Customer Reviews

Africa's Top Wildlife Countries: Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia & Zimbabwe

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is fantastic. We were thinking of going on an African Safari, but didn't know the first thing about where to go, when to go, the safety, the accommodations, the vehicles used to travel about etc. This book answers all of that and more. The book is very well organized, and written in an easy to read style.

The inside cover has a great chart that shows you month by month and country by country (and regions within countries) when is the best time to visit. The back inside cover has a similar chart showing which animals you'll see in which region and country. Other charts in the book provide useful information.

The first one hundred pages tells you about the different housing arrangements (mobile tent camps, lodges, etc, the types of safaris (walking safaris , gorilla safaris, game drives, night game drives etc.), costs, booking, health issues, and much more.

The next few hundred pages has separate sections discussing the particulars of safaris in each country. Nine or ten countries/regions are discussed in great depth. Another section discusses an additional half dozen countries that are less travelled for safaris.

The sections tell you about the accomodations, the food, the culture, the history, etc. Lots of useful information and tips.

There's lots of information about various tour companies. The author runs his own highly regarded travel tour company specializing in African Safaris.

The book is beautifully illustrated with high quality graphs and photographs. This book is highly recommended if you're thinking of a safari.

The cradle of civilization, Africa is also the cradle of a wide range of wildlife. Now in a fully updated and expanded seventh edition, "Africa's Top Wildlife Countries" is a safari in book form of the most wildlife-friendly countries in the diverse and far reaching wild of Africa's savannah. A complete and comprehensive travel guide of all the wild one can see when visiting the continent, "Africa's Top Wildlife Countries" is an over 700 page manual with almost 600 full color photographs. Packed cover to cover with information, "Africa's Top Wildlife Countries" is one of the best Africa travel manuals one can have.

I have read at least four books on the topic and Mark Nolting's is the best of the bunch. Comprehensive. Informative. Factual. You cannot go wrong. He also runs a top flight tour service. I just wish the book were available in an e-format.

This is a fairly average travel book with some unusual characteristics:

First, it is HEAVY. Printing on heavy clay-coated stock is nice for the color pictures, but at about 2 1/2 pounds/1+ kilos you are not going to want to put this in your luggage.

Second, it is basically a disguised hustle for the author's travel company. Starting with the full-page ad on page six, followed by hustle after hustle in the text ("Then call us at the Africa Adventure Travel Company ... We will match the experience you are looking for with a fabulous safari program ..."), then at page 676 discover that you have bought and paid for another 20 (!) straight pages of nothing but advertising.

The information in this book, while good, is available elsewhere in more portable form and without the egregious hustle. If you like color photos, don't mind a book the weight of a small anvil, and are willing to be hustled, however, this is your book.

I found this book to be very helpful regarding country overviews, camps, what I could see, and all other aspects needed to select a country and location for a successful safari.

This was purchased as a gift for my father-in-law in preparation for a trip to Africa. So far he's finding the book helpful to planning.