Basic Payment Rules to Observe to Stay Safe in Kenya

Carrying cash in an economy where the exchange rate is much lower than your own is dangerous for the traveller. To start with, what does not appear like much money to you, because you view it from your currency, is a lot of money in the host nation. 

This is the single most common reason why tourists will get mugged and robbed in a foreign country. Travellers are infamous for carrying way more money than the average local would. 

The first rule of thumb in a foreign country is to limit the amount of cash you have on you. The second important rule is to pay in non-cash modes as much as possible. For Kenya, there are ample options of making non-cash payments. Here are the major ones that you should know: 

1. Credit Card — most of the larger and up-market shopping outlets will take credit card payments. The two main merchants are VISA and MasterCard. If your card supports either of the two, you will find numerous outlets that take cash. 

2. Debit Cards — there are two types of debit cards in Kenya. The one is attached to your bank account. This may not make much sense to a traveller or a short term visitor. The other is not attached to a bank account. It is simply a card issued by the bank that you can load on demand. Such debit cards will work in most retail outlets and anywhere where they accept VISA and MasterCard payments. The advantage of these cards to the credit card is the exchange rate. Since they are loaded in Kenya shillings, you are not surcharged against the currency conversion. 

3. Mobile Money Payments — the three main ones are Mpesa, Airtel Money and Orange money in that order. These are non cash payments attached to the mobile phone service provider. Mpesa is linked to the Safaricom mobile network. Safaricom has the largest subscriber base in the country and you can get an Mpesa outlet in any corner of the country. 

Airtel money is attached to the airtel telephone network. These are a bit harder to locate nationally, but are easy to get in most large towns. Orange money is attached to the Orange telephone network. The advantage of range Money over Airtel is that it is also attached to the very widely available Equity Bank and thus may be easier to find an outlet outside of Nairobi. 

Mobile money is a system where you load funds on your phone and you can make a payment through the telephone network anywhere mobile cash is accepted. This is by far the safest way to carry cash for a traveller in Kenya. The main advantage is that mobile money is accepted all over the country in both small and large shopping outlets. 

The IMPORTANT rules of cash when travelling in Kenya: 

1. Carry your cash in a wallet as much as possible. What does that mean? Do not scatter cash in your handbag or randomly in your pocket. Keep your cash concealed. Here is the idea; when you open your handbag or pocket to remove a handkerchief, phone, etc... the obvious clutter should not be cash! 

2. Try and carry lower denomination notes and avoid the Kshs 1,000 note in multiples to the best of your ability. If you need any more than Kshs 10,000 at any given time, load it onto your mobile phone. That will not draw unnecessary attention. 

3. Do not ever exchange cash in any other place other than in a bank or a branded Forex Bureau. You can withdraw dollars, Euros, or Pounds in some ATMs (very few will dispense Euros and Pounds but Dollars are common) or you can withdraw Forex in a bank. The basic rule of thumb is to withdraw the currency your bank cards are in, and change that into Kenya shillings in a forex bureau. You get a better shilling rate in most bureaus than in banks. 

4. Avoid withdrawing large amounts of forex or Kenya shillings directly from the bank counter. For the most part, large cash transactions in Kenya for a traveller are highly likely to be fraudulent. Make your payments through non-cash payments as much as possible. 

5. As much as possible, discuss with your host family the bulk payment options that you can utilize so that you do not have to go to a bank every other day. In general, you want to avoid looking like there is a lot of cash flowing around you. 

6. If you have to carry cash, keep it BELOW the Kshs 10,000 mark. If much more than that, they observe the safety measures above. 

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