Guide to Ethiopia [Paperback]

Philip Briggs (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 354 pages
• Publisher: Globe Pequot Press (1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564408140
• ISBN-13: 978-1564408143
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,577,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

African travel specialist Philip Briggs has been exploring the highways, byways and backwaters of the world's most challenging and exciting continent since 1986, when he spent several months backpacking on a shoestring from Nairobi to Cape Town. In 1991, he wrote the Bradt Guide to South Africa, the first such guidebook to be published internationally after the release of Nelson Mandela.

Over the rest of the 1990s, Philip wrote a series of pioneering Bradt Guides to destinations that were then - and in some cases still are - otherwise practically uncharted by the travel publishing industry. These included the first dedicated guidebooks to Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana and Rwanda (co-authored with Janice Booth), all of which are now in their 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th edition.

Philip has visited more than two dozen African countries, and written about most of them, whether it be for guidebook publishers such as AA, APA-Insight, Berlitz, Camerapix, Dorling Kindersley, Frommers, Struik-New Holland and 30 Degrees South, or for specialist travel and wildlife magazines including Africa Birds & Birding, Africa Geographic, BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa and Wanderlust.

He still spends at least four months on the road every year, and spends his rest of the time battering away at a keyboard in the sleepy dorp of Bergville, in the uKhahlamba-Drakensberg region of South Africa. He is married to the travel photographer Ariadne Van Zandbergen and lives with three dogs and a cat. When not obssessing over some or other aspect of African history, culture, wildlife or travel, Philip's interests include music, reading and walking.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars essential interesting reading for the independant traveller, August 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Guide to Ethiopia (Paperback)

Although I haven't yet travelled to Ethiopia, I have read the book several times to enable me to plan an itinerary. The book is essential reading for those wishing to travel to Ethiopia. ANY information on Ethiopia is scarce and the excellent conversational style of the author makes for an enjoyable and, at times, humorous read. Compared to other travel books on Ethiopia, this book is unsurpassed in providing positive down-to-earth information without glossing over the negative aspects of travel in this country. I am sure the 'mud maps' of major towns, accommodation and dining out information will prove invaluable to the independant traveller. And if you are interested in wildlife the author obviously has a sound knowledge of this topic, particularly the birdsof East Africa. He provides comprehensive summaries, scattered through the body of the text, on the birdlife (and other wildlife) you can expect to see in different habitats of the country.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable Guide to Ethiopia, February 6, 2006

By 

E. Nalle (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ethiopia, 4th: The Bradt Travel Guide (Paperback)

I am planning my third trip to Ethiopia, and Philip Briggs' 4th edition of Ethiopia: The Bradt Travel Guide has proved to be indispensable. I have used his previous guidebook editions on my trips, and his information and tips are always exactly right. As an extra added bonus, he is an entertaining and perceptive writer, and the books are fun to read as well. This is the only book a traveler needs for a trip to Ethiopia.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of a small bunch, February 25, 2003

By 

Bortukan (USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ethiopia, 3rd: The Bradt Travel Guide (Paperback)

This is the most recent and most useful of the small number of guidebooks for Ethiopia available in the U.S. Descriptions of places to see were clear and informative, and the sections on how to get around, where to stay, good places to eat, and other tips for each town were accurate and well-researched. This book also contains useful sketch maps of many towns; these are now FAR more accurate than those in older editions, and I found them easier to use than similar maps found in other guides. There is also a thoughtful section on general issues related to travel in Ethiopia. I found this far superior to the other commonly available guides I own for information on Addis Ababa, the so-called "historical circuit," and the lowland desert areas (information on this last region is pretty scarce, but this book has more than others). The book is focused on providing useful travel information and not on long descriptions or photographs; if an informative guidebook to use while travelling is what you're looking for, this one is your best bet. (Be sure to get the newest edition, though-- the previous ones weren't nearly as good!)