field guide for southern africa (1 Viewer)

hello,
i am planning a month-long trip to south africa and lesotho, over dec-jan. i have been looking into a good field guide to bring along - there seems to be a few to choose from. does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with any of the southern africa field guides? additionally, any info on favorite birding spots would also be appreciated. thanks.

noah
vermont, usa

Hello noah and welcome to Birdforum.net

I'm sure someone will be along soon to help you with your questions.

Regards

Hi Noah,

I had all three, but in the end only used the Sasol guide in the field. Illustrations are far more accurate than the others, text is ok, but still not great for the more difficult birds, but good enough for a field guide.

I have a trip report from Nov-Dec 03 for that area if you want to take a look
http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/s_africa/tour9/sa-dec-03.htm

It was very dry around Natal so birding was hard work around Mkuzi, and other game reserves, I found the forests to be excellent there, aswell as Sani Pass. Cape birding was relatively easy, none of the birds proved too difficult, other than the flufftails!

If you want any for info, just email me privately,

all the best

Hi Noah and a warm Welcome to Birdforum, from all the Staff here!

I'm sure that there will be more info heading your way - meantime explore the site, you may have some info or comments on other matters that will be of use to others too!

Introduce yourself in the 'Say Hello' forum, too, if you like.

Cheers,

Andy.

I'll second the SASOL Birds of SOuthern Africa by Sinclair, Hockey and Tarboton. In the US its printed under Princeton Field Guides.

nanoo100 said:

hello,
i am planning a month-long trip to south africa and lesotho, over dec-jan. i have been looking into a good field guide to bring along - there seems to be a few to choose from. does anyone have any experience (good or bad) with any of the southern africa field guides? additionally, any info on favorite birding spots would also be appreciated. thanks.

noah
vermont, usa

Click to expand...

I had both the SASOL guide and Newman (Green Edition) along. In the end, I preferred Newman in the field, and the other book was more of a back-up. But I really was happy to have had both books along as none is perfect.

Robert