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Do you change your US dollars at the airport in South Africa or do you exchange it here in the US? Or do you just tip the help in Dollars?

In 3 trips to the RSA I used US Dollars and never got any Rand. I think they all prefer USD. And if there was something in a store I might want to buy, I had the outfitter pay for it and then payed him the equivalent in USD. Also, almost all vendors in OR Tambo airport take USD or credit cards. Granted, you may get change in Rand.

I exchanged US $ for Rand at the airport in Atlanta, then converted leftover Rand on my way back home.

I also used US dollars. The only thing I needed money for was my dinner at Afton House before the hunt and the tip for the PH, cook and help. They prefer US dollars, the rest I put on a credit card and the CC company did the exchange rate.

14 Safaris in 7 countries- never exchanged dollars for local currency. Locals generally prefer dollars anyway.

My outfitter preferred his staff be tipped in anything other than Rand. Some staff tipped in Rand tend to disappear until all of their money is spent on booze and women.

Only went on three safaris. Used US$ entirely.

Did not exchange any money, just used Credit Cards and ATM cards. My outfitter wanted the PH and Cook tipped in Dollars and the rest of the staff in Rand. Used the ATM to get the Rand. Went to AMEX office and obtained Dollars. Everything else on the card. For sightseeing, I used Uber, rides charged straight to my card.

I do it at my bank in the US.

US$

My first safari was to Zim and I basically used US$ ... cash. Hey, Zimbucks were fuggin useless and everybody wanted US$. It was shortly after the Rhodesian Way and it was absolutely the Wild, Wild West (in more ways than I can relate)

I made a HUGE mistake on our second safari, which was to the RSA, about five years later. My PH, Louis Von Tonder, was and is primarily a professional lawyer (literally). Nothing the matter with that.

A year out from our safari, the exchange between Rand and US$ was about par, 1US$+1ZAR and the lawyer fella demanded that he be paid in Rand, probably because the Rand was kinda drifting up at that time.

And, of course, being a LAWYER, my PH, had me sign in eight-tuplicate that I would absolutely pay in Rand and NO US$.

OK, whatever. Hey, I'm OK with that!!!!!

By the time we arrived, the Rand was like $.62 (it's currently $.74), so what the hell, I converted my bucks to Rand, so I could fulfill my agreement with my PH/LAWYER fella.

I'll never forget walking from the Sun & Towers Hotel in Johannesburg to the local NedBank, like two blocks away and exchanging 10,000 US$ for Rand. One would think that a grossly-devalued currency would have like 500Rand and 1,000Rand bills .... Hell no ... the largest Rand bills they had in stock were a very few 20R and way more 10R.

We walked away with eight HUGE shopping bags of Rand bills ... and passed a black guy sh1tting in the fuggin' street right in front of the Sun & Towers Hotel.

Talk about a difference in worlds!

At the end of the safari, Louis Von Tonder pronounced to me that he'd rather be paid in US$. And I told him that because he insisted on being paid (in a most lawyer way) in Rand, he would be fuggin' paid in South Afrikan Rand ....

Hey, I signed, at his insistence, and in eight-tuplicate, that he would be paid in that South Afrikan Rand and that was the way he was paid.

The lawyer frame of mind escapes me; it works one way, but not the other

Blessings Always,

kd

I’ve been to 4 third world countries. Everyone seems to prefer US dollars to local money.

In Europe, Australia, Canada and even Mexico I use local currency. But in the boondocks people want money that doesn’t depreciate fast.

I spent most of my rand over the past two weeks in Namibia. The remaining will go back to my Chase bank here in Texas.