Kenya travel tips: Money, credit cards, cash, ATMs

Cash

Some guidebooks and websites say that U.S. dollars are accepted in Kenya just as readily as Kenyan shillings, but based on my family's recent trip there I think that's misleading.

We found just about all goods and services were offered in shillings (except at the airport gift shops, where dollars are preferred). While you may be able to pay in dollars in some places, the seller will certainly make the conversion in his or her favor.

People in rural areas will have trouble exchanging dollars, so they clearly prefer shillings.

Also, various travelers have reported that Kenyans may refuse to accept dollars, particularly $100 and $50 bills, if they're even slightly torn or slightly old (over five years).  We never had any of our shilling notes refused, except when the seller couldn't make change, even though most of them were heavily wrinkled and worn.

In short, it's best to get shillings right away from an ATM and use them for most expenses. 

Do take a wad of U.S. $1 dollar bills for tipping, because it may not be easy to break the 1,000-shilling (about $11.40) notes you get at the ATM.

Paying for your visa

There is one thing you can't use shillings for – your entrance visas. You must pay for these in dollars ($50 per person, including children, for a single-entrance visa), Euros or British Pounds. Credit cards are not accepted; you must pay cash.

Because of Kenyans' reputed pickiness about U.S. bills, I went to my bank before we left and got four $50 bills of the most recent issue year possible (2009, as it turned out) to pay for my family's visas. Three of the bills were crisp, but the fourth one was rather wrinkled, and I worried it would be rejected.

It wasn't. But at the next visa station over we noticed that another visitor's $100 bill had been turned down and he was hurriedly thumbing through his wallet to find a replacement.


ATMs

Before your trip, check with your bank to see if you'll be assessed a fee for withdrawing cash at ATMs in Kenya. It may depend on what ATM you use. For instance, Bank of America (my bank) has a partnership with Barclays, so when I used Barclays ATMs, there was no fee.

But when I used other banks' ATMs, I got badly dinged: There was a $5 fee levied by Bank of America, plus about $1.75 charged by the bank owning the ATM. Ouch.

It's good to withdraw plenty of money when you do visit the ATM.  It minimizes the number of ATM fees you pay, and it means less worry about getting low on cash and less time lost stopping to refill your wallet. Of course, be careful how you carry cash; I recommend using a money belt.

ATMs are common in cities, but don't expect to find them in the national parks.  There is at least one at the Nairobi airport, just outside the baggage carousel area.

Plastic

Credit cards are typically only accepted in Kenya at hotels, larger stores and restaurants that serve a lot of tourists. Be aware that many credit cards assess a 3% charge on foreign transactions, so you may want to get a credit card without such a fee before your trip. I got a Capital One card for exactly this reason. 

One interesting moment occurred when I pulled out my credit card to pay the bill at a nice restaurant in Nairobi. Rather than take my card, the waiter brought the card processing machine to the table. We learned that this is common practice in Kenya to assure the customer that nothing undue is being done with your card.

Be sure to call your credit card companies and banks to warn them you'll be using your credit and ATM cards in foreign countries so they don't regard those transactions as fraud. It wouldn't hurt to tell them two or three times. I warned Bank of America that I would be using my ATM card in Kenya – and yet they still froze my card after my first withdrawal. (I managed to call them while there and get things fixed.)

See also these articles:

• Review: Kenya Bay Beach Hotel, Mombasa
• Kenya travel: Coping with Mombasa's "Beach Boys"

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