Travel Insurance for Pamir Highway

[greenolives]

Like many people, we are hoping to drive through the pamir highway on our central asian trip next summer.
We are British citizens, and therefore try to listen to the advice of the foreign and commonwealth office. Every standard travel insurance company in Britain will not cover you if you travel against FCO advice (I think). The Pamir road is currently advised against all but essential travel by the FCO, meaning we can't get travel insurance to go without paying a lot more for special insurance from campbell irvine or other. Does anyone know if there is a good reason for this part of tajikistan to be advised against, and we would like to know if other british citizens traveled here against the advice, and did they get special insurance. Thanks

[steven]

Hi greenolives,

There was an outbreak of violence in Khorog 2 years ago. There is also a chance of landslides in spring and fall. These are the 2 main dangers on the Pamir Highway. About the violence, there have been similar (much worse) episodes in Kyrgyzstan, where hundreds of people were killed, instead of a few in Khorog, and Kyrgyzstan is not on the all but essential list.

There was a manhunt from the government for a general that fell out of favor not so long ago, but this was near Dushanbe (ie not the Pamir Highway) and had nothing to do with locals.

About the landslides, Guatemala had one recently. I looked them up, they are not on the list.

In short, misguided advice I think. A lot of the advice is also based on economic and diplomatic reasoning, I feel (see the USA's easy-going travel advice - no mention of mass shootings or police violence) and UK has little to do with Tajikistan.

Many British people have traveled the Pamir Highway in recent years. I assume many of them did it without travel insurance. Did you have a look at the international travel insurances you find online? They might have different policies.

[ExitMusic]

Are you sure that FCO 'advise against all but essential' invalidates insurance?

We've regularly found ourselves in FCO 'all but essential' (orange blob if they show the map) on our travels, both backpacking and overland, even on short holidays, and always use regular travel insurance.

Our understanding from the small print on all polices we've used where this might be a concern, is that the insurers may see a claim as invalid on these grounds only if it's arisen in the 'advise against all' (red blob if they show a map).

Note that we haven't actually had to claim in one of these zones to validate this understanding, which is why I'm keen to know what you've been told by insurers too!

[bwv812]

Here's what World Nomads says:
"United Kingdom and Ireland Residents
Underwritten by: Millstream

We'll cover all countries on your 'must visit' list EXCEPT those that have a specific ‘AGAINST ALL’ or ‘AGAINST ALL BUT ESSENTIAL TRAVEL’ warning against them (unless you have contacted us and we have confirmed in writing that you will be covered)."

http://service.worldnomads.com/customer ... you-cover-