Reviews (2)

Botswana Guide
This guide provides as excellant overview to Botswana's history, cluture, and travel options. The descriptions of the private game concessions were very helpful in planning my trip.

The most complete guide to northern Botswana to date!
I've been waiting for this book for a long time!! None of the other guides on the area even comes close. It is the most detailed guide I've read on the Okavango, Chobe, Makgadikgadi, and the northern Kalahari. In my view the information seems to be very up-to-date (which is not true for Bradts second edition on Namibia!). This book is suitable for people going on an organized safari (I envy them their $'s and the luxury that awaits them :-) ), and those planning an independent self-drive. The maps are good, and a number of useful GPS coordinates are included. The descriptions of off some of the beaten track sites that I have visited are very accurate. If you are a self-drive tourist you might want to look at Mike Mains: "African Adventurer's Guide to Botswana". It has many trails that are more detailed in the same region, but lacks the overview given in this guide describing the many concession areas surrounding the Okavango. The book also includes a very useful section on Livingstone in Zambia, telling you how to get the most out of your visit to the famed Victoria Falls. What do I miss? Talking to Elein Drotsky, she mentioned that here sisters company could arrange boat trips from Shakawe to Maun, water levels permitting. There is no mention of this or any other such service in the book, guess I'll have to do some digging on that one myself. All in all, your $'s, �'s, �'s or Rand's will be well spent on this guide. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Botswana    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Travel / Africa   

Reviews (2)

Book good. Some info outdated
Worst place I ever went to was Heaven Lodge in Chimanimana. Abysmal experience - how on earth can you recoment it. fantastically impressed with the bushwalking company. Give them a plug, they deserve it. ChimanimaniBushwalking Co. The only reason to go there

You Just Can't Get Lost With This One...
Swaney's guide to Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia is the best on the bookstore shelf. The level of detail is superb, from major cities to rural villages. She should consider herself more a regional geographer, as herdetail concerning things like history, climate, people, and place are akinto that of one! All this and she manages to fit in the best deals onlodging, food, and travel sites, not to mention important info concerningsafety and hazards associated with travel. I used this book extensivelyduring my travels throughout last year, when I lived in Windhoek. Indeed,you can find no better than this- and the information is as good or betterthan what the locals give! I once had the opportunity to meet her at ahostel in Windhoek, when I was doing some academic research there, andnever had the chance to tell her how much I praise this guide! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Botswana    5. Namibia    6. Travel & holiday guides   

Subjects:  1. Botswana    2. Travel / road maps & atlases   

Subjects:  1. Photo Techniques    2. Botswana    3. Photographs: collections    4. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (1)

Don't forget this book in your hand luggage!
A highly practical guide, informative and entertaining to read, sadly out-of-date now because of Zimbabwe's changed situation. But despite the current petrol crisis tour companies are still operating and well managaged, hotels still giving the renowned Zimbabwe welcome despite food shortages -- e.g. sustaining English breakfasts and local wines for dinner. It was an invaluable companion to an archeological trip to the stunning eastern higlands, indispensible in finding the way around Harare, with useful potted histories for most rural locations. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Africa - South - General    3. Guidebooks    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Travel Guides    7. Zimbabwe    8. Botswana    9. Travel & holiday guides    10. Travel / Africa   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Customs & Traditions    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign   

Reviews (6)

Verbose and superficial: a waste of money
...I bought this book to make plans for a trip to Zambia but the chapter about this country is only 40 pages long, both verbose and superficial.Don't get fooled by the "Adventuring" in the title, unless your idea of adventure is to hop by plane from lodge to lodge at $200 or $300 a night.More importantly, except for the park entrance fees, this book doesn't list any price at all (I got them from two other, excellent, travel guides).Comments on cheaper accomodations are few and disenchanted.The maps are equally few and over-simplified (the roads don't even appear!...)Finally, I looked at the chapters about the other countries and it certainly didn't change my opinion about this book.Note also that the date of the last edition (October 97) makes it relatively outdated.

Outstanding and thorough book about South Africa
This book is an outstanding resource to be read prior to traveling to South Africa.It covers many different aspects of what the experience will entail.These include the history, etiquette, positives and negatives ofeach type of travel, various diseases and safety precautions one shouldtake.In addition, he thoroughly delivers every aspect of each southafrican country...ie. countryside, animals, weather, and history.Thisbook in interesting, exciting, and educational!

