Cash is the operative word. You can take traveler’s checks, but realize that you should exchange these in Kampala and that the exchange rate is less than that of cash.

US dollars in higher currency amounts (ie $100) are your best option in regards to exchange rates, but smaller amounts less than $20 are rarely accepted. Bring bills that have been printed after 2000. That is very important.

Many merchants will absolutely not accept bills printed earlier. ATM machines are available in Kampala only.

ABSA Bank, Stanbic Bank and Standard Charter accept VISA cards and you can make a withdraw over the account. Withdraws by ATM have a cap limit of US$500.

Credit cards are becoming easily accepted except at large hotels and they will usually charge a of 3-6% user fee is deducted off by the merchant who process the transaction. If you do use credit
cards, the most commonly accepted is VISA/Mastercard.

It is recommend taking both traveler’s checks, cash, VISA credit card, and ATM. Be sure when using travelers checks you have your receipt as many banks will require verification of purchase. If you are nervous about carrying large amounts of cash, keep most of it in your hotel safe.

Separate your money in different places, carry some money that is easily accessible and keep the remainder in a money belt.

Estimating the cost of your trip is difficult because each of you will have different traveling styles. You can estimate the price of housing from the option that you choose listed above.

Food and transportation will be around $10-15/day and don’t forget that you’ll probably want to put some minutes on the cell phone.

Travel costs within Uganda will depend on what you decide to do. When traveling, plan to have enough money to cover your time away from Kampala, as it gets difficult to change money outside of the
capitol city. Several of the national parks will accept and actually prefer US dollars as payment, so bring some US$10 and US$20’s as well.