peace Index, Botswana is one of the safest countries in Africa, so attacks on tourists are rare. There is a slight risk of carjacking, break-ins and violent crime, however. For example, criminals have robbed tourists around Gaborone Dam and Kgale Hill. If someone steals your belongings, your travel insurance may pay to replace them. In some cases, travel insurance also covers lost or damaged items.

Insect bites, illness and disease

When you visit Botswana, there’s a risk of contracting insect-borne, food-borne or water-borne illnesses. For example, yellow fever, filariasis and malaria are widespread. If you’re entering from a country where yellow fever is endemic, you must get vaccinated before your trip. There’s also a high risk of HIV/AIDS.

You can reduce your risk of contracting these illnesses by washing your hands regularly, using insect repellent and getting vaccinated. To reduce the risk of HIV transmission, avoid handling blood and other body fluids.

If you develop one of these illnesses despite taking preventive measures, you’ll need professional medical care. U.S. health insurance doesn’t work in Botswana, so it’s important to have travel insurance with plenty of medical coverage included.

Adventure activities

If you plan to go mountain biking through the Northern Tuli Reserve or participate in another adventure activity, make sure you purchase an adventure add-on. Otherwise, it’s likely your standard travel insurance policy won’t cover any injuries arising from your participation.

Challenging terrain and road conditions

Botswana is known for its challenging terrain. It’s common for animals to run out in front of vehicles, increasing the risk of accidents. Some areas are extremely remote, making it difficult to access emergency assistance. Therefore, it’s important to purchase medical evacuation coverage before you visit.

What does travel insurance for Botswana cover?

Travel insurance for Botswana typically covers the circumstances below.

Travel medical insurance

Chobe National Park is a great place to look for elephants, but it has some difficult terrain. If you injure yourself, you’ll need medical insurance to cover the cost of your healthcare needs. Squaremouth recommends carrying at least $100,000 in medical coverage for your trip to Botswana.

Medical evacuation insurance

If you’re injured while traveling across the African savanna, you’ll need some way to get to an adequate medical facility. For example, you may need to be airlifted out of the savanna and to the nearest city. Squaremouth recommends having at least $250,000 in medical evacuation insurance to cover these expenses.

Trip cancellation insurance

Trip cancellation insurance reimburses your prepaid, nonrefundable expenses if you have to cancel your trip for a covered reason. Covered reasons typically include natural disasters, the death of a travel companion, terrorism and unforeseen illness.

For example, if you’re diagnosed with cancer one month before your trip, you may need to cancel to start treatment right away. Trip cancellation insurance covers this type of situation.

Cancel-for-any-reason insurance

Cancel-for-any-reason insurance allows you to cancel for a non-covered reason and still get some of your money back. For example, if you suddenly develop a fear of flying, you may be able to cancel and get back 75% of your prepaid, nonrefundable trip costs.

Trip interruption insurance

Imagine you’re visiting Orapa Diamond Mine when you trip and fracture one of the bones in your leg. Your itinerary is filled with adventure activities you can’t do with your leg in a cast. Trip interruption insurance reimburses you for the unused portion of your prepaid, nonrefundable expenses if you have to return home earlier than expected.

Trip delay insurance

When you travel to Botswana, there’s a good chance you’ll have to take multiple flights, increasing the risk of delays. Trip delay insurance protects you if a delay causes you to miss part of your trip or forces you to incur additional expenses. For example, if you miss a prepaid excursion to one of the national parks, your insurance company may reimburse you.

Adventure activity coverage

Powerboating is one of the most popular activities for tourists visiting the Okavango Delta. If you plan to participate, it’s likely your standard travel insurance won’t cover any resulting injuries. Make sure you purchase an adventure sports add-on to give your travel companions extra peace of mind.

Baggage insurance

If your luggage goes missing, your travel insurance provider will reimburse you up to the limits of your policy.

What isn’t covered by travel insurance for Botswana?

Travel insurance may not cover the following:

• Injuries associated with drug/alcohol use. If you injure yourself while intoxicated, your insurance provider may not cover your medical expenses.
• Losses associated with illicit activities. Insurance companies generally don’t cover expenses associated with criminal activity, including theft or use of illicit substances.
• Normal pregnancy expenses. Although your policy won’t cover prenatal exams and other normal pregnancy expenses while traveling, it may cover emergency medical expenses associated with your pregnancy.
• Foreseeable events. Travel insurance generally doesn’t cover foreseeable events, which are events that a reasonable person could have predicted.
• Inclement weather that doesn’t affect your trip. If severe flooding prevents you from arriving in Botswana as scheduled, your insurer may reimburse you for your prepaid, nonrefundable expenses. However, you can’t get reimbursed just because it rains.
• Pre-existing medical conditions. If you have diabetes, kidney disease or another preexisting medical condition before purchasing travel insurance, your insurer may not cover any associated costs.
• Adventure activities. General travel insurance doesn’t cover adventure sports. However, your insurance company may offer an adventure add-on to give you extra protection.

How much does travel insurance for Botswana cost?

According to our sales data, travelers who purchased insurance for Botswana via our platform spent an average of $787 for an 18-day trip. We can, therefore, assume that coverage costs around $44 per day.

See Plans

To help you better understand the cost range of travel insurance for Botswana, we obtained quotes from four leading providers. All our price quotes adhere to Squaremouth’s guidelines of at least $100,000 in emergency medical coverage and at least $250,000 in medical evacuation coverage.

We used this criteria for our quotes:

• Age: 50 years old
• State of residency: California
• Destination: Botswana
• Trip Length: 20 days
• Time of trip: August 2024
• Trip cost: $16,000

This first table shows our quotes for fundamental travel insurance, with prices ranging from around $1 to $4 per day.

Example Where Plan Doesn’t Reimburse the Full Trip Cost

This next table displays our quotes for more comprehensive travel insurance. These plans include coverage for trip cancellations and interruptions. We found that this coverage ranges from approximately $40 to $65 per day.

Example Where Plan Does Reimburse the Full Trip Cost

The cost of Botswana travel insurance varies based on several factors. This means your actual cost may not match the quotes shown. For accurate pricing, we advise getting a personalized quote.

Some factors that impact the cost of travel insurance include:

• Age. The older you are, the more likely you are to develop an injury or illness. Therefore, travel insurance costs more for older adults than it does for adults in their 20s and 30s.
• Trip length. The longer your trip is, the more expensive it is. You’ll need more coverage to ensure you have the right amount of protection.
• The extent of coverage. It’s cheap to buy travel insurance if you choose a policy that doesn’t insure the full cost of your trip. The more coverage you need, the more it costs to build a policy. You may also have to purchase add-on coverage for adventure sports or other activities.

Tips for getting the best Botswana travel insurance

Before you purchase Botswana travel insurance, consider the following: