Kenya - us dollars or euros

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 11:15:42 +0100, Hans-Georg Michna wrote:
(Eric Edwards) wrote:

On Mon, 12 Jan 2004 17:18:11 -0700, Dave Patterson wrote:
Here is THE web site for checking exchange rates.
http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic
Looking at it today, it shows 76.48 KShillings to
the $USD.
And 97.26 KShillings to the Euro.

Do the math. If you have to change Euros to
dollars, do you lose enough in the transaction
to make it seem worthwhile?

How do you answer that question without knowing the street rates in your
home country and in Kenya?

Eric,

there are essentially no street rates. Things were very
different when the Kenya Shilling was not freely convertible,
but today everybody goes to the bank.

By "street" rates, I don't mean the black market. I mean the rates at
which a travelers with bits of paper could actually get. This is always
different from the rate the banks use to trade among themselves. Actual
street rates do vary even without currency controls. For less traded
currencies I would expect the spread between buy and sell rates to be
greater due to lack of competition and more hassle for the exchange
bureau. The mean may actually be lower too, if the currency is less
useful locally and may have to be exported.

--
Photos and travelogues from Africa and Southeast Asia: http://www.exile.org

Eric Edwards wrote (regarding exchange rates):

By "street" rates, I don't mean the black market. I mean the rates at
which a travelers with bits of paper could actually get. This is always
different from the rate the banks use to trade among themselves. Actual
street rates do vary even without currency controls. For less traded
currencies I would expect the spread between buy and sell rates to be
greater due to lack of competition and more hassle for the exchange
bureau.

This is getting way too esoteric. I posted the Oanda.com web site as the
best place (I have ever found) for determining exchange rates.
Not to the penny.
Not exactly what one would get at a hotel, forex, or bank.
But the best place to use as a guideline for the relative ratio between
one's own currency and the money in another country.

This is all started with a question about Kenya.
Well, we exchange $USD every year (in cash, yes.. cash)
at the Crown Forex in Nairobi so we have the Kenyan currency we
need for tipping at lodges, hotels, airports, etc. when we take
our clients around the country. Same process for Tanzania at a
forex in Arusha. It is so much simpler than
the horrific process of using a bank. In fact, we went through the
process of having a KShilling bank account, wiring dollars to it,
getting the shillings out in Nairobi, and it was sooo much trouble and time
wasted that we gave it up.

On the other hand, we direct clients to exchange their $$ or TC's at
the Serena hotels and lodges where they will be staying,
and we do some of that ourselves, as well.
The rates are within a few percentage points
of the rates at a forex, and the process only takes a minute or two.
If the forex rate is 78 KShillings to the dollar, the Serena will be
about 75 to the dollar. (Most hotels and lodges are not so generous).

The Africa you will visit as a tourist is not the Dark Continent it used
to be, folks. Almost everyone you encounter is just as honest as you are
and very interested in helping you enjoy yourselves. Relax.