How much cash to bring to RSA?

Samsonite makes a very thin wallet with a belt loop which you wear inside your trousers.

Thanks for everyone's advice!

I'm getting serious about booking my first trip to Africa...several outfitters I'm looking at teautie fairly small deposits and cash or credit are used for the balance upon hunt completion (some dont accept travelers checks).

This is going to be a fairly spendy trip and my wife is hunting too and I may be chasing leopard or buffalo. So not interested in putting a ton on credit cards, I typically avoid it.

For those of you have been, would you be ok with traveling with $10k+ in cash, locking it in your gun case in camp, etc or would you avoid it and try and look into wire transfer for the balance?

I brought about 10k on my first trip, but have not since then. I’m just not as comfortable as I once was with that much cash, nor have I found it really necessary. Every outfitter I have used since my first trip has been willing to accept a wire transfer. Some want it upon leaving, others are more relaxed, and wait until I get back. This is for trophy fees - I pay the day rates in advance.

On disadvantage - and a serious one IMO - is that over 10K of cash requires reports every time you leave and enter a country. That takes time, and requires forms to be filled out, and explanations given, and then people know you are carrying more money than they earn in a year. You can certainly ignore the rules, but you do so at your peril. I’ve been stopped a couple of times and asked how much cash I was carrying, and I’d rather be truthful to authority, particularly in Africa, where you don’t want to give anyone in uniform any excuse to make your life unpleasant.

These days I only bring enough cash for small local expenses, tips for camp staff and sometimes the PH. Often I will wire funds to the PH too - it pays to ask, as many keep accounts outside of whatever country they are working and/or living in and would prefer to have money deposited elsewhere rather than buried in the backyard until the next time they visit the US or Europe.

Good luck with the first hunt!

Use you credit cards for what you can. On my plains game hunt I took over $1000 US and around the same in South African Rand. I paid the tip to my PH in US dollars and the rest of the tips were in rand. We then took a tour for a week and a half and in that time I used up just about all the rand that I had and that was also putting thing on my CC's.

10k in cash in my opinion is way too much. Talk to your outfitter and if you need to the outfitter can hold up your trophies until you get home and send him a wire transfer for the balance, or he just might take you at your word.

mikecatt13 said:

I'm getting serious about booking my first trip to Africa...several outfitters I'm looking at teautie fairly small deposits and cash or credit are used for the balance upon hunt completion (some dont accept travelers checks).

This is going to be a fairly spendy trip and my wife is hunting too and I may be chasing leopard or buffalo. So not interested in putting a ton on credit cards, I typically avoid it.

For those of you have been, would you be ok with traveling with $10k+ in cash, locking it in your gun case in camp, etc or would you avoid it and try and look into wire transfer for the balance?

Click to expand...

Once you make a decision about what outfitter you will hunt with, ask him what he prefers. If he has Paypal, then you can send money that way, if not you can wire money to his bank. Keep in mine what @Hank2211 said. His bank can be located in any country. He will need to send you an attachment with all his bank information and numbers, then you go to your bank, or depending on your bank web site capabilities, you can do it on line. You should not be carrying $10,000 in cash though. You need maybe one or two thousand or so in tip money. How much you tip depends on you and no one else.

You don‘t need bringing cash along. There are lots of ATMs where you can draw money. However at the ATM don‘t use your credit card but a debit card - it‘s cheaper.

mikecatt13 said:

I'm getting serious about booking my first trip to Africa...several outfitters I'm looking at teautie fairly small deposits and cash or credit are used for the balance upon hunt completion (some dont accept travelers checks).

This is going to be a fairly spendy trip and my wife is hunting too and I may be chasing leopard or buffalo. So not interested in putting a ton on credit cards, I typically avoid it.

For those of you have been, would you be ok with traveling with $10k+ in cash, locking it in your gun case in camp, etc or would you avoid it and try and look into wire transfer for the balance?

Click to expand...

Not a good idea to carry so much cash, apart from the extra paperwork and declarations.

Unless your outfitter is picking you up directly from the airport also a very bad idea....

Why would you be reluctant to use your credit card if you you pay the money in there?