Outstanding and thorough book about South Africa
This book is an outstanding resource to be read prior to traveling to South Africa.It covers many different aspects of what the experience will entail.These include the history, etiquette, positives and negatives ofeach type of travel, various diseases and safety precautions one shouldtake.In addition, he thoroughly delivers every aspect of each southafrican country...ie. countryside, animals, weather, and history.Thisbook in interesting, exciting, and educational! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Africa, Southern    3. Guidebooks    4. Safaris    5. Travel    6. Travel - Foreign    7. Wildlife watching    8. Active outdoor pursuits    9. Southern Africa    10. Sports & Recreation / General    11. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (1)

Amazing journal of life and death
An amazing tale of life and death
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Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Essays & Travelogues    3. Travel    4. Travel - Foreign    5. TRAVEL & HOLIDAY    6. Travel writing   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Botswana    5. Travel & holiday guides    6. Zimbabwe   

Reviews (1)

The Most incredible Photographic Account of Africa Wildlife
I recommend this work to anyone interested in Africa - quite possibly the best you can get without going to Botswana. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Nature & Wildlife    3. Nature / Field Guide Books    4. Subjects & Themes - Plants & Animals    5. Subjects & Themes - Travel - World/Africa    6. Travel - World/Africa    7. Botswana    8. Places & peoples: general interest    9. Rocks, minerals & fossils   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Southern Africa    5. Travel & holiday guides   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign    4. Botswana    5. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (5)

A "true" adventure.
Across African Sand is a an excellent example of what true adventure books should be. I emphasize the word "true" not simply to point out that events in the book are factual but to distinguish this work from books describing stunts. (To me a stunt is a once-in-a-lifetime event, filled with harum-scarum that a more skilled traveler would have avoided and usually detailing a significant departure from the main stream of the writer's life.) By contrast, Across African Sand comes across as the logical continuation of Phil Deutschle's career as a teacher and introspective traveler. Prior to embarking on his solo bicycle ride across the Kalahari and Namib deserts, Deutschle has spent three years living and teaching in an out-of-the way village in Botswana. An accomplished linguist, he has become fluent-to-conversant with several local languages, including that of the !Kung (Bushman) people, and thus we learn more of African life and thought than we would at the mercy of a more casual traveler. Deutschle clearly enjoys the company of the various people he falls in with along the way but also relishes the solitude which is such a significant part of his journey. Part of the success of the book is its skillful interweaving of events in the course of his cycling trek with flashbacks to his life as a teacher in a traditional Botswana village. Dimi Press has done a creditable job of putting the book together and its illustrations are great. I wholeheartedly recommend this as an interesting and insightful story of travel and adventure.

Highly recommended for bicycling enthuaists.
Across African Sand: Journey Of A Witch Doctor's Son-In-Law is the true life adventure story of Phil Deutschle's bicycle trip across 3,000 miles of African landscape. Along the way Phil was stalked by lions, charged by aherd of enraged elephants, fell in love with (and married) the daughter ofa prominent witch doctor. Across African Sand is a compelling, engaging,fascinating biographical travelogue that relates an account of Phil's fiveyears in Botswana (southern Africa) told in the form of flashbacks while hebicycles over the harsh Kalahari and Namib deserts, negotiating difficultAfrican terrain, including soft sand and mud, during the course of histhree month cycling adventure. Across African Sand is highly recommendedfor bicycling enthusiasts, armchair adventurers, and anyone who has everyearned to travel the world, meet new people, and have adventures of theirown!

Excellent, exciting reading!
This portrait will also fit neatly in travel sections: itportrays a bicyclist's journey across two deserts as he bikes throughsand, dodging lions and elephants and visiting remote parts of outback Africa. The adventure and observations of life in Botswana make for an excellent and exciting read. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Botswana    6. Cycling    7. Description and travel    8. Desert ecology    9. Deutschle, Phil    10. Ethnic Cultures - General    11. General    12. Historical - General    13. Kalahari Desert    14. Teachers    15. Travel / Africa    16. Travelers    17. Africa    18. Journeys    19. Sports & Recreation    20. Travel   

Reviews (1)

