In 2004, I was in the Libyan Sahara on a Geographic Expeditions tour, when one of our jeeps had an accident in the dunes. We were literally in the middle of the Sahara. Although wearing her seat belt, one of the trip members was seriously injured. One of our jeeps immediately set out with her for the nearest town with a landing strip and hospital. When the rest of us arrived, she was in the hospital and local doctors had examined her.
The medical and evacuation insurer which we all had purchased through Geographic Expeditions was already taking control of the situation. And the most critical aspect of coverage (one that had never occurred to me) was the immediate telephone consultation between one of the emergency on-call doctors in the states and the local Libyan doctor. This consultation alone probably saved her life, because they uncovered serious damage to her spleen, which the local doctor had not detected.
The private medical jet and nurse arrived fast, flew her to Paris where she spent a week in the American Hospital plus another week in a Paris apartment before she was allowed to fly back to the US. And she completely recovered.
Based on this experience, I've always had great confidence in Geographic Expeditions judgment in matters of security (and they have been doing remote trips in Patagonia for years) So when I saw your post, I looked into who they are currently using for their adventure travel trips. They are using Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance, connected with Stanford University Medical, in case you want to check out their website. Perhaps worth comparing.
Have a great trip!
Barbara
