diff --git a/install_38.sh b/install_38.sh
index bfce988f97de5825765e22762ed08378bdae4525..74d02a3a86e04fdf75e17ea8b0fa6c626f28b709 100755
--- a/install_38.sh
+++ b/install_38.sh
@@ -12,6 +12,13 @@ echo "Creating conda environment"
 mamba create -n work38 python=3.8 
 eval "$(conda shell.bash hook)" # make sure conda works in the shell script
 conda activate work38
+if echo $CONDA_PREFIX | grep work38
+then
+    echo "Conda environment successfully activated"
+else
+    echo "Conda environment not activated. Probably it was not created successfully for some reason. Please activate the conda environment before running this script"
+    exit
+fi
 echo "Installing conda packages"
 mamba env update -n work38 --file conda-environment_py38_cu11_ubuntu.yml 
 echo "Installing GDL"