Books to Take on an African Safari (our favorites)

I don’t like taking books when I go on a safari. They add a lot of weight to my luggage and I’m usually having too much fun to open a book anyway. So I normally just take my Kindle, which I rarely end up opening either.

When traveling to Southern Africa though, things change. My day pack is filled with books, and it’s heavy. But we’re always glad we did.

Here is a list of our recommendations for what books to take on an African Safari. (This only applies to Southern Africa: Namibia, Botswana and South Africa).

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Watching Wildlife Guides

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Watching Wildlife Southern Africa by Lonely Planet

This is a great guide, not just for planning your first trip but for consulting while on the road. It has the most comprehensive information about where and when to see all your favorite African animals, from mammals and birds to reptiles and marine life.

The book is organized by different sections.

•  Nature in Southern Africa: a little introduction to Southern Africa’s natural history.
•  Wildlife Watching: general tips about finding wildlife. Also tips about how to get there and some photography advice.
•  Habitats: Introduction to the habitats of Southern Africa, including savannas, grasslands, mountains, and deserts.
•  Parks and Places: Countries and parks of Southern Africa (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia)
•  Wildlife Gallery: Animal guide with photos and information about the best places to see each species.

If you only want to take one book, this is the one to consider. Our copy shown here is the 2001 edition. A newer 2009 edition of Lonely Planet Watching Wildlife Southern Africa (Travel Guide) is also available. Sadly, Lonely Planet has given up on this series and some information may start getting out of date. It’s still handy as a general reference.

Mammal Guides of Southern Africa

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We normally take two mammal guides, which may be overkill, but we have a hard time leaving either of these two behind because we are hardcore mammal-lovers.

1) The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals by Jonathan Kingdon

Comprehensive guide and valuable identification tool. Each species comes with text regarding measurements, recognition, habitat, food, and status. They also include distribution maps and illustrations. Some descriptions also include information about behavior, seasonal adaptations, and genealogy.

Sometimes it is not very clear if an illustration goes with the text above or below it, making it a somewhat imperfect identification guide. However, The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals is still the most comprehensive African mammal field guide we’ve come across.

I also recommend that when visiting a South African national park, you pick up the official park map which includes several pages of animal illustrations at the back. These show the mammal species that occur within the park and will help you narrow down your choices quickly.

Once you’ve successfully identified the species, move on to the next book…

2) The Behavior Guide to African Mammals by Richard Despard Estes

This is a great guide once you have identified the animal. Over 550 pages of behavioral information as well as species’ traits, distribution, ecology, social organization and activity. This book is really useful to decipher the behaviors you are watching, whether they be social, agonistic, antipredator, sexual, or parent/offspring behavior.

I love The Behavior Guide to African Mammals: Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, Primates. It is great to learn about the wildlife we are watching and it is great entertainment while we are waiting for animals to turn up at a waterhole.

There are no photographs in the book, just illustrations, but these are excellent and depict a wide range of fascinating behaviors.

The only downside is that this book is now 20 years old. I was shopping for a newer edition and when I found it I was disappointed to learn that the only thing that had changed was the cover.  It seems to me that so much wildlife research has been done in the past two decades that this book really deserves an update.

But it is still my favorite.

If you can’t find this one, get the Safari Companion.

Bird Guides of Southern Africa

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Birds of Southern Africa by Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey, and Warwick Tarboton

This is a truly excellent bird identification guide. The illustrations are on par with the great Sibley guide of North America and they depict a range of plumage variations (such as differences in gender, age, or region.) This comprehensive list includes each of the 900 plus species which occur in Southern Africa.

A brief description and range map appear conveniently on the same page as each illustration. This description is aimed almost entirely at helping the reader identify the species and to point out similar species with which they might easily be confused.

What you won’t find is extensive behavioral, feeding, or breeding information about species. This book is designed to help you figure out who you’re looking at, and it does that well. One of my favorite features is the Quick Reference which appears inside the front and back covers. It shows illustrations of approximately 120 commonly-sighted birds that are representative of their group, and a page number where to find them.

Get Birds of Southern Africa (Princeton Field Guides) before your next safari. Another excellent option would be the Roberts Bird Guide which is now the one we use most frequently (as of 2023)

Signs, Tracks, and Poo

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Signs of the Wild by Clive Walker

This little book is great for people interested in the tracks and droppings of Southern Africa’s mammals.

For each species, the author includes a distribution map within Southern Africa, as well as a description of the animal, its diet, and its faeces. But most useful are the life-size illustrations of the animal’s tracks, as well as photos and illustrations of their poops. Many species also include a handy illustration of the skull.

The only drawback to this book is that no birds, reptiles, amphibians or invertebrates are included.

Get Signs of the Wild and be a nature detective!

Scatalog by Kevin Murray

This is my latest acquisition. I actually got it in the Johannesburg airport on the way back from our last trip to South Africa. Even though we were leaving, I just had to get it. This is the guide that I would like to have published.

As the title says, this is a catalog of scats, a guide to poo. This little book is fascinating (if you like poop, like me). There are 40 pages full of photos of droppings, most at life size, the rest with a scale so you know how big they really are. Each species includes a brief written explanation as well. This is a nice, small, light guide and is easy to carry along in your pocket.

What I really like about this guide is that it covers mammals as well as some birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Now you’ll know what termite poo looks like.

Before you Go on a Safari

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Get your hands on Cry of the Kalahari by Mark and Delia Owens.

It’s the true story of two young zoologists who in the early 70’s set off for Botswana to live in the Kalahari (did I tell you the Kalahari is my favorite place on Earth?)

If you’ve ever dreamed of living in pure wilderness surrounded by amazing wildlife, you’ll get hooked on Cry of the Kalahari.

It is one of my favorite books of all time.

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Planning your Safari

When it comes to planning your safari, we recommend you consult Africa’s Finest: The Most Sustainable Responsible Safari Destinations in Sub-Saharan and the Indian Ocean Islands. It is a guide to the most responsible and sustainable destinations and lodges in Africa. It is also a beautiful work of art born out of a love for nature.

The foreword, written by  WWF‘s CEO Mornè du Plessis, states, “That is the real message of Africa’s Finest, that those operations that follow sustainable and renewable tourism models and partnerships, will be the ones that secure a future for the wildlife, the extraordinary cultures and people living in or around game reserves, as well as the very land on which all this depends“.

Good news! Get it before the 1st of July 2013 and get a 40% discount, so if I were you I would buy it now.

Africa’s Finest is the game-changing book that celebrates the lodges and camps in Africa that are making a difference: those practising environmentally friendly and sustainable tourism methods whilst providing world class safari and nature experiences. – Africa’s Finest

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What About My Kindle?

I still take my kindle wherever I go. I have downloaded the ebook versions of each of the country guides we need, just in case. But I admit I hate having to search for anything in a country guide on my kindle. It is a pain. And don’t even ask me to try and find something using a town map in one of these digital guides. The resolution is generally poor and the images are often divided up so much that they become unusable. I would love to take a paper version the way I used to, but since our other books take up so much weight, we have to prioritize. And the above list always makes it with us to Africa.

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What about you? Do you have a favorite wildlife guide that I haven’t mentioned?