Getting pretty hard to find. My bank quit selling them, and the American Express concierge line just told me that there are no longer any American Express locations in the US, or at least none that sell travelers checks. Bummer. Went to another couple of banks - Chase and B of A - and they require an account to have been open at least 60 days. Don't have that much time before we leave.
Guess I'll take more cash than I'd like to....

Anybody had a similar experience of late or have any ideas.

I picked up a travel card from my bank. Pretty much like a credit card except you preload money. You don't have to worry about someone hacking your credit card. Worked great for me in Africa last year.

Wiring money in advance to a PH's account is one way to avoid carrying a lot of cash. Some have accounts here in the USA, so not much of a problem to do so. A lot of general expenses, ie. daily rates, and some of the trophy fees can be wired or deposited prior to leaving on your safari. I have my bank set up to release and wire money on my request while away on safari. If I shoot a couple extra animals, all I do is e-mail my bank, tell them how much to put in XYZ's account, end of story. I am happy, PH is happy and bank is happy.

A lot of outfitter/PH folks do not accept travelers checks anymore. Too hard for them to exchange, some people have been known to have cancelled payment on them, leaving a PH holding the bag. Big example here on AR a few years back.

Larry Sellers
SCI(International)Life Member
Sabatti 'trash' Double Shooter
R8 Blaser
DRSS

Back when, PH's and outfitters wanted travelers checks at the conclusion of a safari. No more and I've quit using them.

I wire money in advance in the amount of a conservative estimate. You can't carry more than $10,000 cash, but these days, you can generally get money transferred fairly easily.

I've thought about opening a bank account in Dar and maintaining a minimum balance just to facilitate those situations, but if you hunt with people with whom you have had long relationships, you can just send a wire afterwards.

i take tip/incidental money only and wire anything else when i get home.

I'm sending a check to my booking agent to hold in "escrow" prior to my departure. Once finished with the safari, funds will be transferred to the appropriate person. The only thing I'll be taking with me will be pocket cash and potential tip money.

quote:

You can't carry more than $10,000 cash, but these days, you can generally get money transferred fairly easily.

Just to clarify, you can carry all the cash you can carry (meaning only limited by weight and volume) but if it is more than $9,999.99 (including monetary instruments and value of any foreign currency) you will have to declare it with customs before you leave which can be a hassle.

Will have prepaid virtually the whole hunt, except trophy fees, by the time we leave. Will take more cash than I wanted to, but will probably cap it below the statutory reporting amount. Should be enough. Looks like the day of the traveler's check has indeed passed. Credit cards work very well, unless you're paying a PH, of course, or leaving tips.

Will muddle through just fine. Appreciate the feedback, gents !

Most banks will get them if you order them well in advance and have a long standing account. Good tips on other options. This seems like something operators should advise about up front rather than have the client try to figure it out.

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
I'm sending a check to my booking agent to hold in "escrow" prior to my departure. Once finished with the safari, funds will be transferred to the appropriate person. The only thing I'll be taking with me will be pocket cash and potential tip money.

The above is always my recommendation to my clients. Traveling with a wad of cash just makes me uncomfortable. Traveler's Checks seem to be more and more difficult to use and the safari operators don't really want them. I think if I was booking direct I'd try to make arrangements to wire half of my estimated trophy fees before the safari and the balance on my return home.

Mark

FYI NAMIBIA HUNTERS : Namibian banks will no longer accept ANY checks drawn on US banks,rendering all such checks "non-negotiable"
This includes Travelers Checks as well as Cashiers Checks/Bank Drafts. Large denomination TC's went away several years ago. Signing multiple $100 checks is a pain in the ass so I went to Cashiers checks in varied amounts so that I could reach the $ amount necessary to settle my bill.That has worked fine up through last year BUT NO LONGER !( I had rejected wire transfers due to the expense, $45+or- for each transfer). Luckily, both my PH's (I hunt two venues each trip) have US Banks to which I can make make deposits over the time between trips until "fixed" (daily rate and travel) cost is paid. I am also allowed to pay trophy fees on my return,so I carry only limited cash on me.. One can also pay "estimated" trophy fees in advance and get excess refunded. I have not yet tried the CC method as few PH's are set up for credit cards. Remember to ALWAYS call your credit card bank and set up for overseas charges in all countries in which you may make charges. Hope this info helps out...

I have no love of the service (for any number of reasons), but I'm curious if PayPal is a viable way to transfer money to an African PH? I frequently send money to a friend in Europe via PayPal for items he purchases there for me.

Travelers checks are only good in the US. If you have to carry cash then you can exchange dollars for Euros. Euro has a $500 bill. That way you can hide it better.

I prepay all of the day rate and some TFs by wire transfer to their account in Zim, etc. or by check to their US bank account. I bring cash for tips, that is it. If I shoot a bunch and owe, I just wire more when I get back.

Capt. P - You can still use Travelers Checks in a lot of places in Africa, it's just that most PH's don't/won't take them anymore. I took some old ones (five years old I guess) and used them in JoBerg last year for goodies and such.

Larry Sellers
SCI(International)Life Member
Sabatti 'trash' Double Shooter
R8 Blaser
DRSS

quote:

Originally posted by Capt. Purvis:
Travelers checks are only good in the US. If you have to carry cash then you can exchange dollars for Euros. Euro has a $500 bill. That way you can hide it better.

Western Union.

You send the money to yourself at your envisaged destination for collection, no questions asked.

Once I chartered from the Omay to Vic falls and time to pay fee I produced Travelers checks and they said no. I said that was all I had, funny how quick they took them undated.

DOJ - I guess it might depend on what kind of "cash flow" day the establishment is having. These days I would think business folks would opt to take "any" form of legal payment? The folks in the JoBerg airport sure didn't hesitate taking mine last year!!

Larry Sellers
SCI(International)Life Member
Sabatti 'trash' Double Shooter
R8 Blaser
DRSS

quote:

Originally posted by Die Ou Jagter:
Once I chartered from the Omay to Vic falls and time to pay fee I produced Travelers checks and they said no. I said that was all I had, funny how quick they took them undated.

Because they can.

I've done exactly what M. Young has described above. I don't feel conformable carrying large sums of cash for trophy fees. I've made arrangements with the PH to front load half of the trophy fees and wired the remaining total upon my return.

Gato's right of course but I don't want to go through that hassel. Nor do I want to carry $50,000 of cash for trophy fees and incidentals. Talk about a target.