Hi all,

I am planning a trip to West Africa in January for three or four months, starting in Morocco and finishing in Ghana. I am wondering if anyone has any advice on carrying money. I don't want to bring my entire trip cost with me for safety reasons, but I also know that I can't just withdraw from ATM's when I feel like it. What are other people's experiences with carrying money e.g How much of your total trip cost did you bring with you, what ratio of cash to travellers cheques, how did you carry your money with you to keep it safe, etc... Thanks a lot! Any other tips are appreciated...

Tom

Depending on the type of ATM card you carry, you may actually have some options.

On a trip in Francophone West Africa a couple of years ago, I was carrying a Cirrus / MasterCard system card; I had no problem accessing ATMs in Dakar / Senegal; no luck pretty much elsewhere.

With a Visa card, you could withdraw in Burkina, and possibly Mali (though slightly more unreliable apparently).

I'm generally biased towards carrying cash (a bit stupid, I know), but on that trip, I brought about a third of my funds via travelers cheques. Changing them was very straightforward in Burkina, a bit more problematic, but generally alright in Benin; pain in the ass in Niger (especially outside Niamey), and quite time consuming in Cameroon.

Hope this helps - enjoy your trip.