Tanzania Books

The Birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi (Princeton Field Guides)

Terry Stevenson, John Fanshawe

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Birds of East Africa is the first comprehensive field guide to this spectacular birding region--and one of the best to any region in the world. Covering all resident, migrant, and vagrant birds of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, this small and compact guide describes and illustrates a remarkable 1,388 species in convenient facing-page layout. Featuring 287 new color plates with 3,400 images painstakingly rendered by three experienced artists, the guide illustrates all the plumages and major races likely to be encountered. Set opposite the plates are range maps and concise accounts describing identification, status, range, habits, and voice for each species. Introductory sections provide notes on how to use the species accounts, the nomenclature adopted, conservation issues, where to send records, and maps of protected and other important bird areas.

Between them, Terry Stevenson and John Fanshawe have more than 40 years' experience leading bird tours and conducting conservation work in East Africa. The region shelters a remarkable diversity of birds, including many seriously threatened species with small and vulnerable ranges. The region's birds form a constantly colorful, noisy, and highly extroverted part of the landscape. The book is sure to become an indispensable guide for anyone interested in studying or conserving birds in East Africa, as well as the many visitors who simply want to enjoy the sheer beauty of its birds.

• First comprehensive field guide to the countries of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi
• Covers 1,388 species, with 3,400 color images on 287 plates
• Concise species accounts facing the plates describe appearance, status, range, habits, and voice
• A color distribution map is given for each species
• Information on habitats, protected areas, and conservation issues
• The essential guide to the birds of this spectacular region
• An overview of East African birds
• East African environment
• Seasonality
• Plumage
• Species accounts
• Common alternative names
• Conservation and threatened species
• The local scene
• Glossary, references, and an index

Key Features:

• Small and compact
• Comprehensive species
• All distinctive plumages and races illustrated
• Color plates
• Illustrations
• All species ranges mapped
• Key protected and important bird areas mapped

Serengeti: Natural Order on the African Plain

Amazon Price: $35.00 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Chronicle Books Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $4.55

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Picture book 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 16 people found this review helpful.

The pictures are stunning.

But it is only a coffee-table book, and there it will remain, because pictures is all it is. You get no sense of place; it is impossible to orient yourself ... a nice picture of an elephant is just that, and this book provides no context whatever.

But, it does have nice pictures.

Pictures, just pictures 3 out of 5 stars.
5 of 11 people found this review helpful.

The pictures are fine, but this book won't show anyone interested in wildlife anything new - & it doesn't explain anything...

Wildlife and nature photography at its best! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

These images bring the Serengeti to you. This being largely a pictoral tour of the Serengeti, words do it little justice. If you are an intelligent animal lover with a pulse, you will pay twice the cover price for this book.

Editorial Review:

Spending 18 months on the Serengeti Plain of eastern Africa, Iwago captures in nearly 300 extraordinary full-color images a world of calm beauty and quick violence, where the daily drama of life and death for over two million animals is played against a spectacular landscape. Sure to win a new round of fans, this classic, best-selling (over 90,000 copies sold!) volume of wildlife photography is now available in a handsomely jacketed new hardcover edition.

The Rough Guide to Tanzania 2 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)

Jens Finke

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

THE best guide on Tanzani, according to locals 5 out of 5 stars.
16 of 17 people found this review helpful.

That says it all. We attracted lots of attention by being the first to show up in Tanzania toting the new edition. The locals all agreed it was the most comprehensive & accurate guide available, & were really impressed by some of the things we knew from reading it. We had several offers to buy it when we left but wanted to keep it as a souvenir.
Be aware that the author included information on a FEW things that were planned but never opened. Nonetheless, it's an outstanding guide with good maps & lovely photos.

Editorial Review:

"The Rough Guide to Tanzania" is the definitive guide to one of Africa's most beautiful destinations. A 24-page, full-colour section introduces Tanzania's highlights, from the volcanic landscapes of the Ngorongoro Crater to the Indian Ocean beaches of Zanzibar. In addition, there are two, full-colour, 4-page inserts: A Year in Celebration' and National Parks'. The guide includes a new author's pick' section of the very best hotels and restaurants, plus up-to-date listings of all the top lodges, safari companies and bars, in every price range. From climbing Mount Kilimanjoro to arranging a Serengeti safari, this guide has all the practical advice you will need. There is an extensive chapter on learning and speaking Kiswahili, plus reliable coverage of Tanzania's history, politics, environment, wildlife and music. The guide comes complete with maps and town plans for every region.

