Kenya - ATM's and payment for safari

Lots of ATMs.
Depends on the safari company but most will take credit cards if you are there but cash in foreign currency is often preferred.
If you book form outside Kenya they prefer bank transfer.

Watch out for a fee on credit cards. They wanted to charge me 2% (might have been more, can't remember) for payiing with Visa so I went across the road to the bank and withdrew the bulk of the payment that day and paid the balance the day after (total was above the daily limit for ATM withdrawal). I paid in local currency.

Make sure they dont scam you on the exchange rate like they did to me! When I asked the agency to convert the payment to Shillings they jacked the exchange rate up 5 points and I was too stupid to check.

Shinekenya is a tout/impotser. Avoid.

Thanks for the heads up on 'shinekenya'. Pardon my naviete but what happened to the message from same. Did a webmaster removeit? Just curious.
I have had a number of hopefully good answers. I'm going to mark it as answered.

The webmaster didnt remove the message. He removed the whole kabang; shinekenye and all. It was a travel agent pretending to be a tourist. These are usually the small, unregistered travel agents that rip you off.

elizaj, lts of Atm machines in nairobi payment is acceptable in both cash dollar, ke shillings, or in euros, credit cards are also acceptable to some companies..but this may attract some extra percentage depending on the company. but to avoid all the money husles you can safely do a bank transfer if on time because it takes like 4 working days toclear.

there are Atms all over nairobi. The most commonly safest and successful ones are of barclays and stardard charterd Bank ATMs which works well with visa and master,express cards..look out for one at muindi Mbingu street right opposit equity bank,there is also one at loita street at barclyas plaza,the koinange street,opposite kengeles restaurnt,kenyatta avenue just to mention but a few on the most safest locations. There are lots of safari registered companies in Nairobi,and even from your hotel may be some around,others have been highly recommended good even here on the lonely planet, while payment on the ground in kenya can be made in cash dollars, Euros,or local currency (kenya shillings).what i warn you about is not to deal with street vendors that always try to sell you safaris from the street or outside your hotel.

There are ATMs in Nairobi and you can also get money at banks if you want to use your credit card (watch out though, your bank will charge you a fee and interest, so pay it off right away when you get home).

When I went on safari in Kenya I paid the company in USD. For others I've heard you can pay via bank transfer if you feel comfortable with that.