Great Service in Africa

When we were in Africa, we had some money problems. Even though they accept credit cards in most of the hotels, it's hard to withdraw cash from ATM's. During our stay there were a gazillion number of public holidays in Kenya, and Tanzania, and during those holidays, the banks are closed. So getting some serious cash was a problem. Especially when you're on safari (not that many ATM's on the Serengeti).

When we entered Tanzania, we needed cash, because we needed to pay some fees (in cash). We were taken to the Impala Hotel in Arusha. Here we could charge our credit card for cash (Tanzanian Shillings, and US Dollars). I seperated the 300 USD, because we needed to pay exit-tax when we fly home again from Zanzibar.

At the end of our vacation, we needed to pay the exit-tax (or departure tax) to get form Zanzibar to Nairobi. The official in charge of collecting the departure money told us that most of our money was fake...... Well, that's just great.
The only place where we could have gotten the fake dollars was in the Impala Hotel. 'Damn those bastards....'

Back home, I contacted the Impala Hotel by e-mail, and explained the situation. Fortunatelly, they remembered the transaction and suggested to correct the problem. They were very cooperative on solving this issue.
A few e-mails later, I got the details of a Western Union Money Transfer. They had sent me the complete amount of 160 USD.

There is only one thing I can say about this: Awesome service. Keep up the good work.
Posted on November 18, 2006 and filed under Holiday, Personal.