Lonely Planet Africa on a Shoestring [Paperback]

Hugh Finlay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2001 | Series: Lonely Planet Africa on a Shoestring

Covering every country on the African continent, this book gives practical advice on getting around, including visa and border requirements. It offer eating and sleeping suggestions geared toward the needs of the budget traveller, and features important information on health and personal safety.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Lonely Planet's ninth edition of Africa on a Shoestring (written by no less than 14 intrepid souls) begins with an extensive nuts-and-bolts chapter: visa requirements, vaccination information, how to score the cheapest airfares (couriers, charters, consolidators), suggested itineraries, medical checklists, safety precautions, etc. The countries themselves (48 in all) are listed alphabetically (Algeria to Zimbabwe), with major ones (Egypt, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa) getting the most space--lesser-known ones such as Angola and Liberia register fewer than 10 pages. As its name suggests, the book is chock-a-block with dirt-cheap suggestions on where to stay (from campsites to hotels), eat (street stalls to restaurants), as well as places to view wildlife (Masai Mara, Serengeti), tour ancient Casbahs (Morocco, Tunisia), or unwind on a tropical beach (the islands of Mozambique, Egypt's Red Sea resorts). The appendix is loaded with practical stuff like basic phrases in numerous languages (including Arabic and Swahili) and a glossary of common terms (medina, baksheesh, dhow). After reading Africa on a Shoestring, you'll definitely want to pack your knapsack and go. --Jill Fergus

Product Details

• Paperback: 944 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 9th edition (February 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0864426631
• ISBN-13: 978-0864426635
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,934,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good overview, but hampered by magnitude of region, March 4, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Lonely Planet Africa: On a Shoestring (Africa on a Shoestring, 8th ed) (Paperback)

Too much material! The result is a very superficial glance at every country in Africa, without enough substantial detail to truly aid travelers in many given regions. I used the book while traveling through Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and the Congo (Zaire). Chapters dealing with Ethiopia and Congo were noticeably deficient. These chapters not only lack information, but often provide erroneous information which can be much more aggravating and perhaps dangerous. Other chapters dealing with Uganda, Zanzibar, and Kenya, particularly Nairobi, were well-written, accurate, and helpful.

My overall feeling is that a traveler would be much better equipped by purchasing the regional guides published by Lonely Planet, such as East Africa or West Africa... not this huge, all-encompassing guidebook. For countries not covered, such as Ethiopia or Djibouti, check out Rough Guide or Moon Publications. All of these options offer much more current information than provided here.

If you take a look at LP's Guidebook to Kenya, you will see that it alone has 384 pages! It is simply impossible to condense this into a single worthwhile chapter in the Africa on a Shoestring Guide.

I still gave the book four stars based on the simple fact that it provides excellent maps of the major cities and destinations in Africa and at least a framework for orienting yourself in a given place. If you are backpacking and need to save space, this book does help you out immensely, which is probably its intended function. Just don't put too much faith in it for providing accurate, current details on lodging, transport, or the current "scene."

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars not recommended, May 15, 2001

By 

Ronald Warninger (Yakima, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lonely Planet Africa on a Shoestring (Paperback)

I bought this book for my trip to Kenya Uganda and Tanzania. I thought that I might want to travel to Ethiopia or down to Zambia and Zimbabwe....this guide is much too condensed to be helpful, and most travelers I met hated this guide and would borrow or end up buying the LP East Africa guide. You would be much better off buying a regional guide rather then this monster. Just the weight of the book alone isn't worth carrying around with you. I actually ended up ripping this book to shreads and keeping only about ten pages of it then buying the more in depth East Africa Guide.

Don't get me wrong, I love the lonely planet guides. Just not this one. I can whole heartedly recomment the East Africa guide and the Trekking East Africa guide.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction, October 20, 2005

By 

EugeSchu "be-bop" (WI USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lonely Planet Africa on a Shoestring (Paperback)

As others note, the continent is too large to contain in one book for travel purposes. What this book does is give an EXCELLENT intro to history, culture, people, cities, regions,
and tourist attractions/locales/interests. Gives the mind a framework for Africa and potentially to guide decisions about vacation options. For actual travel, more specific literature is needed, but this book is an excellent opening to understanding and contemplating Africa. I was enthralled!