As a visitor to Africa, I found this guide irreplaceable when identifying the mammals that I encountered, especially small species such a bush squirrels, mongooses etc. Such animals are often overlooked by similar texts.

The only criticism I can find with this book is I often found the distribution maps to be too small to accurately identify the area I was visiting. In addition, several complex groups of small mammals, e.g. bats and shrews, are referred to by genus only.

It must be realised, however, that field guides have to be compact if they are to be practical. Rectifying the above criticisms would result in a text much too large to be any use in the African bush.

In summary I would recommend Kingdon's field guide to any wildlife enthusiast visiting Africa, or with an interest in this beautiful and fascinating continent. The author's illustrations alone make this text a worthy addition to any naturalists' bookcase.


THE Book for African Animal lovers.   September 29, 1998
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

This is a dream book for those interested in African mammals. First of all, it does not concentrate on "popular" species, such are lions and cheetahs, but talks about all species and important sub-species. The layout of the book is like this: first the author talks about a certain class of mammals, ex. Carnivores, and talks about the things characteristic to that class; then he goes down to family, e.g. canids, and talks about aspects characteristic to that family, and finally, the species themselves, and talks about their individual characteristics, distribution, size, and status. And it goes like that until every species, family and class of African mammal is mentioned. There are no pictures in the book, but color illustrations of all the species mentioned. The illustations are high-class, so much you can easily imagine what the animal looks like in real life. And now, a few bad points. As a bonus, he adds the names of animals in French, German, and a few African languages. Unfortunately, this is inconsistent throughout the book. I understand for the African languages, but French and German translations should have been given for each species. Also, he doesn't mention the mammals of Madagascar, even though Madagascar is part of Africa. And another thing, which would have been nice: with eponymized species (e.g. Ruppell's fox, Wolf's monkey) he should have mentioned who those species were named for. Nevertheless, I still give this book the highest score, for being complete, at least for continental Africa.