OK, I am getting some pertinent questions regarding money in Senegal.
First off, the currency here is the Franc CFA (pronounced say-fa). The currency is pegged to the euro, and there are 655.957 Francs CFA in one Euro. If you have been following the currency markets, you know that the US dollar has plummeted against the Euro. Thus, it has also plummeted against the CFA. Today, the exchange rate is around 420 CFA per 1 USD. For comparison, it was around 750 just before Sept 11, 2001. Since then, it's been a long spiral downward.
You can look up the currency exchange rate on XE.com. But for convenience, I have posted the conversion at the bottom of the blog. Wanted to put it at the top, but couldn't get it to fit there!
So, first things first - Don't buy travelers' cheques! I think this is a thing of the past. Today, there are ATMs. This is the case in capital cities all over West Africa, as I found out as I have been traveling for my job. I don't think this was the case ten years ago, but today it is. ATMs have good rates here, so this is the way that you will want to go. So, bring your ATM card which hopefully has a Visa symbol on it. If not, tell me what symbol it does have (in the comments) and I will check it out. It might be worthwhile informing your bank that you will be traveling so that they don't see a sudden surprise out-of-country and stop your card. I don't think this would happen, but just in case. The bank may be able to give you an indication if you will have any problems using it here. Note that in the end, if it doesn't work for whatever reason, I have access to money and I can gladly lend you money until you get back Stateside.
As for credit cards, there aren't many places that you will find that take them here. If you have a visa card, bring it along - maybe you will buy something in the Atlanta airport with it! Even if you do find a place to use it here, they will probably charge you 6% for using it, so it really isn't necessary. You will be spending cash.
Since cash (Francs CFA) will be the primary thing that you are carrying around, think about how you might carry it around. The largest bill is 10,000 francs, or maybe $24. Thus, you can carry around good sums of money without taking too much space. I can easily carry a lot in my wallet.
Do not bring US dollars. They are difficult to exchange and I am not going to exchange them for you. You will also get worse rates than with the ATM card.
Summary: Bring $25 (in case of emergency at the airport before you get cash) and an ATM card and you will have no problems. DO NOT bring cash or travelers' cheques.
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A word of advice... bring more than one ATM card if possible. If there are problems, you'll still be able to get money. This isn't as big of an issue since we have Aaron to help us. :-)
Be sure to call the ATM/credit card company and let them know your travel dates and location. They are known for halting transactions that show up internationally with their fraud alerts. Stephen has called for us traveling to Europe the last couple of years and they have always been glad to know ahead of time and we haven't had problems using our cards. Be sure that they don't expire while you are gone and if it's a new card or a card that you don't usually use as an ATM, practice in the states first.
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