Banking / Money whilst doing Africa?

Hi All,
Ok hopefully my last question for today!
Does anyone have a recommendation for a UK bank to use whilst doing Africa overland in terms of withdrawing cash from cash machines etc?
Obviously we will be taking cash too. How much should you keep on you (hidden in the vehicle of course)? Currency? (am assuming $US is best).
Cheers,
Lachlan

Try looking on the The HUBB its mostly for motor cycle travellers but you will find sections to answer most of your queries

barclays seem to have a lot of branches in Africa, the Euro is just as useful as the Dollar.

The Nationwide building society don't charge for cash withdrawals from their current account via cash machines abroad. On a big trip this could save hundreds of pounds. I had real problems with Barclays Bank when I was travelling in Latin America. I used my card to pay for something via the internet from an internet cafe and afterwards my card details were used to make about 800 pounds of fraudulent transactions. Barclays did refund the money in the end but it took days of telephone calls to sort the problem. It was awfull: I was just passed from one Indian call centre person to another, none of whome I could effectively communicate with. When things go wrong having a bank whose call centres are only in the UK should make things much easier. When I joined a few years ago that was the case with Nationwide - not sure if it still is. Another thing worth doing is to tell your bank and credit card companies your travel plans before you go because sometimes they will block a card when it is used abroad in an effort to prevent fraud.