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Currency
Namibian Dollars are interchangeable with South African Rand
The ATMs at Windhoek Hosea Kutako airport dispense both ZAR and NAD, you can pay with ZAR currency anywhere and the cashier won’t bat an eyelid.
If you use a ZAR account on Revolut or other Neobank, you will be charged in your GBP account
This is no big deal and the fees are low, however Revolut recognises NAD and ZAR as separate currencies so there is no point filling up your ZAR account unless you are coming through South Africa, where you can withdraw Rand and save yourself a small fee.
Card payments are widely accepted
Almost every location we visited had the facility to accept card payments. The exception for us was in some of the more remote regions of Damaraland where mobile connectivity was limited and the cashiers preferred cash.
ATM withdrawal fees are reasonable and not to be feared
FNB was free to use
Bank Windhoek charged me NAD 30 (~£1.30)
Tips are welcome but never pushed for
American tipping culture is ruining the world, however in Namibia and Botswana we felt that tips were not widely expected, and always very gratefully received
NAD 10 dollars (~40p) is sufficient for the petrol station attendants
They will gladly clean your windows and fill your tyres with air without expectation of a tip, but a small amount goes a long way. It looks as though they are paid well by the petrol companies, but we could be wrong on this.
Inside the petrol station kiosks they were happy to break our bigger notes without purchase in order for us to tip the attendants
BWP is different to NAD
Sounds obvious, but you will need to exchange cash.
South African Rand is freely accepted in Namibia, USD not so much. In Botswana you’ll have a better chance with USD.
We found no currency exchange facility at Ngoma border, however the Chobe Ngoma National Park gate accepted card, and there are ATMs in Kasane
Should you take USD or GBP currency?
We took USD as a contingency in case ATMs were non-functioning.
The only places this was useful were:
Victoria Falls – Zimbabwe use USD, and charge high prices!
Tipping at Safari Lodges – it was expected in USD
Small Holiday Big Dream 