SASOL books on birds of Southern Africa (1 Viewer)

[Foreyes]

Please advise on which to choose: the SASOL Field Guide to Birds of Southern Africa (2002) or the Larger Illustrated Guide to the Birds of Southern Africa (2005).

The latter appears slightly more up-to-date but
bulkier. Some of the reviews comment that illustrations on the standard version are a bit on the small side. I will have a car - a change from my usual backpacking - so weight is not so much of an issue. In all, I am tempted to go for the latter, but would appreciate advice from those who know. Is it worth carrying the larger version?

Thanks in anticipation

 

[swiss7]

Hey Foreyes.

We have both versions, but took the smaller one with us which sufficed. However, I STRONGLY recommend that you invest in more than one guide. The recent Roberts is worthwhile, and if you have room, a version of Newmans will also be useful. We needed all three to work out some of the tricky species. Also, I've read that Birds south of the Sahara book is meant to be a good update on the SASOL guide.

Enjoy your trip! We got about 480 species in just under 5 weeks.. was fabulous.

 

[Foreyes]

Thanks for the tips. Are they simply the same book but different in size or is it more to it than that?
I will have local contacts who are hot on birdlife and will have other references, so I should be OK taking out just the one book. Looking forward to it!