Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

Best book for safaris	Customer Rating:
Very useful book, it gives a big advantage in understanding the life of all the mammals in Africa. This is the basic book of my professional guides in East-Africa on my safaris, I also learn a lot from it.

Great Overview of Mammalian Behavior

Customer Rating:

The introductory chapters outline the factors which shape herd size, composition, territoriality (or not), etc. Fascinating reading which provides one with a framework which ultimately opens up one's eyes. I have already been on safari to S. Africa/Botswana/Namibia without the benefit of this book and retrospectively "see" much more than I originally noticed. I will be reading about each mammal as we encounter one on an upcoming safari to E. Africa. I am so glad I found this guide (w Amazon's help).

Greatest safari companion for the wildlife enthusiast

Customer Rating:

This book is quite simply the one book you must take to Africa and especially if you cant afford a personal game guide to explain all the interesting behaviours and various species habits. If you have a paid expert guide you possibly wont need it but I have found months after returning home to Australia I constantly refer back to this book to hone my memories of what my photos show. It is a brilliant purpose intented book...but its not for someone in a hurry racing from one park to another. Take your time...observe and use it...you wont regret it.

Good second guide	Customer Rating:
This is geared a little more toward those with more experience in the field. It is a little more scientific than Kingdon and offers some very good information. However, if you had to choose just one book, Kingdon would be a better choice.

Well Written, by and Expert

Customer Rating:

I just returned from Tanzania, and used this book while on Safari in Serengetti, Ngorongoro crater, Lake Manyara, and Tarangire. The main strength of the book is the high level overview given to game viewing in the beginning and at the beginning of each animal section. Without some background in behavioral biology it is tough to watch the animals and find it interesting for too long. After reading the opening to this book I was able to take much more from watching big herds of grazers than the tourists I was with. Richard Estes is clearly an expert in the field, but he writes in a fashion that is easy to understand for a layman. He also gives some personalization to his accounts, giving personal tips for a good game drive. The only issue with the book is that it is sometimes difficult to match the behavior of the animals in the field to the book in the limited time that is available on safari, so I would suggest that anyone interested read the sections about the animals they expect to see before the safari, and have those pages marked for reference during the game drive.