Kenya - us dollars or euros

Hello,
Would it be better to have money in us dollars or euros exchange rate wise?
Any difference if in travel checks or cash (dollars v. euros)?

Thanks
Gary

Gary,

US Dollars cash/travellers cheques are more widely accepted in Kenya.

Regards

Justin Miles

"Gary" wrote in message
...
Hello,
Would it be better to have money in us dollars or euros exchange rate
wise?
Any difference if in travel checks or cash (dollars v. euros)?

Thanks
Gary

Thank you, Justin.
I was just hoping that because euro is higher than dollar
it would give advantage. And I've heard that countries
like Thailand you get better rate from euro. I should add
that I am from europe, so I need to buy dollars...

Gary


"Justin Miles" wrote in message
...
Gary,

US Dollars cash/travellers cheques are more widely accepted in Kenya.

Regards

Justin Miles

"Gary" wrote in message
...
Hello,
Would it be better to have money in us dollars or euros exchange rate
wise?
Any difference if in travel checks or cash (dollars v. euros)?

Thanks
Gary

In message
"Gary" wrote:

Thank you, Justin.
I was just hoping that because euro is higher than dollar
it would give advantage. And I've heard that countries
like Thailand you get better rate from euro. I should add
that I am from europe, so I need to buy dollars...

Things seem to be changing fast.
However last summer it was easy to change UK TC and Euros in the lodges
etc. (so long as they had money to change, which obviously affected people
using dollars too, also banks (time consuming, loads of bureaucracy).

A bit problematic is that a lot of touristy places have started to price
things in dollars rather than KSh, which is a real pain.
BTW, you can easily get KSh outside Kenya, although some guide books haven't
cottoned on to this yet.
Couldn't say about preferential rates, but I'd have thought a two-way
conversion wouldn't be very good.

An alternative is to pay all your incidentals with a credit card, all the
tourist lodges/tented camps accept them AFAIK. You can't always add tips to
your card, though. You can tip in dollars or UKP/Euros (notes) or in kSh.

Liz

--
Virtual Liz at http://www.v-liz.co.uk
Kenya; Tanzania; India; Seychelles; Namibia
"I speak of Africa and golden joys"

"Gary" wrote:

Thank you, Justin.
I was just hoping that because euro is higher than dollar
it would give advantage. And I've heard that countries
like Thailand you get better rate from euro. I should add
that I am from europe, so I need to buy dollars...

Gary,

do you have an ec (Maestro) card? Many ATMs in Kenya give you
cash at a very good exchange rate for that. This is new, and I
find it very convenient.

In most cases it does not matter whether you pay in euro or in
dollar, for example when you use travellers' checks. I cannot
imagine why anybody in any country would strongly prefer one of
these major currencies over the other, so I would like to
double-check the Thailand story.

The significant exceptions are the nature reserve entry fees,
for which you want to have sufficient (i.e. lots of) dollar
notes in small denominations, because the euro rates used to be
very bad or they don't take euros at all, and maybe a few other
things, so bring some dollars in cash.

Hans-Georg

--
No mail, please.

In message
Hans-Georg Michna wrote:


The significant exceptions are the nature reserve entry fees,
for which you want to have sufficient (i.e. lots of) dollar
notes in small denominations, because the euro rates used to be
very bad or they don't take euros at all, and maybe a few other
things, so bring some dollars in cash.

That's true, but if Gary is travelling with an organised tour, this will be
taken care of by the company. In case he's not, can you remind us which
reserves allow you to pay at the gate, and which, like Amboseli, you have to
buy your tickets in advance (in Nairobi?).

Slainte

Liz
--
Virtual Liz at http://www.v-liz.co.uk
Kenya; Tanzania; India; Seychelles; Namibia
"I speak of Africa and golden joys"

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?

Hi Again,
Good info here!
Thanks to everyone you've been most helpful.

regards,
Gary

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?

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

Liz wrote:

In message
Hans-Georg Michna wrote:

The significant exceptions are the nature reserve entry fees,
for which you want to have sufficient (i.e. lots of) dollar
notes in small denominations, because the euro rates used to be
very bad or they don't take euros at all, and maybe a few other
things, so bring some dollars in cash.

That's true, but if Gary is travelling with an organised tour, this will be
taken care of by the company. In case he's not, can you remind us which
reserves allow you to pay at the gate, and which, like Amboseli, you have to
buy your tickets in advance (in Nairobi?).

Liz,

even for putting funds on the smart cards they want dollars.

In any case, the KWS (Kenya Wildlife Service) nature reserves
require the smart cards, the others are paid in cash at the
gate. KWS nature reserves are Nairobi National Park, Amboseli,
Tsavo, Nakuru and several others. Non-KWS nature reserves are
Maasai Mara, Samburu and Buffalo Springs and several others.

The KWS web site is at http://www.kenya-wildlife-service.org/.

Some more information can be found in
http://www.michna.com/kenya.htm, chapter Nature Reserve Prices.

Hans-Georg

--
No mail, please.