As the others say above $10k is way too much IMO. Pay your day fees etc upfront and wire / EFT / PayPal the balance. $1k to $2k should be more than enough.

This seems to be an old thread with some useful current posts.

So I'll chime in for other first timers,...and maybe a new idea for veteran hunters.

First: exchange at least $100.00 USD via your bank. Save the paperwork at home and exchange your Rand, if you have any left or equivalent to or over $100.00 via your bank at your original exchange rate.
IF you don't have enough to exchange with your bank, hang on to what Rand you have for a future trip or as souvenir money from your trip.

I recommend dividing your Rand into 1/2:
1/2 in denominations of R10 & R20:

The other 1/2 into 1/2 again:
1/2 in R50 & R100

Example: $100.00USD = R1260
R1260÷2=R660....R500 in 20's....R160 in 10's
R600÷2=R300.....R300 in 50's......R300 in 100's

Now separate your money:
Put R200 of 10's & 20's in a convenient pocket. Put the rest handy put not in a place you would routinely fumble through and NOT WITH YOUR PASSPORT!!

REMEMBER IF YOU NEED MORE RAND YOU CAN EXCHANGE USD at the airport or with the assistance of your PH at a local bank.

Secondly: How much USD will be needed?
This amount should not exceed $8000.00!

Plan how much YOU want to pay for in tips and other necessities and souvenir shopping. MAYBE CONSIDER adding another 10 or 20 percent as "just in case money".

Now divide this amount 1/4 & 3/4:

EXAMPLE 1: $4000.00

$4000.00÷4= 1/4 is 1000 & 3/4 is 3000....
$3000.00 in $100
$1000.00 divided: $200.00 in 10's: $200.00 in $20's and $600.00 in 50's.

Again put $100.00 in 10's & 20's in a convenient pocket and separate from your convenient pocket of Rand.

Put the rest of USD with the rest of your Rand. THIS STOPS YOU FROM "FLASHING" A LOT OF CASH, thus reduces the risk of "robbery", by thugs and when purchasing souveiners,....or in case SAPS wishes you to insure your weapon(s) get on the correct flight you are on, (aka, bribe).

EXAMPLE 2: $8000.00

$8000.00= $1000 in 10's & 20's: $500 - $600 in 50's: $6500 - $6400 in 100's.

Once at your hunting lodge you can group all your excess money, paperwork, passport, and other valuables and secure them by either: in your TSA/Airline required travel gun or ammo case, room security locker, even by putting everything in a sealed envelope between: a towel or garment and the bottom of your day pack that remains with (you) in the bakki. Should someone other than you open your pack the envelope isn't seen.

All other expenses: shopping, extra animals, fees, other lodging, rental car, dining, taxidermy, etc. just use your credit card and/or debit card and when you return home (or while you are back at camp or lodge and your accounts are set up for it, log in to your account and transfer funds to) use the money you had planned to carry with you to pay your credit card bill.

Something else to consider having handy and places to secure/"hide" items.

My camera case and day pack have hidden pockets that I use to cache photo copies of : my passport, birth certificate, letter(s) of invitation, driver's license, military ID, SAPS 520 & CBP 4457's, Vaccine Record (yellow card), airline(s) tickets, travel insurance documents, just in case I loose any of my original documents, and especially if I have to get my passport replaced while outside the US.

These same items listed above are also photoed into my phone.

When it comes to needing the right government (US) BS paperwork.....Plan for the worst case scenario and you can't go wrong....(getting back into the US).

Hope this helps.

Maybe I am dealing with good outfitters, ie the trusting type. Most of the time I try to pay a good sum up front, something where the outfitter understands I am an ethical and up front sort of guy. I don’t just pay the minimum deposit for instance. I carry on the cash I need for tips and misc. travels, and then have been asked by the outfitter just to wire the funds to their bank upon my return to the USA. Again, like others before, on the first safari I carried the $10K max and have never done so since then on seven subsequent safaris. This has been on anything from ten day plains game to 21 day dangerous game safaris. I would talk to your PH and find out what they are willing to do. You might be surprised and find you do not need that roll of cash hidden in your sock. Just my 2 cents worth.