G’day folks. Well – the last country on my Dhaka to Dakar quest was Senegal, and luckily for this one I kept a few notes and a couple of coins for you to check out below. The CFA – exactly what the letters stand for appears to be up for debate but the best approximation I can find online is the Communauté Financière Africaine. More commonly in English it is regarded as the West African Franc. It is not just the currency of Senegal but of a number of French West African Nations including Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin, Togo and couple of others.

There is a second CFA used in other French speaking African nations such as Cameroon, Chad, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). This is the Central African CFA Franc. 656 CFA (either one) is worth 1 Euro – approximately. It’s tied to the Euro (used to be tied to the French Franc). As far as I know you can not use the West African CFA Franc in say Cameroon or the Central African CFA Franc in Senegal. They are not interchangeable although they have the same value.

Whilst I did use an ATM in Senegal they are still not super common outside central Dakar or Saint Louis, and you definitely want to carry hard currency around to change, the Euro is the most convenient, and may be accepted in some places as payment.

Thanks for popping by! May the Journey Never End