Vacationing Czechs drive on the wild side

Wild and crazy animal encounters are shaping up as a summer travel risk — especially for vacationers from the Czech Republic — based on reports from insurers.

A hungry giraffe at a German safari park damaged a car door while yanking its head back out of the window after grabbing some apples on the front seat, insurers told the Czech News Agency.

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Not to be outdone, an Allianz S.E. customer reportedly made a claim for damage from hitting a kangaroo — also while in Germany. The marsupial reportedly had escaped from a pet store.

And in Norway, Allianz covered a driver who swerved to avoid a moose and managed to skid into a nearby bear, the news service said.

Not all the complaints to travel agents for travel insurance claims were payout-worthy, but they were delivered with passion.

One vacationing couple sought a refund because of a rooster's daily noisy crowing, while another beefed that their stay at an El Mojito hotel was marred by the unavailability of mojitos to drink, which was blamed on a lack of mint.

One frugal Czech traveler even measured his hotel room to find it was only 16 square meters, rather than the agreed-upon 25 square meters. The news service quoted his complaint: “This is evidently a trick played on me as a client. I was deprived of 34% of the accommodation area I had paid for.”