Into Africa
Will Randall once more finds himself taking an unusual teaching job, this time in the town of Kasane in Botswana.Here he finds himself not only teaching the children but running the school football team as well, football being of supreme importance.He also ecounters a lot of exotic wildlife, with elephants and crocodiles literally on his doorstep.And he has to deal with some very shady characters.And, sadly, he has to come to terms with the terrible devestation that AIDS is wrecking throughout the country.
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Subjects:  1. Travel    2. Botswana    3. Travel writing   

Reviews (3)

An deftly written, engrossing, armchair tour of the world
Tom Canby had the great good fortune of working for the National Geographic during that wonderful time when all the big glossy magazines and high-circulation newspapers were willing to spend money to bringinformation to their readers.This willingness to to be serious aboutnews coverage gave this deft and sensitive writer the chance to roam theworld and take the time necessary to cover his beat (science) in depth andwith a thoroughness almost unheard of today, when even great institutionslike National Geographic are nickel-and-diming to cut costs.FromBotswana to the Bering Sea is the personal memoir of a gentle man and agentleman. Canby would probably be the first to admit (as he, in fact,alludes in his book) that he is not the stereotype of the hardbittentabloid news reporter.Instead he is an essayist of uncommon grace. This is a wonderful book.

Wonderful Reading
This is not a review but an urgent request to find the most recent book published by Thomas Y. Canby,Sandy Spring Legacy.This is the legacy of a Quaker Village and tells the story of one of the oldest towns in theMaryland Piedmont, settled by the Quakers and others in the early 1700's. I am interested in finding this book as I once lived in this little QuakerVillage forty years ago.Thank you for any leads you may have.

Canby hits the mark for National Geographic fans.
If you like reading National Geographic, then you'll like reading ThomasCanby's book about his 30 years with the yellow border magazine. Herecounts some of his favorite assignments, including glimpses behind thescenes, and the occasional personal note. My favorite is the ratassignment. After a day of chasing rats, he settles down for a few beers.After getting a good buzz, the fried rats are served and he and his friendsdig in with gusto. Later, in writing the actual article, Canby details therat feast but somehow fails to mention the beer.Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Canby, Thomas Y    3. Environmental Conservation & Protection - General    4. Essays    5. Essays & Travelogues    6. Field work    7. General    8. Geography    9. Geography (General)    10. History    11. Magazine Editing    12. National geographic    13. Nature    14. Nature/Ecology    15. Periodical editors    16. Science writers    17. Travel - General    18. United States    19. Conservation of the environment    20. NATURAL HISTORY, COUNTRY LIFE & PETS    21. Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection    22. Other prose: from c 1900 -    23. Press & journalism    24. Writing & editing guides   

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Botswana    3. Guidebooks    4. Travel    5. Travel - Foreign    6. Travel Guides    7. Travel & holiday guides    8. Travel / Africa   

Reviews (1)

Absolute must have for visitors to Southern Africa
The book was our bible during our summer '99 holiday to Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Without it we wouldn't have made it in the timeframe we had for sure. Be sure to buy the most recent version, 'cause these regions are developingfaster than you can imagine. Due to the guide we discovered loads morecountry beauties than we would have. You'll absolutely get your money'sworth. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign   

Subjects:  1. Africa - General    2. History - General History    3. Africa    4. Southern Africa    5. Travel & holiday guides   

Reviews (2)

not comprehensive
I found this guide barely scratches the surface of travel possibilities in Botswana, offering few choices within each price range, and scant historical or cultural information.If you plan to visit only northern Botswana or the Central Kgalagadi (as most tourists so) then better to purchase the Bradt guide, which even after 2 years in Botswana, I still find interesting. The sight seeing and accomodation information in Lonely PLanet guide is meager at best, offering few choices. In Botswana, the best and most interesting places are off the beaten path, and Lonely Planet did not bother to find many of them for their readers. If you plan on visting southern or eastern Botswana (near Gaborone or Selebi-Phikwe) then buy a guide that includes South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia as well. This guide was fairly useless to me and has hardly left my bookshelf in the 2 years I've been in Bots! For a truly enjoyable holiday, buy a different guide.

Watch out for 7 digit phone numbers
Dear Readers,Read more

Subjects:  1. Africa    2. Travel    3. Travel - Foreign