Birding books (1 Viewer)

[Frost1976]

Hi, I've just booked up my first ever trip to South Africa (Kruger) - and then Mozambique for this September/October.

We'll be safari-ing, walking and beaching, but of course I'll be birding. As this is a completely new part of the world for me, could anyone recommend a good field guide for me. I want something that's going to be light and accessible enough to use while walking around, but detailed enough to give me the chance to swot up beforehand.

Grateful for any advice.

 

[njlarsen]

The Sasol/Princeton guide written by Sinclair is the clear choice.

You will also need a mammal guide, I take it? There is a photo guide for Southern
Africa that is great

Niels

 

[PeterBird]

I used the Sasol guide as well on my recent trip and liked it very much. I also got the iphone version of the guide, which was quite useful for sound reference and listing my sightings.

Peter

 

[Frost1976]

Thank you to you both - Sasol book bookmarked on Amazon for future purchase!

 

[Mike Richardson]

Two good mammal guides are:

Apps P (2000) Smither's Mammals of Southern Africa. Struik Publishers, Cape Town.

Kingdon J (2003) The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. Christopher Helm, London.

The Smither's guide is probably better for you as it only covers southern Africa making it easier to use.

Both books have illustrations as opposed to photos which personally I prefer.

The SASOL would be my choice for birds also.

 

[njlarsen]

Re mammals, I am now at home with the books: we brought both the Kingdon guide and a guide by Chris and Tilde Stuart. The second one has mostly photos and got much more usage on the trip, simply because it was better.

Niels