The Peculiarities of Paying

Kigali has a few quirks when it comes to accepting payment. First, for those people whose lives revolve around plastic, there are few to no ATM machines here and the ones that exist are mainly for local banks. Credit cards are still not widely accepted at all.

A truly useful scoop: when traveling to Rwanda, the US dollars you bring should have been issued in 2000 or later. My bank teller in the States was from Ghana and had never heard this request. I did have a moment of doubt at her confusion, but this turned out to be true. Banks and Forex Bureaus are legally required to accept older bills, but they do not like to and may refuse to change your money. Hotels like accepting dollar payments, but they probably will not accept old bills. Avoid potential conflicts by bringing all new money.

Even if you ask for new money at your bank, go through and check each bill. My bank mixed about one-third 1996 bills in with the 2004 bills, and I didn't catch it in time. Now I get to argue every time I use money anywhere outside primary institutions, which is often because of public holidays.