2 comments about Lonely Planet Watching Wildlife: East Africa (Lonely Planet Watching Wildlife East Africa).

1. Organized in 3 sections: habitats, parks, animals. The sections are well organized, easy to find what you want and easily cross-referenced. Helped us tremendously in planning where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see in East Africa. Wonderful pictures, too.



2. I recently took a wonderful trip to Africa and went on several game drives. We saw so many new animals that I didn't know existed. Two of my friends, also on the trip, had your book. This book explained about the animals and had such great pictures that were such a help in distinguishing the animals. I liked the small area map that tells where the animal is found. The organization of the book is so helpful and easy to find what you are looking for. I have read it over and over again and used it as a reference for my presentations.

1 comments about Journey to the Source of the Nile.

1. Christopher Ondaatje has given us a superb travelogue, blended skillfully with perspectives on the great 19th-Century Nile explorations. His maps, both current and historical, are well-crafted. The book's best feature, however, is its multitude of stunning photographs that bring to life this enormous, majestic realm of water, wilderness, and vibrant inhabitants both human and animal. Ondaatje must be an even better photographer than he is a writer, and is obviously in tune with the people he meets. They gaze directly and warmly into his lens as if he were a member of their own group. The depictions of rivers, mountains, and savannahs are simply breathtaking.

No comments about Zambezi - Journey of a River.

3 comments about Fishing in the Sky: The Education of Namory Keita.

1. Lawder writes beautifully of his life as an older Peace Corps volunteer in Africa. Rather than present himself as the savior of these impoverished people, he shows how he is, in a sense, saved. Adopted by a Malian family, he makes a life for himself with them, becoming a de facto grandfather. He portrays the Malians as an intelligent, warm, hard-working people living under difficult circumstances, and it's interesting to "meet" them through this absorbing book.



2. I was in Don Lawder's Peace Corps group and got to know him only superficially during our 3-months of training. Reading this book 21 years later, I now realize what a complex person he was. This is a great book if you are considering Peace Corps service. No two people have the same experience, so don't expect your two years to be just like his, but this will help you appreciate that you will be sent there to interact with people, not necessarily change them. Like Don, you will be changed much more than they.



3. I loved reading this book and the adventure that I shared. I really felt like I was there with the author. What also made this book particularly interesting is that the author was older when he joined the Peace Corps, so he had a more mature way of looking at life and people. Though the man is not a perfect man and I think sometimes just a bit naive, he really was a nice man sharing his very human experience and perceptions. This book really is worth the time, and I was sad to see it come to an end. I highly recommend it.

No comments about Zanzibar: City, Island, and Coast. Volume 1.

4 comments about Under the Neem Tree.

1. I am a two time Peace Corps volunteer and "Under the Neem Tree" truely captures the Peace Corps experience of many volunteers. The small accomplishments, the major disappoint- ments, the challenge of trying to stay physically as well as mentally healthy are all part of this volunteers story.



2. Not a glorified look at the Peace Corps but a realistic, gritty account of both the trials and tribulations of serving in the Corps. Lowerre tells how her romantic expectations of life in Africa contrasted with the reality she soon encountered- the heat, the hard life and even the parasites that invaded her body. Even so, she finds herself becoming attached to the people she lives among, to the country and a life that is far different than the one she expected. An excellent, honest memoir.



3. I enjoyed this book in the beginning. You can certainly tell that Susan is not a writer, but she gets her point across. The reader is presented with a vivid picture of her life in Africa, the challenges she faces, decisions and judgements she makes along the way. Eventually, though, it gets to the point where you grow weary of her self-congratulatory comments. Over and over you read, "That woman wouldn't survive a day in my village," or "Senegal is where I belong, not in this clean, plastic world (America)."

   Also, unless you care to read a whole lot about fisheries and the work done in them, there is not a whole lot of dimension to the work. She comes across and bitter, angry and self-righteous much of the time, and it gets old.

   Peace Corps is a choice for a way of life. I, she and several thousand have chosen it now and in the past. Though it is challenging and difficult at times, it's a choice. I see no need to condescend others for making a different lifestyle choice.

   An okay story, but I recommend "Mango Elephants in the Sun" hands down over this one.




4. My Peace Corps experience was in Dominican Republic -- Susan Lowerre writes like an angel about her difficult, frustrating, wonderful time in Senegal. The physical [including health] challenges she depicts about her service in Senegal reminded me that I had served in a relatively "easy" Peace Corps country. Despite her travails in-country, what comes shining through in her account is her headlong embrace of life and her love for Senegal and its people. It's an unforgettable story.
   
   I recommend this book to anyone -- especially, of course, former, present, and potential Peace Corps Volunteers -- with an interest in understanding other cultures.

No comments about Zanzibar: City, Island and Coast. Volume 2.

No comments about Insideout Cape Town City Guide (Insideout City Guide: Cape Town).

No comments about The Journal of a Mission to the Interior of Africa, in the Year 1805: Together with Other Documents, Official and Private, Relating to the Same Mission. ... Prefixed an Account of the Life of Mr. Park.

No comments about Mauritius - Reunion - Rodriguez Map.