Customer Reviews:
 Very useful for general travels in East Africa February 26, 2004
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
This book was invaluable when travelling in East Africa. The layout is easy to understand and it has basic country history, language and local information, as well as information about East Africa in general.
There is not as much detain in the single East Africa book as in each individual country book, and although this was in some ways irritating it was useful when making last minute travel plans. Guide books are not widely available in east Africa, but it was easy to change plans to suit our requirements with the book covering the whole area.
I would recommend a more specialised book for exploring one country in more depth, or to accompany this one.
Very useful October 21, 2002
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is up to the best Lonely Planet standards, providing useful information for when you get there, a good read for in between bits and a bit of inspiration before you leave. Well laid out, good information and easily accessible. If you're going to East Africa, this is very handy.Could do with a few more pictures of 'real' Africa.
A must for any traveller to the region. June 4, 2000
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
While sometimes flawed and annoyingly out of date, LP's East Africa remains one of the best guides to the region. Travel info is mostly reliable, and the hotel/hostel write ups make finding somewhere to crash far easier. Unfortunately this guide was published in 1997, and much of the information was stale and out of date then. As LP says itself: "Prices change, good places go bad and bad places go bankrupt." Aside from this, the LP East Africa is packed with reletively accurate maps, cultural information and helpful language sections, all of which have stood up well to the test of time. One thing to be wary of is that the LP marks you as a "green" traveller. Read it in your hostel, read it on the train, the bus, the toilet - but try not to read it in a crowded city street. You're just asking for trouble. In terms of content the LP beats its competition hands down. It offers more photos and detail than th Rough Guide, allowing you to get a feel for the place before you go, and isn't irritatingly large like the Bradt. The style is crisp and structured, and the advice in the Dangers and Annoyances section is useful, if a little paranoid. First-time travellers may find the out-dated info annoying, but it all adds to the fun, doesn't it? In all the LP East Africa is an excellent book, if it is treated as a starting point and general guide only, not as a Bible. (According to the publishers a new edition will be released sometime around June/July 2000 - keep your eyes peeled.)
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