East African Wildlife

The new, extensively revised, third edition of Bradt's East African Wildlife provides a user-friendly overview of East Africa's peerless wildlife - not only 'big game' and other large mammals (an alluring list that includes elephant, lion, leopard, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, gorilla and chimpanzee), but also birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Excellent for independent travellers, it excels as a standalone guide combining both wildlife and visitor information, and is also a perfect complement to traditional field guides or to Bradt travel guides to Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda.

From the snow-capped peaks of Kilimanjaro to the sultry Indian Ocean coastline, with a range of habitats that span parched desert and vast transparent lakes, open savannah and tropical rainforest, east Africa is simply the world's finest wildlife-viewing destination. Straddling the Equator and bisected by the magnificent Great Rift Valley, it is a true Mecca for wildlife enthusiasts. It harbours the continent's most popular safari locations, including legendary reserves such as the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Maasai Mara, Samburu, Murchison Falls, Bwindi and Tsavo.

Written by Philip Briggs, the world's foremost guidebook writer on Africa and a wildlife expert, East African Wildlife covers the fauna of Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. Some 240 colour images by acclaimed photographer Ariadne Van Zandebergen illustrate many animals likely to be encountered, while the engaging text extends beyond basic identification features to illuminate the natural history, habits, whereabouts and ecology of the species that visitors will encounter.

To enable you to plan a safari that suits your interests, East African Wildlife offers top tips for optimising your wildlife experience, a 'where to go' overview which outlines the key wildlife attractions at major sites within each country, and advice on when to visit. There's even an engaging section about 'wildlife from your window', for when you are staying in towns and hotels. Accessibly written and beautifully illustrated, the guide will appeal both to the first-time visitor and to the serious naturalist seeking a compact volume to carry around - and one that will sit proudly on bookshelves thereafter as a compelling souvenir of an unforgettable holiday.

Philip Briggs (philipbriggs.com) has been exploring the highways, byways and backwaters of Africa since 1986, when he backpacked on a shoestring from Nairobi to Cape Town. He is the world's leading author of guidebooks to African countries, with more than 30 years' experience. During the 1990s, he wrote pioneering Bradt travel guides to countries that were then - and in some cases still are - otherwise practically uncharted by the travel industry. These include the first dedicated guidebooks to Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique and Ghana, new editions of which have been published regularly ever since. He has visited over two dozen African countries and written about most for magazines including BBC Wildlife, Travel Africa and Wanderlust, and in ten other Bradt guidebooks, including East Africa Wildlife. When not travelling, usually accompanied by his wife, travel photographer Ariadne Van Zandbergen, he lives in the sleepy South African village of Wilderness.

A freelance photographer and tour guide, Ariadne Van Zandbergen took most of the photographs for this book and contributed to the research. Born and raised in Belgium, she travelled through Africa from Morocco to South Africa in 1994-5 and is now resident in Wilderness, Western Cape, South Africa. She has visited 25 African countries, and her photographs have appeared in numerous books, magazines, newspapers, maps, periodicals and pamphlets. In addition to co-photographing the sumptuous coffee-table book Africa: Continent of Contrasts (Struik/New Holland), she runs her own online photo library (africaimagelibrary.com).