Tanzania: The Land and Its People

John Ndembwike

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not bad 4 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

I give the book 4 stars because it is very inexpensive and probably adequate for most travelers. The book is also written by a native Tanzanian, which is nice. They edited and published it cheap though. You'll notice different fonts on different pages and some poor grammar and spelling in a few spots. Those are just aesthetic problems though.

The content of the book provides an adequate overview of Tanzania. It is a good way of learning some basics about the country if you are traveling there. Don't expect a ton of depth though. It is a short book, so many things are covered somewhat superficially. I was traveling to Tanzania to do counseling and wanted a book to help me understand the culture. It was not sufficient for my purposes, but is probably more than adequate for the average traveler. I definitely learned some things. I paired this book with a language course, the Lonely Traveler phrase book, and another book about AIDS in Northern Tanzania. Together, they told me enough about the culture and customs to get by without violating any major taboos.

Editorial Review:

This is a general study of Tanzania, the land and its people and history, and a look at contemporary life in the largest country in East Africa and one of the largest on the continent. It is also a general survery of the country's natural resources, crops and minerals, and economic potential. The book also includes some details on the East African Community and the proposed East Africa federation of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania which is supposed to be formed in 2013. Includes maps and photos.

Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania

Dale A. Zimmerman, Donald A. Turner, David J. Pearson

Amazon Price: $23.10 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Princeton University Press Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $20.99

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Subjects -> Outdoors & Nature -> Birdwatching -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Mount Kilimanjaro, the Serengeti Plains, tropical beaches, coral reefs, and such wildlife as elephants, lions, giraffes, zebras, and rhinos. With all this, Kenya and northern Tanzania are the ultimate destination for safaris, adventure travel, and ecotourism. They also form one of the world's most spectacular regions for birdwatching, with a variety of species unmatched almost anywhere else--from the tiny Amani Sunbird to the eight-foot-tall Somali Ostrich, from the elegant flamingos of the Rift Valley lakes to carcass-eating vultures and snake-hunting eagles. This book is the definitive field guide for the thousands of birdwatchers and travelers who visit this breathtaking area every year.

The guide features 124 color plates, depicting all 1,114 species in the area, including variations by subspecies, age, and sex. It contains over 800 range maps and succinct text that covers identification, voice, and distribution. Specially designed for use in the field, it is a compact version of the widely acclaimed Birds of Kenya and Northern Tanzania, hailed on its publication in 1996 as the most comprehensive, accurate, and beautiful guide ever produced for the region. With its modest price, small trim size and sturdy, weather-resistant binding, this field guide is the one volume that every adventurous traveler to Kenya and northern Tanzania must have.

Purity and Exile: Violence, Memory, and National Cosmology among Hutu Refugees in Tanzania

Liisa H. Malkki

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In this study of Hutu refugees from Burundi, driven into exile in Tanzania after their 1972 insurrection against the dominant Tutsi was brutally quashed, Liisa Malkki shows how experiences of dispossession and violence are remembered and turned into narratives, and how this process helps to construct identities such as "Hutu" and "Tutsi."

Through extensive fieldwork in two refugee communities, Malkki finds that the refugees' current circumstances significantly influence these constructions. Those living in organized camps created an elaborate "mythico-history" of the Hutu people, which gave significance to exile, and envisioned a collective return to the homeland of Burundi. Other refugees, who had assimilated in a more urban setting, crafted identities in response to the practical circumstances of their day to day lives. Malkki reveals how such things as national identity, historical consciousness, and the social imagination of "enemies" get constructed in the process of everyday life. The book closes with an epilogue looking at the recent violence between Hutu and Tutsi in Rwanda and Burundi, and showing how the movement of large refugee populations across national borders has shaped patterns of violence in the region.

Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa (Hardcover)

Audrey Salkeld

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Nice Photos (Some Stolen!) And Lousy Writing 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 34 people found this review helpful.

The Mountain Club of Kenya recently (and regrettably) acquired a copy of this book. Using the Club library, I read it and was shocked to see that some of the Club's photographs had been used to illustrate it (e.g. picture of Arthur Firmin); apparently without the Club's permission. National Geographic and Audrey Salkeld should be sued for copyright infringement.

Kilimanjaro is a much over-rated mountain. Serious mountaineers don't go anywhere near it unless they are herding the countless tourists up and down. It is filthy pig-sty and clients are forced to pay ridiculously high charges for the privilege of "climbing" (actually walking up) it.

