Cash - Euros or Dollars? Mastercard or Visa
 

Planning on London to Cape Town via the western route.

Just wondering if anyone had any tips on how much and what sort of cash I should bring from the UK?

Also is there any difference in Mastercard, Visa etc? I've heard that ATM's have pretty much made travellers cheques redundant.

Both Dollars and Euros can be changed in all countries on your route. Ex-Francophone countries that use the CFA tend to prefer Euros as the CFA is pegged to it. Dollars are a must for Liberia. Sterling, Swiss Francs and Aussie/Canadian Dollars can be changed in big cities like Dakar, Accra, Abidjan, Lome, Ouagadougou etc.

Bring Visa - all of the others are much less widely accepted, though can be used in places.

How much you take depends on your spending but I would take around USD3000.
MasterCard from post office is a good bargain. Also take a visa card with you.
Consider using western union as well. Euro is good up to Morocco.
US dollars are better value in rest of Africa and you can change it in almost every village.

Mastercard somewhat shunned because they often charge the merchant a much higher fee than Visa

Visa card(s) and an account with WU.

Cash not a great subject for an open forum.....maybe ?

Why not?

Thanks everyone, hugely helpful!

Because..... IMHO it's not worth advertising the fact that you've got a load of cash on you in a continent where the majority don't have much.

FWIW, if you are in the UK, you can open a current account with Norwich & Peterborough building Society and you get a Visa debit card that has no foreign exchange fees and good rates. Apart from Sudan which is under international sanctions, worked everywhere else.

What, you think the people in Mali or Liberia are reading this and waiting for yer man to roll into town, bank notes cascading from his panniers?:rofl:

I haven't found Mastercard much use in Africa- most places prefer Visa, and this can also applyto ATMs. Travellers cheques are now redundant, just take dollars and euros and a couple of cards and distribute them around your bags- I have money in a money belt, my document wallet, my wallet and some stashed elsewhere for emergencies. No idea how much you should take, depends on your style of travelling.

Dollars are accepted worldwide so it's a safe bet, but as somebody mentioned, CFA is pegged to the Euro so the reason to prefer Euro in West Africa is, you can be sure that you get the correct rate when you change (1€ = 655 CFA). How much it deviates from that is how much you get screwed. Easy.

Also: bring spanking new dollar notes (bills). Old ones can be rejected. Also sometimes big denominations (100$) get you better rates than small ones (10$). Except in dollarized countries of course (Zim, Liberia, DRC)..

Laurent

Mastercard is really shitting out in west africa, especally in ATMs...stick with visa