The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals

Taking pictures of the Big 5 is great fun on a safari. However, too many safari-goers simply take pictures without understanding the animals they're observing. A lot of guidebooks give you information on how to identify a species, but don't really tell you much about the animals themselves (and unfortunately most guides and drivers aren't much help either). Richard Estes' The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals Including Hoofed Mammals, Carnivores, and Primates is a great remedy to this. Estes treats the major African mammals with the detail of a graduate biology textbook, explaining their evolutionary history, diet, and behavior. Each chapter follows a set, easy-to-follow pattern with key information. They also include a pictorial guide to each animal's behaviors (with images of how, for example, hyenas behave when they're submissive). While other guidebooks might cover the information on elephants and giraffes, Estes' passion is antelopes and it shows in this book. Many other guidebooks and safari guides consider antelopes the "junk" game animals, but Estes shows that they are a fascinating and successful group of animals. I learned to appreciate Thompsons Gazelles and Oryx a whole lot more after reading this book. In fact, the section on antelopes alone is worth the price of the book. Estes' book is heavy - as befitting a book so packed with information - so you should probably take a smaller, more traditional wildlife checklist on your safari (I recommend Wildlife of East Africa (Princeton Illustrated Checklists) , which I used in Uganda and Kenya). However, Estes' book is necessary if you want to go beyond simply a photography expedition and actually learn about African mammals.

More then a simple field guide, this book focuses on East African mammalian behavior and social organizations. Much contemporary research on mammalian behavior informs the chapters. Line drawings take the place of the color photographs (that you would find in many other guides), which give it a nice retro feel. Nevertheless, it has a modern organizational schema with lots of boldfaced subheading and bullet points which make it easy to find information quickly. There are icon-based labels that allows the reader to identify the characteristics of each species social organization. Descriptions of social organization, play, courtship behaviors, territoriality, parenting patterns allow observers to interpret their observations in the field while on safari. It's like having a naturalist along with you, pointing out the subtleties of animal behaviors and communication. In some parts of the book, there is specific information about wildlife populations. For example, in the section on Spotted Hyenas, the author reports data from one female that was tracked with a radio collar in the Ngorongoro Crater, noting how starkly different the level of activity necessary to find food was compared to hyenas in Kalhari Gemsbock National Park, where food is harder to come by. This level of scientific detail nicely complements the comprehensive descriptions of each species life and environment. I ended buying this after borrowing it from my local library. I also purchased a Princeton Pocket Guide to Wildlife of East Africa by Withers and Hosking full of colored photos - mostly because of its vast listing of birds that are not in the Safari Companion. The Princeton Guide also has photos of many reptiles. It is clear that I will learn the most from the Safari Companion, however.

A little dense for the average person, but still very well written and clearly expertly composed. Could use more images to help with identification of the species more than just a huge long list of very specific behaviors you might see them engage in.

I was looking for a book or two (as luggage weight limits were tight)to enhance my first safari experience to the national parks of Tanzania. I selected this book based on Amazon.com reader feedback. It was a real help during the safari and continues to be used while reviewing video, photos, and books on African wildlife. I also took a good field guide (Audubon)--but these were widely available on the safari 4WD as well as at the lodges. What makes the Estes book unique is it describes the MEANING of the behavior and social groups you see on the game drives. Almost daily we would see sights that struck me as unexpected--like an all male group of 40 impalas, or zebras leading a line of hundreds of wildebeest; I'd look up that species in the Estes book back at camp and he would explain the meaning of the behavior. My safari mates were all very experienced and involved in zoos in the USA. They would often ask to borrow my "Estes" for their use. In my opinion, if you can only take one book other than your safari journal--take this one. If you can take two, include a good field guide (like Audubon).

Indispensable avant de partir en safari photo et à emporter. Je n'ai découvert ce livre qu'après mon séjour au parc Kruger en Afrique du Sud. Si d'aventure j'y retourne, je ne oublierai pas. Certes, il est un peu plus ardu que les nombreux ouvrages sur le sujet, mais à mon avis, il remplace tous les autres.

Excellent book full of facts and pictures which help determine which animals you are looking at.

Eines der besten Bücher für Interessierte

Un libro fantastico, merece la pena

Genial compra como manual de consulta donde podras tener la posición corporal de algunso de los comprotamientos de los animales mamiferos africanos. Esta como complementod e otras guias de identificacion de fauna y no necesitaras nada mas.