Customer Reviews

Lonely Planet Honduras & the Bay Islands (Country Guide)

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

 

 

I read this book fairly through in trying to determine where and what to do Honduras. Afterwards I ordered the Moon handbook of Honduras and was much more impressed with the maps, detailed descriptions and the quantity of information. Just the better book period.

This book is a big disappointment. I thought it would be filled with maps and diagrams of the places discussed. Nope. Just a couple of very basic maps and I do mean basic. Much of the information appears to be out-of-date and there are many omissions in the Roatan section so I am guessing the same goes for the rest of the book. The parts that I did read were so boring and generic that I really couldn't get more than a few pages in each section. Yeah, it has some nice color photos in the front of the book. But I could have gotten that elsewhere. BIG disappointment.

This is one of the few books solely on Honduras and their coverage of all aspects of travel there is excellent. Specifics such as language help, money, health, and transportation are well defined. Plus a good read for history.

The image on the cover of this book represents an illegal activity in Honduras. If you look closely you will see that this iguana's legs have been tied together by its tendons. I am a iguana biologist and when I contacted the company regarding this issues my concerns were ignored. Please do your part and do not buy this book or any other from this company.

Here Lonely Planet is promoting an illegal activity in Honduras. Look closely and you will see that this green iguana on the cover is tied up by its tendons, and ready to be sold. Please do your part and do not buy this book!

I work and live in Central America. I am particularly involved with conservation and conservation education. I was extremely disturbed by the cover of this issue of Lonely Planet, which shows a photograph of a tethered Green Iguana. The Green Iguana is a protected species in Honduras as it is in many places due to it's rapidly dwindling population in the wild due to poaching. The process by which Green Iguana are tethered for sale and consumption is hugely cruel and involves them cutting the tendons out of the iguana while it is still alive and using them to tie the back legs together. If they capture a female iguana with eggs, this is even more valuable and so a string is tied around the iguana's stomach to stop her from being able to lay her eggs while her back legs are tied. She may be left in this condition in a pile of other iguanas for several days before being sold or consumed.

I've always been a fan of Lonely Planet in the past and I'm sure that they have a large number of environmentally minded readers. I also believe that once those readers realise the editorial irresponsibility they have demonstrated in this edition, they will choose to find another publication.

I sincerely hope they do the correct thing and make a sizeable donation to Green Iguana conservation programmes in Honduras as well as withdraw this edition and change the cover to something that is not promoting illegal poaching or animal cruelty.

As you would expect a Lonely Planet guide to be, this book is thorough and complete with gorgeous color photos and many maps. We are headed to Honduras via Roatan on February 17th and will be taking this book along! I purchased it to give as a gift but I couldn't help sneaking peaks in it before I wrapped it!