East Africa Guidebooks

While this site attempts to provide comprehensive content about what to expect when traveling in East Africa, it doesn't hurt to cross-reference it with an assortment of other sources. If organization is the key to success, then preparation is its foundation.

The sites listed in the Resources & Links section of the sidebar should serve you well in this capacity (particularly the LP Thorntree forum--one of the best Q&A communities on the net). But nothing beats the comfort of a good old-fashioned guidebook.

Below is a list of the guidebooks I have found most helpful in planning and executing a trip to East Africa. If there's a more recent edition (i.e. the 11th edition instead of the 10th), get it. The content changes very little from edition to edition of most guidebooks, but you'll be better appraised of current road conditions, dangers, and such with the most recent edition. It's probably not worth buying a new edition if you have the one published just prior to it. Obviously Happy Stan's Guide to Zaire 1973 just isn't going to cut it.

Regional

Africa On A Shoestring, 10th edition. Lonely Planet. 2004

The encyclopedia for the cheapskate in Africa that, nevertheless, will clue you in to some good deals and bargain camp sites that other guidebooks exclude. The layout is easy to navigate; like most LP titles, it's arranged so that if you have a question you can flip quickly to the answer. Because it covers the entire continent, it is thin in certain areas--a nice change after wading through the more labyrinthine titles--so don't rely exclusively on this one. It works nicely in conjunction with country-specific guidebooks. The only disadvantage is that it's written in a style that someone lame thought you would think is cool; there is also a glaring overuse of the word 'shambolic' throughout.

East Africa, 7th Edition. Lonely Planet. 2006

Another good, broader guide. This one covers Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi although it would be a bit daffy to visit Burundi at the moment (the section consists mostly of warnings against doing so, so why include it?) and the Rwandan section is just plain bad. It has the familiar, user-friendly format and provides a good overview of everything without miring you in the detail you'd need for a longer stay. Overall, a suitable guide for someone stopping in a few East African countries and not venturing very far from the tourist-beaten track. No coverage of Ethiopia.

Healthy Travel Africa. Lonely Planet. 2000.

This Lilliputian book will scare the living daylights out of you. It covers every disease in sub-Saharan Africa, which means it's basically a catalogue of every debilitation on God's Green Earth. From Elephantiasis to Leprosy, they're all here.

That being said, it's a vital resource in that it trims the diseases down to size; it will tell you which ones you are likely to encounter and how to prepare for, recognize, and treat them. If you take a look at the CDC website, you'll see everything that your local (U.S.) travel clinic will know about outfitting you for an extended jaunt in East Africa; after paging through this book, you'll be able to take care of the rest. Particularly illuminating is the discussion on malarial prophylactics and the dangers of Larium (mefloquine) which you're unlikely to hear anything about in the U.S. (I, for one, highly discourage its use and recommend Malarone)

All in all, a good book for those who are straying outside the safari circuit and hypochondriacs--a bargain at $5.95

Kilimanjaro & Mount Kenya: A Climbing and Trekking Guide. The Mountaineers: Seattle, WA. 1999.

A decent volume that somehow finds itself in the no man's land between too-technical for the common reader and not technical enough for the mountaineer. There's nothing in the preparation section that you won't find in a more general audience guidebook (in fact, the author's advice on physical conditioning is dangerously minimal!), and I suspect that anyone attempting a technical summit of Batian or Nelion would want to contact the Mountain Club of Kenya anyway. I would definitely pick the LP Trekking in East Africa instead (see below), but people who want a good introduction to technical ice and rock climbs might want to scope this one out.

Trekking in East Africa, 3rd Edition. Lonely Planet. 2003.

If you intend to do any hiking, climbing or trekking in East Africa, this book is virtually essential. It only includes destinations in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Nevertheless, its coverage of both popular and rarely visited locations is so thorough that it could keep you roaming the wilderness for upwards of three months.

Among its more useful features are climate and rain tables (useful for knowing when not to climb), excellent contour maps, equipment and first-aid check lists, and suggestions for treks it doesn't extensively cover. If you seek to ascend Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya or the Rwenzoris, it provides information on reputable tour operators, good descriptions of various routes, sources for larger maps and an assessment of how much it will cost. If you are thinking about less-trodden peaks, the same goes for Mount Meru, Mount Elgon and Mount Hanang. Heck, it even covers the Cherangani, Loita and Loroghi hills!

