Best General South Africa Travel Books
With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that illuminate every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: South Africa truly shows you this country as no one else can. Series Overview: For more than two decades, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides have helped travelers experience the world through the history, art, architecture, and culture of their destinations. With guidebooks to hundreds of places around the globe available in print and digital formats, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides show travelers how they can discover more. About DK Eyewitness Travel Guides : For more than two decades, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides have helped travelers experience the world through the history, art, architecture, and culture of their destinations.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"We were turned onto DK guides by fellow travelers to Italy a couple of years ago."
"As all DK books, this had gorgeous photos, and was well laid out with lots of interesting sidebars."
"we have been to South Africa, and wish i had this book then."
"I've never found better travel books."
"This book has already been quite helpful in our planning for our upcoming trip to Africa."
"totally helpful."
"This travel guide has a lot of photos, descriptions of animals, information about history, and recommendations for lodging, eating, shopping, and activities."
"DK books are the best."
From urban and lively Cape Town and Johannesburg to the dramatic scenery and wildlife of Kruger National Park, South Africa offers an amazingly wide range of experiences. “Fodor’s is pitched a few notches higher….aimed at a fairly discerning traveler with an appetite for background and the occasional surprise.” – New York Times.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book is a great resource that we are really enjoying."
"We travel extensively and Fodor has been a staple in this house for all our travel needs."
"It's nice to have an actual book to read and think about my trip and be able to write in the margins."
"Well written and very practical."
"Great guide to South Africa, Zambia, and pretty good on Kenya."
"Perfect and very detailed."
"Great information, well organized."
"Information was not very insightful or useful."
Fodor’s correspondents highlight the best of Africa, including Kenya's Masai Mara, South Africa's Kruger National Park, and Botswana's Kwando Reserve. Check out Fodor's travel guide to South Africa. “Fodor’s is pitched a few notches higher….aimed at a fairly discerning traveler with an appetite for background and the occasional surprise.” – New York Times.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I have yet to take my safari but thanks to this book, I'm looking for a better time to go."
"In depth guide to all the African safaris in one book!"
"Good planning guide for a future trip to Kenya."
"This book gave detailed descriptions of each of the areas within the major African countries for safaris (there's only 8, and they're located in Eastern and Southern Africa). This book gave their recommendations on properties in all the different safari areas and all price points--what I really liked were the Pros/Cons of each property that they list."
"African safaris are expensive, and this book definitely helped me get the confidence to made this expensive decision."
"Very informative book."
"Not at all helpful---incomplete guide perhaps."
"Info was good enough BUT there were no maps for most of it so the majority of the time I basically have NO CLUE where they are talking about."
Best Cape Town Travel Guides
It's no wonder that Cape Town is an award-winning city, and The Rough Guide to Cape Town, the Winelands, and the Garden Route uncovers it all. Reliable, readable Rough Guides * Conde Nast Traveller *.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Excellent guide for our trip to Cape Town and the surrounding areas."
"I just spent one week in Cape Town and found this guide to be extremely helpful in orienting myself within the city and choosing my activities."
"Excellent guide that has everything you need to explore this city."
"Came in time for my trip."
"I'm not usually a huge fan of the Rough Guides, but their Cape Town guide suits me to a T. Full of accessible, practical, helpful information."
"the gift receiver says she will really enjoy it."
"Very nice book!"
"The information provided is not as extensive as many other guides such as Lonely Planet."
Best South African Travel Guides
With hundreds of full-color photographs, hand-drawn illustrations, and custom maps that illuminate every page, DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: South Africa truly shows you this country as no one else can. Series Overview: For more than two decades, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides have helped travelers experience the world through the history, art, architecture, and culture of their destinations. With guidebooks to hundreds of places around the globe available in print and digital formats, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides show travelers how they can discover more. About DK Eyewitness Travel Guides : For more than two decades, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides have helped travelers experience the world through the history, art, architecture, and culture of their destinations.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Like other DK Eyewitness travel guides I've bought over the years to plan my vacations, their South Africa guide is another must read prior to travel. The guide is organized as follows: An excellent overview of the country and regions, followed by in depth details of each region along with reference codes to regional maps provided in each region, which I find very, very helpful. All in all a very useful guide which I believe provides the best basis for you to further delve into more specific details from web site links provided, or good old Google."
