Received and email from my friends/PH in Namibia they and other PH's/Outfitters in Namibia have been notified by the "banks" that traveler's checks and cashiers checks would no longer be processed/accepted by any Namibian bank.

The reason stated was the high number of fraudulent TCs and CCs that were being received nation-wide. They and NAPHA are scrambling to try and get this resolved.

Currently, the only way is via wire transfer and cash or credit cards.

We kicked around the use of PayPal and I called PayPal yesterday and unfortunately PayPal is only set up for Namibians to be able to make payments to a non-Namibian PayPal account but they cannot receive money into a Namibian PayPal account.

Any other Namibian PH's/Outfitters receive this same info ref TCs and CCs?

Yes, That took place during our hunt in September. We had to do a wire transfer when we got home.

My last hunt in Namibia was in September. I paid our daily fees just before leaving for the trip. Than I wired the funds for the trophy fees after I got home.

My PH for my hunt in May emailed me this a couple of weeks ago. Last May the banks in Polakwane would not take bank drafts

I wired a trophy fee today for a hippo i shot in the Caprivi 2 weeks ago. no problems but the PH had already told me that cashiers checks/travellers checked were a problem for him.

I have used cashiers checks for final payment for my last five hunts in Namibia;taking checks in several amounts to settle up. Known or fixed charges I have been able to prepay as the PH's I have hunted with have US agents/banks to which payments may be made.I object to the added expense of wire transfers and few PH's or farms are set up for credit cards.Travelers checks in large denominations went away several years ago.Now it appears that even the $100
checks are unacceptable. One can either arrange to pay trophy fees on return to the US OR take enough cash along. Just another change for we hunters to deal with...

Earlier this week I emailed NED bank in Windhoek to confirm the traveler check/cashier check issue.

They confirmed that no banks in Namibia are currently accepting US issued traveler's checks in USD or cashier's checks from US based banks in USD. The reason given was the same given to my PH/friends - high rates of fraudulent paper.

She did say that non-US based traveler's checks/cashier's checks in other currencies, i.e. Euros, were still being accepted.

I also asked if travelers could use a US based credit card with a passport ID to make a cash advance/withdrawal in ND. She said that banks are not set up to accept/swipe credit cards and travelers would have to use ATM's subject to the max daily cash withdrawals of the credit card provider.

Just makes things more difficult for US hunters. We are either tasked/required to wire enough funds for daily fees and anticipated trophies and take/travel with cash to cover "trophies of opportunity". Then IF you don't shoot everything you anticipated, the PH is left with either refunding the hunter in cash and thereby keeping significant amounts of USD liquid/on-hand or the extra headache/expense of wiring it back to the hunter.

Lastly, the PH/Outfitter could "trust" the hunter to wire additional funds (if needed) for extra animals/side trips etc once the hunter gets back to the US while keeping the trophies as "security" until the funds are received. Most hunters will probably end up wiring the extra funds, but it also leaves the PH/Outfitters out in the cold if the hunter doesn't.

Just not a clean way either way it goes. The only reason I was posting this was for future Namibian hunter awareness.

The best way (for now at least) will probably be EFT whilst there....... Trusting the client to go home & then transfer the money owed is a recipe for disaster for the outfitters.

Not only is there the risk of a flaky client leaving & simply not paying but there's also a variety of other things that can happen such as wife or business partner doing a bunk with all the money whilst hubby/business partner is away or client croaking on the flight home.

These things don't often happen but they do happen.

Sadly, what Steve says is correct.

The majority of clients and professional hunters are honest individuals, and would never dream of cheating.

But, we have heard of quite a few clients going home and promising to wire the extra charges and never do.

We have also heard of professional hunters who never delivered in what they had promised the client.

I have hunted with several professional hunters.

I have paid everything in advance, including trophy fees on many occasions, and have paid extra charges after my return on some occasions.

There was never any question of any party not honoring their part.

On one occasion my professional hunter made a mistake in the total, by not charging me for some animals.

He only realized that after we had left.

It was my first hunt with this gentleman, and when he informed me of what had happened, I wired the money to him immediately.

When hunting in Africa, I have lately settled up by personal check given before leaving, or by wire transfer after returning home. There are risks involved either way.