The Wildlife of Southern Africa : A Field Guide to the Animals and Plants of the Region [Paperback]

Vincent Carruthers (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997 | ISBN-10: 1868126757 | ISBN-13: 978-1868126750 | Edition: 1

An all-in-one guide to the fauna and flora of the Southern Africa. A companion for visitors to game parks, hikers, holiday makers, birders and game viewers, it also turns the garden or city park into a nature reserve. It is available in Afrikaans.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A handsomely illustrated field guide to the birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, insects, fish and plants of Southern Africa all in one compact volume. While necessarily condensed, it features 2,000 illustrations and short descriptions of each species including habitat and range. With contributions by experts and good color plates. A nice overview for even the keen naturalist; it covers -- for example -- over 600 of the 900 species of birds found in the region." --Longitudebooks.com --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Vincent Carruthers is a well-known environmentalist and author. He co-authored South African Frogs: A Complete Guide. He is a Director of the North West Parks and Tourism Board, Delta Environmental Centre and the Sustainable Tourism Research Institute. He is a past Executive Director of the Wildlife and Environment Society and Chairman of BirdLife South Africa. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 310 pages
• Publisher: Southern Book Pub of South Africa; 1 edition (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1868126757
• ISBN-13: 978-1868126750
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,154,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Comprehensive Guide, May 19, 2001

By 

Linda D. Murphy (Aldan, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wildlife of Southern Africa : A Field Guide to the Animals and Plants of the Region (Paperback)

While visiting So.Africa, I had a million questions on what I looking at. I found this book and carried it with me throughout the trip. When we went on game runs, I would check off what we saw and make reference notes (e.g. the Baboons were eating Jackalberries - I could reference both the mammal and the tree section). The variety of birds in the country (over 900) was astounding and having the book made it much more fun and interesting to look up. This is the only book I found that combined lower invertabrates, spiders and other arachnids, insects (including a large butterfly collection), fish, frogs, reptiles, birds, mammals,grasses-sedges-ferns&fungi,wild flowers, trees. Several people on the tour had me write down what we saw so they in turn could get this book and make notes. A good book combining everything in one neat package for those who like to play outside!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beautifully illustrated & comprehensive, April 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wildlife of Southern Africa: A Field Guide to the Animal and Plants of the Region (Paperback)

This is the most beautifully illustrated and comprehensive guide I've found for the wildlife of southern Africa. The invertebrate info is hard to find elsewhere, and the fact that this guide includes plants is a welcome bonus. If you buy one guide to carry with you on your trip, this should be it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I found this book frustrating, April 5, 2008

By 

Dr. Ted (Rush, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Wildlife of Southern Africa: A Field Guide to the Animal and Plants of the Region (Paperback)

I just returned from a wonderful two week trip to South Africa and Botswana. In Botswana we spent 6 nights at camps in the bush. Here is my impression of this book.

Pros:
Sturdy, well-constructed book with excellent illustrations.

Cons:
Because this book tries to be all-inclusive and compact, it necessarily makes significant compromises. As a birder, I carried a separate bird book (by Ian Sinclair) which I enjoyed and used frequently. I therefore was not too concerned about the birding aspect of this book. However, if you tried using this book for birding you would be very frustrated. Many female and juvenile plumages are omitted. From a practical standpoint, many of the individual birds you are likely to see would not be identifiable with this guide.

For the identification of large mammals, this book is fine-- but honestly, how hard is it to identify lions, elephants, hippos and antelope (ok, the antelope can be tricky). It would be nice, however, if the descriptions discussed more about the lives of these creatures and their taxonomic relationships. A guide to animal tracks would have been wonderful. Looking at animal tracks on the dirt/sand roads that we travelled occupied a significant amount of our time. This book was no help. Out of 310 pages, only 21 are devoted to mammals.

Identifying flowers was also difficult. We came across a very common lily-like flower in the Okavango Delta which was in bloom in late March. It was interspersed with grass and presumably was arising from a bulb. I still don't know what it is. It wasn't in this book.

If you only want to carry one book (and field guides are heavy), this would be fine. If you have special interests, I would carry other guides as well (interestingly, the back of this book has an extensive list of suggested reading). If I were doing it again, I would probably still bring this book (for the insects, reptiles, amphibians, trees, and flowers), but I would also bring a guide for mammals. Also, check with the camps you are going to-- they may have books on their shelves.