UKH

Can anyone recommend travel insurance for an active holiday that doesn't break the bank? Myself and my girlfriend are planning on going back home to South Africa for a month of sunshine and intend on bringing all the gear for climbing and kitesurfing predominately.. however i am having issues with finding affordable travel insurance...

Yes I have looked at the BMC travel insurance which is my usual go to - however for some reason they have put kitesurfing in the same bracket as high altitude mountaineering >6000m.. which is making the quote total almost as much as the plane ticket over there! I dont quite understand why this is, as surely there is infinitely more risk involved in high alpine areas with glaciers, avalanches and rockfall than there is with a kite - especially these days with the numerous safety features!

Looked at the more mainstream insurers and they all dont include any sort of 'extreme sports' in their quotes either so they seem to be out! 

Are there any other insurers in this field or any other ways of doing it that I have not thought about? If not ill just go with the normal BMC rock insurance and go easy with the kiting  

Try Truetraveller - they are my first choice these days

I've used sports cover direct, they seem pretty sensible on risk and grouping.  Kite surfing is group 1 with them.  Climbing is generally group 4 if it's normal stuff.  So you would get the cover for kite surfing included, you just pick the highest group and everything from that group and below is covered. If you get an annual policy you would be covered for Snowboarding for example.  

I haven't claimed though so I can't tell if they are helpful if you need to claim.  

I've used Protectivity before as they were recommended when I booked a climbing trip to Costa Blanca. A quick quote for a month with Kite Surfing and Climbing in South Africa for an individual comes to ~£116

https://www.protectivity.com/sports-travel-insurance/options?quoteRef=B-ulM...

N.b. I haven't had to claim on them before.

My sister moved from her existing travel insurance (PPP, annual travel) when they ramped up her premium when she got to 60, and found an equivalent policy with Exodus (the travel people): apparently they will do not only trip-specific insurance for their holidays, but also an annual freestanding travel policy.  I haven't looked at the details, nor claimed, but you'd think Exodus know a thing or two about travel insurance and allegedly risky activitives.  Seems to be some info at https://www.exodus.co.uk/insurance  ; I have no connection with Exodus.

Try Snowcard. dunno if they're competitive, but they certainly rate things differently to the BMC.  What about a kitesurfing insurer? Or double insurance, one for the kiting and the other for the climbing etc.

If you've not done one you may want to do the tallest bungy on land - Bloukrans bridge. That may not be covered by insurance though....