An altogether excellent resource as both a primer and a springboard--though with the notable exception of treks in Rwanda, DRC and Ethiopia. A mere $16 at Amazon!

Ethiopia

Briggs, Philip. Ethiopia: The Bradt Travel Guide, 4th Edition. The Globe Pequot Press: Guilford, Connecticut. 2005.

The superior guidebook to Ethiopia, though LP has a better cartography department (see below). Philip Briggs is an old hand in the African guidebook scene, and his experience shows. The guidebook is well-written, maniacally researched and almost preternaturally informative. Briggs' enthusiasm for the country is infectious; you can tell the book is a labor of love. The result is a truly magisterial work. Whatever Bradt pays him, it isn't enough.

Whereas the LP guidebook will leave the more serious backpacker with some unresolved questions, the Bradt guide will leave your head swimming with Ethiopian minutiae. This book fills in where the LP lacks, most notably on Lake Tana, the Tigraian monasteries, the forbidding Afar region, the crater lakes, Bale Mountain NP, and the western region around Gambella. With its varied descriptions and route suggestions, it makes for a more flexible tome.

That being said, the detail of this book--while awe-inspiring--is also daunting. In plunging headlong into the people and places of Ethiopia, Briggs sacrifices a bit in the way of accessibility. Things get a bit confusing, if not confused, over the course of 600 pages. But there is absolutely no alternative for people looking to detach themselves from the standard fare.

This book is a commitment that will pay bigger dividends to the more ambitious backpacker and more than fulfill the less hardcore visitor. It includes some very astute reflections on the nature of tourism and Ethiopia's problems which will go a long way in preparing you. This book is about as definitive and assured as anything gets.


Ethiopia & Eritrea, 4th Edition. Lonely Planet. 2006

As mentioned above, second-best to the Bradt guide but still worth a look if not a buy. It's especially good for someone considering Eritrea, but with that country now in the midst of a hard-line Islamic lock down, no land access from Ethiopia and no travel outside the capital of Asmara, of questionable value. The LP guide is more accessible and the maps have a higher degree of professionalism (if less detail).

Kenya

Rough Guide to Kenya, 8th Edition. Rough Guides. 2006.

Simply put, my favorite guidebook of all-time. High marks for thoroughness (even in the remote North), ease of use and grace of prose. It's the kind of guidebook that you want to crawl into bed with; I've passed many nights alone, yet fulfilled, with some gentle tunes, a couple of hot toddies, a duck in the oven, and The Rough Guide to Kenya.

It would be an insult to this, the crown jewel of guidebooks, to even juxtapose it with another. So decisively does it stand alone in the glutted market of Kenyan tourist literature that considering anything else betrays a sad poverty of judgment. It perfectly straddles the disjunction between detail and accessibility, appeals to all socioeconomic classes and has awesome maps. The writing and suggestions are tip-top. Indeed, the initiate to this guide finds himself wishing that LP would go the way of the American buffalo so that Rough Guides may assert its rightful title to East African guidebook supremacy. It's that good. Don't think, just get it.

Uganda

I haven't yet found a very helpful guidebook on Uganda, aside from the somewhat cursory coverage in LP East Africa (see review above). Stay tuned for when I find one or write one on this site.

Rwanda

Booth, Janice and Philip Briggs. Rwanda: The Bradt Travel Guide, 3rd Edition. The Globe Pequot Press: Guilford, Connecticut. 2006.

While this volume won't exactly light your world on fire, it is a solid book of the quality I've come to expect from Bradt and their star author Philip Briggs. It's the only one if its kind; that is, the only one covering Rwanda. It has good restaurant and accommodation reviews, sound advice, and even information on crossing into the DRC. A necessary buy if you're headed to Rwanda.

Tanzania

Rough Guide to Tanzania, 2nd Edition. Rough Guides. 2006

A good survey of Tanzania loaded with information for everything from the out-of-the-way to the safari circuit. Despite its venerable RG status, it doesn't reach the Olympian heights of the Kenyan edition.

It still manages to be a godsend to almost anyone traveling in Tanzania. It has a full color section for animal identification, excellent coverage of Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar, and hard-won advice on the remote Western and Southeastern areas of Tanzania.


I would choose this one over the LP Tanzania.