I still had those alluring safari images in my head. And they kept me going.

I have always worked with South Pacific travel companies that had a U.S. office as  a main point of contact. There are Africa safari and adventure companies based in the U.S. but hundreds more based solely in Kenya. I used an aproved list from the Kenya Tourist Board to narrow down my choices. I found one company that stood out from the rest with unique locations and offerings. However, they would not accept credit cards long distance and insisted on a wire transfer.

Normally, this is a fast and easy direct business transaction. I had done it before to the South Pacific, money transferred electronically from my one bank account to another, almost instantaneously. But this time didn’t go smoothly at all.

Where’s my money?
E-mails flew back and forth for 2 anxiety-filled weeks as thousands of dollars of my money were “lost in transit”.  My bank in California and their intermediary bank in New York confirmed the transfer but their bank in Nairobi would NOT. I initiated a trace without a response. At this point, my bank manager expressed some concern. I had some growing trepidation as well. She told me that sometimes funds are frozen due to suspected illegal activity. Believe me, it wasn’t enough money to constitute a drug deal.

I had a true dilemma. I was holding a very expensive, non-refundable airline ticket but my land arrangements were technically not paid or confirmed. Should I go, should I postpone, should I cancel?

I enlisted the help of the company owner and asked him to check the trace in reverse with their Nairobi bank. Lo and behold, a week before departure, I had verification. The money had been there all along. I never did get a complete explanation of what had happened but I was told that the banking system is a little archaic.

I was just finding out about local money transactions. There would be more lessons to come in the next week.

I now use a U.S. company with payments made by credit card and live people I can talk to who know exactly where the money is.
I’m not playing hide and seek again with my money or anyone else’s.

I still had those alluring safari images in my head. And they kept me going.

I have always worked with South Pacific travel companies that had a U.S. office as  a main point of contact. There are Africa safari and adventure companies based in the U.S. but hundreds more based solely in Kenya. I used an aproved list from the Kenya Tourist Board to narrow down my choices. I found one company that stood out from the rest with unique locations and offerings. However, they would not accept credit cards long distance and insisted on a wire transfer.

Normally, this is a fast and easy direct business transaction. I had done it before to the South Pacific, money transferred electronically from my one bank account to another, almost instantaneously. But this time didn’t go smoothly at all.

Where’s my money?
E-mails flew back and forth for 2 anxiety-filled weeks as thousands of dollars of my money were “lost in transit”.  My bank in California and their intermediary bank in New York confirmed the transfer but their bank in Nairobi would NOT. I initiated a trace without a response. At this point, my bank manager expressed some concern. I had some growing trepidation as well. She told me that sometimes funds are frozen due to suspected illegal activity. Believe me, it wasn’t enough money to constitute a drug deal.

I had a true dilemma. I was holding a very expensive, non-refundable airline ticket but my land arrangements were technically not paid or confirmed. Should I go, should I postpone, should I cancel?

I enlisted the help of the company owner and asked him to check the trace in reverse with their Nairobi bank. Lo and behold, a week before departure, I had verification. The money had been there all along. I never did get a complete explanation of what had happened but I was told that the banking system is a little archaic.

I was just finding out about local money transactions. There would be more lessons to come in the next week.

I now use a U.S. company with payments made by credit card and live people I can talk to who know exactly where the money is.
I’m not playing hide and seek again with my money or anyone else’s.