Salkeld completely ignores this fact, as she ignores the fact that all the local guides on the mountain know absolutely nothing about mountaineering and what they do know is downright dangerous! She ignores the fact that 20-odd people a year die on the mountain; completely needlessly as they rush up too fast, trying to save some money on the outrageously high park fees charged daily by the authorities. She ignores the fact that on average, for every tourist (please don't call them "climbers", Salkeld), there are at least two "guides" or porters, collectively three times more people on the mountain than is necessary: rubbishing the environment, chopping down trees for fuel, eroding away at the trails, defecating in the water sources.

In short, Salkeld wrote a typically boring tome that poses as a coffee-table book. And National Geographic, supposedly a serious scientific and geographic society, published something akin to the worst papparazi tabloids.

I won't be buying this book.

Editorial Review:

A British Prime Minister in Queen Victoria's England once dismissed Kilimanjaro as that mountain country behind Zanzibar with the "unrememberable name." Today, there can be few who do not recognize what is indeed a most beautiful and evocative name, nor put an image to it. From the literature of Hemingway, from Hollywood movies, and from a multitude of images we are familiar with the Elysian view of elephants and giraffes grazing against the shimmering backdrop of Kilimanjaro. Floating over the plains, more mirage than mountain, Kilimanjaro exudes mystery and romance. Yet at the same time it is an accessible mountain, beckoning over 20,000 visitors a year to its slopes and snowy dome. It never disappoints. A climb up Kilimanjaro has been likened to a journey from the equator to the poles, passing as it does through zone after zone of climatic change from tropical forest to frigid desert.

The Shadow of Kilimanjaro: On Foot Across East Africa

Rick Ridgeway

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Known for such feats as being the first climber to reach the summit of K2 without bottled oxygen, climbing Antarctica's highest mountain, and leading a team to the top of a formidable 2,000-foot granite tower in the most remote corner of the Amazon's Orinoco jungle, Rick Ridgeway, in his latest book, takes a walk. Of course, it's no ordinary stroll. Accompanied by park officers, Ridgeway treks unprotected among lions and elephants, rhinos and oryxes.

The Shadow of Kilimanjaro is as much a search for answers to an adventurer's most soul-searching questions as an account of a thrilling journey. In the introduction Ridgeway writes,

Henry David Thoreau did not write that in wilderness is the preservation of the world, as he is oft misquoted, but that "In wildness is the preservation of the world." There is a difference, and it is significant. A wildness is intact. In wildness, all the original pieces are there. My own backyard mountains in California, from the Coastal Range through the Sierras, are in many places wilderness, but none of it is wildness because the grizzly is gone. We may have the grizzly on the state flag; having it there, however, is not a celebration of our heritage but a burlesque of what we have done to the most noble patriarch ever to walk the land.

Starting at the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and ending at the Indian Ocean, Ridgeway's aim during this adventure is less to get there and more to be there. During his weeks on foot, he thoughtfully considers the effects of colonial expansion on Africa's indigenous peoples, its landscape, and its awe-inspiring animals--all the while contemplating with a conservationist's heart Africa's uncertain future. --Kathryn True

Tanzania Safari Companion (Safari Companions)

Alain Pons, Christine Baillet

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Editorial Review:

Tanzania has a history of wildlife protection and around 14 per cent of the country's land mass is given over to national parks and conservation areas. Perhaps best known is the Serengeti region, which embraces, among others, the national park of the same name. Here, the plains abound with millions of herbivores and their natural predators. Truly, a wildlife photographer's Utopia. As with all books in this series, the authors offer travel advice and photographic tips of particular help to the first-time 'safari-tourist'.

Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man

Dale Peterson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

When Louis Leakey first heard about Jane Goodall's discovery
that chimps fashion and use tools, he sent her a telegram:
"Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees
as human."

But when Goodall first presented her discoveries at a scientific
conference, she was ridiculed by the powerful chairman, who warned
one of his distinguished colleagues not to be misled by her "glamour."
She was too young, too blond, too pretty to be a serious scientist, and
worse yet, she still had virtually no formal scientific training. She had
been a secretarial school graduate whom Leakey had sent out to study
chimps only when he couldn't find anyone better qualified to take the
job. And he couldn't tell her what to do once she was in the field—
nobody could—because no one before had made such an intensive
and long-term study of wild apes.

Dale Peterson shows clearly and convincingly how truly remarkable
Goodall's accomplishments were and how unlikely it is that
anyone else could have duplicated them. Peterson details not only how
Jane Goodall revolutionized the study of primates, our closest relatives,
but how she helped set radically new standards and a new intellectual
style in the study of animal behavior. And he reveals the very private
quest that led to another sharp turn in her life, from scientist to activist.