"We were turned onto DK guides by fellow travelers to Italy a couple of years ago."
"As all DK books, this had gorgeous photos, and was well laid out with lots of interesting sidebars."
"we have been to South Africa, and wish i had this book then."
"I've never found better travel books."
"This book has already been quite helpful in our planning for our upcoming trip to Africa."
"totally helpful."
"This travel guide has a lot of photos, descriptions of animals, information about history, and recommendations for lodging, eating, shopping, and activities."
Best Swaziland Travel Guides
Hike to the summit of Table Mountain, enjoy the diverse wildlife at Kruger National Park, or power down in a traditionally designed rondavel; all with your trusted travel companion. Full-colour maps and images throughout Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Honest reviews for all budgets - eating, sleeping, sight-seeing, going out, shopping, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Cultural insights give you a richer, more rewarding travel experience - including local customs, literature, history, art, politics, landscapes, music, cuisine Free, convenient pull-out Cape Town map (included in print version), plus over 75 colour maps Covers Cape Town, the Garden Route, Hermanus, Knysna, Durban, Maseru, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Kruger National Park, Limpopo, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Western Cape, North West Province, and more. Looking for more extensive coverage?
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Not great as the index is absolutely useless....skips some significant sites on any tourist's list!"
"helped us decide highlights to see in various locations when we had limited time."
"Great orientation to the country, the sights and the activities. Practical tips on getting around. Really helpful descriptions of activities - some "off the beaten path". Good maps."
"The information was current and useful."
"I did get the Lonely Planet Brazil in the past but I was traveling all over Brazil so that worked for me."
"Great tool in planning our South Africa vacation at a discounted price."
"Information on South Africa was very helpful for our trip."
"Well organized, fantastic amount of information to create the kind of trip you want."
Best Johannesburg Travel Guides
Vladislavic, described as “one of the most imaginative minds at work in South African literature today” (André Brink), delivers “one of the best things ever written about a great, if schizophrenic, city, and an utterly true picture of the new South Africa” (Christopher Hope). In a post-apartheid world, the city of Johannesburg is a complicated place: racial divides still run deep, inextricably interwoven with crime and poverty, and endlessly complicated as the haves and have-nots negotiate new arrangements defined in terms of protection, invasion, and a tenuous level of common feeling.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"the author was recommended to me through a friend still living in South Africa & i found this choice most enjoyable, even though it does draw a gloomy picture for a person who has lived in South Africa for as long as i have & realizing the changes that took place over the past 15 years, high unemployment, high crime rate & security measures i had to confirm with friends if they are really as described in some of the chapters."
"The author has an uncanny ability to record minute details of everyday life."
"Exemplary writing - vivid, smart, thoughtful."
"What makes the book so successful is a keen eye for detail and a facility for language that allows him to convey images with the exactly right words, the perfect objects taken to represent various facets of his city. Never discussed but clearly lurking behind these images is the reality of his city as increasingly violent and dangerous. The "well-healed, well-wheeled" have even discovered a hidden door in the public library allowing those in the know to go directly from the parking garage to the library, a path not intended by the library's builders. "I am stripping the bedroom door down to the wood...I wish I could read these strata [like]...the rings of a felled tree, deciphering the lean seasons...instead I see nothing but fashion...nineties ochre, eighties ivory...""
"PORTRAIT WITH KEYS: The City of Johannesburg Unlocked is not the typical tourist book, rather it is an account of a white Johannesburg citizen and his view on the city and its current status with historical references. Written in detail, but often labored, a large amount of time is spent exhibiting the measures taken for protection and how crime and racism are intertwined with the infamous Gorilla lock."
"In a series of 128 beautiful interleaved passages Vladislavic describes the Johannesburg, and South Africa, that we live in today."
"This is a strange book."