Cash in Africa
Category: Africa Expedition Support | September 18, 2007 By adminAlways bring new USD notes, here is country by country update:
Kenya - accept post 2001 USD notes (will change 1996 but at a lower rate),
Uganda - accepts post 2001 USD notes ONLY, notes must be in perfect condition
DRC (gorilla permits) - accept post 2003 USD notes ONLY again notes must be in perfect condition
Tanzania - accept 2001 USD notes; will take 1996 and over but not keen.
Malawi - 2001 USD notes, notes must be in perfect condition Zambia - 2001 USD notes, notes must be in perfect condition
(no ink marks, tears - even tiny; no dog ears)?
Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa and Botswana - not fussy, can use older USD notes. South Africa and Namibia are the least fussy over notes.
A bit of history - Uganda ceased accepting older notes due to an Ugandan caught in the UK a few years ago with thousands of counterfeit USD notes. The Ugandas were not sure how many notes had already made it back to Uganda and were in circulation. DRC became the haven for getting rid of these counterfeit notes (illegal gold and diamond buying in DRC by Ugandans) hence they turned around and said nothing pre-2003.
Basically, you should bring out new USD notes (the coloured ones) in perfect condition and you should not experience any problems. It is advisable not to go to the forex or bank at home and say you want USD notes for Africa. You should ask for NEW NOTES in perfect condition and CHECK every note.
GBP and Euros they are not as fussy - however these notes should also be in excellent condition .
Thanks to AfricaExpeditionsSupport for this very useful piece of information.
I agree although I hear at the moment that Zimbabwe will only accept clean, new notes at some borders. It will pay to have some small denominations and the correct amount for paying for visa’s at the borders as Zim will give you ‘change’ in local currency at a very poor rate.